ESCAPE IN TYPHOON

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19454, 13 October 1937, Page 8

ESCAPE IN TYPHOON

SEAMANSHIP PRAISED HAVOC IN HONG KONG SYDNEY, Sept. 24. The Tanda, which arrived in Sydney yesterday, was one of the few vessels to emerge unscathed from the typhoon which played havoc among shipping at Hongkong on September 2. Passengers on the vessel expressed admiration for the way in which the Tanda had been handled in the storm. Lieutenant-Colonel Longfield Lloyd, Australian Trade Commissioner in Japan, who was on the vessel, said that its escape was due to "perfect coordination and uncanny seamanship on the part of Captain E. T. Pilcher, master of the Tanda." "The captain and officers of the Tanda are deserving of the greatest praise," Lieutenant-Colonel Longfieki Lloyd said. "The typhoon was one oi the most severe ever experienced in Hongkong. The wind was blowing al 160 miles an hour, and dead bodies were floating about in the harbour. "The shore was strewn with ships. and 28 went ashore, including 20,000tonners. For the Tanda to escape in those circumstances was amazing. "Our mooring snapped, and we moved to the stream and anchored at typhoon buoys, with two anchors and a chain." Captain Pilcher said that his ship was riding at 120 fathoms on both anchors. One cable parted, and she commenced to drift amongst a maze of steamers, all of which were also drifting helplessly towards the shore. He used his engines to avoid crashing into other vessels, and the Tanda was the only one to escape injury. H.M.S. Suffolk was so badly damaged as a result of four vessels striking her that she had to be dry-docked.