SINKING OF TAHITI

Southland Times, Issue 21179, 4 September 1930, Page 5

SINKING OF TAHITI

FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OFFICERS AND CREW AT AUCKLAND CIVIC RECEPTION TENDERED (Per United Press Association.) Auckland, September 3. The steamer Tofua , arrived from Suva this afternoon with the officers and crew of the Tahiti and first-hand accounts were heard of the disaster which overwhelmed the ship. The starboard tail shaft of the Tahiti snapped suddenly in the tunnel. It was followed by a big inrush of water. From that time the Tahiti . dipped deeper and deeper by the stern. When the passengers had been taken off the captain and a small party visited the ship and broke a few portholes. The Tahiti listed very little. Both the port and starboard boats could be used. The Tahiti finally dipped her stern below the waves and stern first slipped into the depths of the Pacific. Great praise is given the firemen and greasers who were below when the water rushed in. They stayed at their posts until they could stay no longer. A civic reception was tendered to Captain Toten of the Tahiti, his officers and crew. Captain Toten paid a tribute to the magnificent assistance received from his men and praised the part played by the Penbryn which, he said, gave the first feeling of safety. "Warm tributes were paid by Captain Toten and others to Captain Salvesen of the Penybryn and a message was read conveying the Government’s gratitude. Interviewed, Captain Toten would not make a statement. “I can say, however,” he said, “that the passengers were splendid and there was not a murmur from them. They were fine. Officers and crew also did everything that was requited of them and more.” Second Engineer's Story. “Give all the praise you can to the engineroom staff who were on duty when the smash came,” said Mr A. Thompson, second engineer of the Tahiti who was in the engine room at the time of the mishap. “I can't speak too highly of the two greasers and three firemen who were on watch. They were Messrs Rook and C. Douglas (greasers), and J. Degnan, A. Florey and W. Geddes (firemen). Right from the jump those men behaved like men and did their jobs without flurry or confusion. Everything was carried out in most orderly fashion under the circumstances. As a matter of fact when the water rushed in through the tunnel to the engine room those men still stood to their posts. Truly they were wonderful. When it came to a skeleton crew to see who would remain below the whole of the firemen, trimmers and greasers tossed up. They are the best crowd of men I have ever had anything to do with in my life. Rook was greasing the starboard engine when she went. I rushed to the after end of the tunnel and was met by a flood of water. The starboard engine was racing madly and Rook was endeavouring to shut off steam. I rushed to the engine and managed to stop it. In the meantime, cool and collected, Rook went to his post and when I called to him he had one of the watertight compartment doors almost closed. Although the water was increasing rapidly every man below stood to his post and did not leave the engine room until they were practically forced to. Their first consideration was for the passengers.” Mr Thompson said that the position looked very serious at the start. It appeared as if the Tahiti would sink rapidly, but later it was found that on account of the measures taken below she would remain afloat for several hours. When asked if vibration on the Tahiti was excessive before the accident, Thompson said that seeing she was a light ship it was nothing out of the ordinary. As a matter of fact he had been on such vessels as the Lusitania and other Atlantic boats and their vibration in comparison was' greater. Even when the Tahiti was loaded there was- a certain, amount of vibration. The officers and crew of the Tahiti left this evening for Wellington where the nautical inquiry will be held on September 9. Accounts of Passengers. .Graphic descriptions of the end of the Tahiti are given by passengers who returned from Pago Pago by the Tofua. Those of the passengers who elected to return to New Zealand instead of proceeding to San Francisco by the Ventura, are Bishop F. A.- Bennett, Dr A. J. Brass, medical officer at Rarotonga, Mr Hector McQuarrie and Mr R. Matthews of Auckland, Mr Howden, of Rotorua, Mdlle Blanche Lepeune who is returning to France from a visit to New Zealand, Miss Josephine McClymont and Miss Rona Major, of Northcote, Miss L. M. Jennings, Mrs Jackman and child, Mrs D. W. Steel, Mr C. E. Rackham, Mr Drummond, Mrs Gillings, Mr Hopkins, Mr Pokana. The passengers were a happy band as they took leave of one another on the decks of the Tofua. Some of them had lost heavily as the result of the sinking of the Tahiti with their heavy baggage still fin board. All had been through a harrowing experience during the hours they remained on the stricken liner with the crew working feverishly to keep the water in check, but by their disposition to-day it was quite easy to understand the remarks freely made by officers and members of the crew that “there was not one trace of panic on the part of the passengers; their cheerfulness and courage was an inspiration.” For their part the passengers express unstinted admiration for the behaviour of officers and crew. In particular they pay tribute to the work of the stewards. Once the true position was realized the stewards worked madly with the crew in an endeavour to keep the water from making too much headway. , Mr McQuarrie’s Tribute. Mr McQuarrie said: “They were really marvellous. For hours on end they were keeping the water level down in No. 3 hold and yet they were always on hand to serve us with meals. The main galley could not be used as all oil fuel was needed to work the pumps, but the chef got to work in the crew’s galley and everything possible ■was done for us. You in New Zealand have probably heard already of the great work of Captain Toten and his. officers. However, our gratitude to them is such that we shall continue to express ceaseless admiration for the fine manner in which they took charge of the situation. They were true British seamen.” Passengers also expressed appreciation of the work of Captain Salvesen and the officers and men of the steamer Penybryn. They are grateful for all that was done for them on board the Ventura, but they state that greatest credit for rescue should be given to the little Norwegian vessel which, notwithstanding a serious shortage of coal, rushed to their assistance to set all their doubts at rest. Story of Engine-room Staff. A gripping account of the scene in the engine-room of the Tahiti when the vessel’s propellor broke off, was .given by members of the engine-room staff. “I was looking through the watertight door into the engine-room when I heard a terrific noise,” said W. Geddes, oil burner attendant. “Instantly a rush of water came through the propellor tunnel and I shouted out: ‘Stop starboard engine and shut off fires.’ The second engineer, A. Thomson, who wms on duty was standing at the dynamo. Before I had the words out of my mouth he had jumped down and turned off the throttle and the engines stopped dead. He then helped to shut the watertight door. It was all done in a minute and if he had not acted so prompt-

