THE MANUKA WRECK

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 7

THE MANUKA WRECK

A WOMAN’S EXPERIENCES

UN LAST BOAT TO REACH ASHORE

"EVERYBODY JUST WONDERFUL.”

Graphic details of her experiences in the wreck of the Manuka were given to a “Dominion” reporter by Mrs. R. McL. Legge, of Wellington, who was adrift with forty other passengers and members of the crew in a ship/s boat until well after daybreak on the morning following the ■ disaster. Readers of the telegraphed messages from Dunedin last week will recall the

lady who played the piano in the saloon „ in the tense moments after the crash and did much to avert a general panic. Mrs. Leggo modestly deprecated the part she played on that occasion. But she was quite willing to give some interesting details of the nerve-wracking experience she had gone through, ohe •was returning from Australia with her three-year-old daughter, after a three months’ holiday. M “I was fast asleep when we struck, said Mrs. Legge, “and was awakened by a violent bump which threw me against the wall of the cabin. I. remember hearing the ship’s whistle , blow. The engines did not stop, but seemed to keep going at about half speed. The passengers were told to dress as quickly as possible, and to go along to the saloon with lifebelts. There everybody was busy putting their belts on.” . . “It was then that someone inquired about the piano,’’ said Mrs. Legge, “so I handed over the baby to the men. I knew they could take care of her better than I would bo able io, if the worst came to the worst.” . “OXLY ON A SANDBANK I” Asked as to the nature of the music played, Mrs. Legge said that it was mostly popular choruses—“ Smile, Boys, Smile,” “Keep the Homo Fires Burning,” etc. ’ “Everybody was saying,”. she continued, “that we were on a sandbank and would bo off again in no time. None of us realised what, had really happened.” “On deck, the ship was canted over so as to make it hard to keep a footing and a heavy swell was running. Sometimes you would see the boat nearly level with the rail, then it would drop right away down into the trough of a wave. Passengers had to slide down a rope hand over hand into the lifeboat,” . After Mrs. Legge’s boat had left the ship about an hour, the occupants had the eerie experience, of seeing the lights of the Manuka slowly dim out, the mast-head lamps going first, as the ,‘water penetrated the electrical system. She understood that the captain’s orders were for the boats to stand out to sea, and keep together, but there was a light, misty rain • falling, and the fog • and darkness combined to render this ~ impossible. At one time another boat —No. 10—was hailed, and answered “All’s well” cheerily, but no other was seen after that. BEACON MISTAKEN FOR STEAMER. In Mrs. Legge’s boat—No. 9 —there were about 40 people/eight stewards and passengers manipulating the oars. Thoro were somo biscuits in a tin from the stores, and the tin was used as a bailer, the boat leaking a good deal. ■ It was expected that the steamer seen at Bluff would be on the scene before long after having heard the news, and in the early hours of the morning it was thought that she had been seen, but the light turned out to be that of the beacon at Nuggets. “Dawn found us well down towards the Nuggets,” continued Mrs. Legge. “All around us in ‘ the.water was wreckage—bags'of onions and potatoes, lockers, etc, There was still a very high sea running, and it looked as if the waves would, come down on the boat at any minute. Everyone .was violently seasick. However, we always seemed to bob up again all right. - : ■’ “The men were simply wonderful, and kept us calm. All the time they were laughing and cracking jokes. “For some time after daybreak the boat followed along the coast keeping about a mile out to ©ca in the inward set of the current should take her on to the rocks, and a watch was kept for a likely landing place. SAFELY ASHORE. “Round about six o’clock the captain’s boat, on which a small sail had been rigged, appeared on the scene, and called out that everyone else was safely - ashore,” Mrs. Legge went on. “Then they took us in tow, and our own men rowed, and we went back the way we had come, round the point where, the ship was, landing in a small bay where the rest of the passengers were already gathered. Here there were big fires burning, and hot tea was being served out from buckets in cigarette and milk tins, as well as stores which had been got ashore. People also came down from the neighbouring farmhouses. Sail tents were put up on the rocks, which gave a fair amount of shelter from the wet.” ROADS HOLD UP CARS. Mrs. Legge said that from the beach a rough journey of about two miles had to be made to the farmhouse, where, according to a’message dropped by plane, cars were waiting. Actually, however, the roads were so bad that the cars could not get right up to the farmhouse, and the castaways had to walk on to meet them. “From here we were taken through to Owaka,” said Mrs. