LOSS OF A PHŒNIX LINER.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 13, 12 February 1907, Page 2

LOSS OF A PHŒNIX LINER.

TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE CREW PERISH. GALLANT RESCUES AT SEA. The Leyland liner Bostonian has brought news to Boston of a disaster to the Phoenix liner British King The vessel foundered on March 11, There were 56 persons on board, of whom only 28 are known to have been saved. The British King went down about 6 o’clock in the morning, in latitude 41.40, longitude 60.11. The disaster was due to barrels of oil and other wreckage being washed overboard in the violent storm, and the furious waves throwing them back against the hull until an aperture was made, through which the water entered. The Bostonian brought 17 survivors, and the German tank-ship Mannheim picked up 11 others. The survivors on the Bostonian say there is little doubt that the 28 missing persons perished. The Bostonian rescued the captain of the British King, James O’Hagan, who subsequently died of his injuries ; the second officer, Flanagan ; Chief Engineer Crawford, Fourth Engineer Beck, and the steward, Curry. The crews of the Bostonian and the Mannheim RISKED THEIR LIVES in the work of rescue. The first boat the Bostonian launched was crushed by the sea, and the crew wore saved with difficulty. Tho second boat, after placing thirteen persons on board the Bostonian, was smashed, but the crew were eventually got out of the water. The experiences of the rescuers from the Mannheim were equally, thrilling and fraught with peril. Further rescues had to bo postponed, owing to the darkness, until the rising of the moon. Meanwhile it was believed that tho 28 men had gone down with the British King, which sank near Sable Island. A boat’s crow subsequently rescued five of the crew, who were dinging to wreckage. The leak was not discovered until it was too late to save the ship. The British King was a steel screw steamer of 4,717 tons. She carried no passengers, but was laden with a general cargo, including 150 cattle.