ly I have not the slightest doubt that the ship would have gone down iu half an hour.” Mr W. Digney, another oil-burner attendant, said that the second engineer was the hero of the occasion. ‘You canuot praise him too highly,” he said. “He did exactly the right thing in a twinkling of the eye and I dread to think what would have happened if he had made a mistake. Having shut off the engines he rushed into the propellor tunnel to see what had happened, but was thrown out by the force of the water which was pouring through it. He then ran round and got the pumps started. He did everything necessary in the space of a few moments. No one ever saw the real damage that had been done in that tunnel. We do not know how the propellor came off, but it did and the engines started to race like mad, then the propellor shaft broke and its swinging motion must have torn a great hole in the ship’s hull. It is only surmise, of course, but the ship shook terribly as the engines raced and the noise was deafening.” In Pitch Darknfets. William Brown, another oil-burner attendant, described how the men worked in pitch darkness with the help of electric torches and matches when the dynamo went out of action. “It was extremely uncanny creeping about in the dark in water up to our waists,” he said. ‘The water seemed to rise and fall occasionally according to the working of pumps and the bulkhead moved and shook like a partly inflated waterbottle. It was continually leaking and we worked in a shower of spray. The morning before wc took to the boats the old ship started to shudder and we knew it was all up.” All sections of the crew praise the ship’s carpenter, George Bothwick, of Wellington, who worked continuously in the en-gine-room propping up the bulkhead.

Describing the last of the Tahiti, a passenger said that after the ship was abandoned she rocked in a swell on an even keel. Suddenly the stern dipped under the water, her bow stood up almost perpendicularly and then with a groaning noise, almost human, she sank.