PASSENGERS IN AUCKLAND

Southland Times, Issue 24158, 21 June 1940, Page 8

PASSENGERS IN AUCKLAND

Replacing Clothes Lost In Niagara MASCOT GOES DOWN WITH SHIP (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 20. Most of the Niagara’s passengers spent today in getting their bearings again after their trying experience and attending to immediate needs such as buying clothes and suitcases and arranging money matters. Some of those for whom hotel accommodation had been provided took their departure in the course of the day but it was not known whether they had gone to their homes or to stay with friends. The Union Steam Ship Company intimated to all passengers who joined the ship at Auckland that it was prepared to refund their passage money in full. Through passengers were informed that if they so wished they might recover their passage money for the balance of the journeys for which they had booked. This arrangement will make it possible for passengers, if they desire, to continue their voyage by the Matson liner Monterey which leaves Auckland on Monday for island ports and San Francisco. Auckland agents for the Matson line, Henderson and MacFarlane, Limited, received between 40 and 50 inquiries today but it is not possible yet to say how many will travel by the liner.' Fiji residents who were homeward bound in the Niagara are very likely to be among the number since for them no change of route is involved as is the case with people booked for Vancouver and points beyond. All, cf course, have the option of waiting and going on by a British vessel. LOSS OF MASCOT The mascot of the Niagara, Aussie, the cat, was the only casualty. Aussie was thrown on to a lifeboat as it was being launched but jumped back on board and went down with the ship. 'For nearly five years Aussie had been a popular member of the ship’s company. The sea was in his blood for his mother had been in the Niagara before him. His father was an aristocratic Persian owned by a waterfront policeman at Vancouver. Aussie was born at Suva. All the ports on the SydneyVancouver run were well known to Aussie. In Sydney he had done quite a lot of exploring and on two occasions might have missed sailing time had he not been found by his shipmates. Once they picked him up on the steps pf Sydney’s Chief Post Office and another time they found him ambling along one of the city’s main streets. Although he was owned by Robert Bums, providore-storekeeper of the Niagara, every member of the crew took a personal interest in Aussie’s welfare. “He was our first thought when the explosion occurred,” said a seaman, “and it is significant that Aussie was the first to be placed on the lifeboat to which he was assigned. That he did not stay there may be attributed to a fit of temperament for he was a highly strung animal.”

OPENING OF INQUIRY The Superintendent of Mercantile Marine at Auckland, Captain H. A. Dillner, stated that a preliminary inquiry into the loss of the Niagara will be opened before him tomorrow. It is understood that the inquiry will be of a purely formal nature. Great assistance in supplying the immediate needs of the destitute passengers and crew of the Niagara was given by the National Service Movement in Auckland. Large numbers of men and women were provided with clothes, footwear and other necessities which had been made available to the organization by various business firms. As substantial grants are to be made to the crew by the shipping company and other organizations the National Service Movement stopped issuing supplies to seamen during the afternoon except in urgent cases. The issue to passengers, however, is being continued. “WONDERFUL SHOW”

“It was a wonderful show,” declared the master of the Niagara, Captain Martin, today. “Everything went like clockwork, right from the start. The officers and the crew to the last man did their jobs and acted up to the finest traditions of the sea. The calmness of the passengers was remarkable. You would never have thought there had been a shipwreck. When they got into the boats you might have thought they were going to a picnic, laughing, singing and joking, and there was no suggestion of confusion. “I would like to pay a tribute to the passengers on the liner which rescued us,” declared Captain Martin. “There weren’t many of them but they rallied round in great style, doing everything possible for us. The citizens of Auckland, too, have the greatest thanks of the Niagara survivors for their great hospitality.”

PROVISION MADE FOR CREW IMMEDIATE PAYMENT BY COMPANY (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 20. To most of the 200 officers and men of the Niagara the lost liner was their home and the vessel carried all the worldly possessions of many. Although they landed in Auckland with only a minimum of their belongings every provision is being made for their welfare. The Niagara’s crew signed on in Sydney and was under Australian articles which provide for the payment of their wages until the owners ha- o returned them to their home port. The seamen are entitled to receive £2O each to replace their lost effects and the Union Steam Ship Company, Auckland agents for the lost vessel, has already advanced them £lO for their immediate wants. The providoring staff has also received a similar amount although no provision is made in their award for the sum.

On the recommendation of Captain Dillner, Marine Department Superintendent at Auckland, the Shipwreck Relief Society’s headquarters at Dunedin authorized the issue of orders equivalent to £5 to each member of the crew.

The men will remain at the Hotel Auckland and the Seamen’s Home at no cost to themselves until they are sent back to Australia next week. Most of the officers and engineers will remain in New Zealand where they will report to other ships. When the explosion occurred those members of the ship’s complement not on duty immediately went to their stations and to give assistance to the passengers. The result was that although many of the crew managed to salvage a few belongings for the passengers they had little for themselves to bring ashore. Included in the complement’s property was valuable equipment kept by the sporting committee. This included four sets of cricket material and boxing and wrestling equipment given by Sir Julien Cahn in 1938. One of the crew’s most

prized possession was a silver cup presented for boxing by the late Sir James Murdoch, of Sydney. The ship beat other vessels’ companies from Australia, New Zealand and Canada during a period of 12 years in defence of the cup.