SHIPS COLLIDE

Southland Times, Issue 25367, 20 August 1935, Page 7

SHIPS COLLIDE

SIX SEAMEN KILLED ACCIDENT OCCURS IN FOG PASSENGERS CALM (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) London, August 18. Six seamen on the Laurentic were killed and five injured when a collision occurred at night during a fog with the Napier Star in the Irish Sea, 50 miles from Liverpool. The Laurentic was bound from Liverpool with 620 passengers for a cruise of the northern capitals and the Napier Star, from Glasgow, was going to Liverpool, her last port of call before sailing for New Zealand. The vessels collided bow to bow and were docked at Liverpool. The Napier Star’s bows were smashed in, 20 feet of the forecastle house being demolished. None was injured, as the crewslept aft. The Laurentic was holed on one side and the bunks in which the sleeping seamen were killed were exposed. The passengers went home from the docks after being less than 24 hours on board. The officers pay tribute to the calmness of the passengers, most of whom had retired for the night when the collision occurred. Fortunately the impact occurred on the side where comparatively few of the crew were quartered. Some of the occupants of the damaged cabins were killed outright, while their room-mates escaped injury. Thousands witnessed the arrival of the damaged vessels at Liverpool under their own steam in brilliant sunshine. Before the Laurentic docked the passengers collected £220 in aid of the bereaved families.