23 DAYS SPENT IN OPEN BOAT

Southland Times, Issue 24493, 22 July 1941, Page 5

23 DAYS SPENT IN OPEN BOAT

Survivors From Liner Sunk In Atlantic (8.0.W.) RUGBY, July 20. A Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer, describing a voyage of 1500 miles in an open boat in a broadcast talk, said his ship, a British liner, was sunk last March by an armed merchant cruiser in the south Atlantic and he was in command of a life-boat with 82 persons which finally reached Brazil 23 days later. He was travelling as a passenger when the ship was attacked. “We found we had about 16 gallons of water, 48 tins of condensed milk and two tins of biscuits,” he said. “We worked it out that we could only have a third of a dipper of water a day, that is, little less than an eggcupful, two tins of milk divided and one biscuit each. After about 10 days we had several storms and were able to catch some rain-water, which permitted an increase in the water ration to about a full eggcupfull and later still it was possible to double the water ration as more water was caught and the number in the boat decreased. “We were soon covered with salt water sores, which were greatly aggravated by the crowded conditions and the constant rolling of the boat, which threw us against each other. It was also impossible to sit, lie or even stand in comfort because of overcrowding. After about 10 days the hardship and privation began to tell and each day three or four persons died. We had no charts and our only aid to navigation was a compass. We sighted land when we expected to. Of 82 persons who were originally in the life-boat, 13 Europeans and 25 natives survived.”