GALLANT SAILORS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 813, 6 November 1929, Page 9

GALLANT SAILORS

LIFEBOAT’S- SEARCH IN PERILOUS SEA TO RESCUE OF TRAWLER SYDNEY’, Tuesday. A stirring story is told of the great bravery and determination of the six sailors who manned a lifeboat from the steamer Saros on Sunday night, and went to the assistance of the crew of the stranded trawler Gunundaal, which was ashore off Cape Howe. YVhen the Saros was in a raging sea at about 10 p.m. her captain saw distress signals near the beach on Gabo Island. The lifeboat with the chief officer and five of the crew put off in the pitch-black darkness and rowed for three hours. They were drenched and cold, and their boat was tossed like a cork, but eventually they sighted the trawler on a reef. Her lights were all extinguished. YVhen the lifeboat was unable to get alongside the men shouted through the darkness to those on board, and the reply came: “No assistance wanted, thank you.” The boat’s crew then commenced to row back to their vessel, in the thickest weather, and reached it safely after four hours of a terrible battle with the wind and waves. The trawler’s crew reached Sydney today, little the worse for their experience.