’QUAKE ALTERS SEA BED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 828, 23 November 1929, Page 1

’QUAKE ALTERS SEA BED

Newfoundland Disaster MOTHER’S HEROIC SACRIFICE Appalling Scene in Dark United l*. A. — l*y Telegraph—Copy rig hi Received 9.10 a.m. >ST. JOHN'S (Newfoundland', Friday. A DEFINITE] change in lie configuration of the land of the Burin Peninsula, as a result of tlie earthquake, was reported by the lion. George Bartlett on Friday, on his arrival from Burin, where lie witnessed the tidal wave dis aster from the deck of the steamer Daisy, which was lifted on its crest and dropped back as the tide receded.

Where vessels of 15 tons could pre-; viously ride safely at anchor, the disturbance had left the coastal waters too shallow for navigation by them. The property damage was estimated at more than £200,000, and the deaths j were variously estimated from 26 to 36. Burin, the largest town affected, has a population of 1.200. The wave rose 40 feet, sweeping ; all the waterfront property. The i French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the Burin coast, are re- ■ ported to have suffered severe dam- ; age. Four members of the steamer Georgian were taken on hospital on the arrival of the ship on Friday as a result of injuries suffered. A terrific sea swept the ship, and shifted the cargo on Monday, when she was 12 days out of Copenhagen. The wave struck Burin at night, two hours after the quake. In the darkness the scene was appalling. From all sides came cries for help. So bare of everything in certain localities are the Burin waterfronts. Mr. Bartlett said, that no evidence remains of their ever being inhabited. Houses are riding in the Burin inlet. The seas were searched by rescuers from the Daisy immediately after the wave struck; but no living thing was found. In one upper room a light burned spectrally in the dark. From one house, Mrs. Vincent Kelly, of Kelly’s Cove, rescued two of her children and went back in a desperate effort to save a third, when their habitation -was carried away to sea. Neither the mother nor the child was seen again. Another family was seated at tea when the house suddenly shifted and came back to its position. As it moved again, the father seized a child under each arm, and with his wife on his back struggled through the water to safety.

A motorist who was approaching: Burin won a thrilling; race when a bridge he was crossing went down as the rear wheels reached the further side. The steamer Daisy rose high above the Government wharf, and as the water subsided she rested on ihe bottom, where the normal depth is ISft. The most serious condition is the privation from the destruction of homes, the winter supply of provisions and fuel, and practically all thi fishing gear. DAMAGED CABLETREPAIR SHIPS ARRIVE AT SCENE OLYMPIC FELT SHOCK RUGBY, Thursday Measures are being taken to repair the transatlantic cables which were broken or damaked by the submarine upheaval on Monday afternoon. Thera are about 20 cables between Britain and North America and about half of them were affected. Communication has been maintained without serious delay by the alternative cable routes and by wireless. Some repair ships arrived yesterday in the area of the damage. Thi3 is about 300 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. It is said that this is the first time in the history of the Atlantic cablet that they have suffered through a seismic disturbance. A message from the liner Olympic yesterday reported that the shock was felt on board when she was 312 miles off Cape Race. The ship shuddered. but no damage was done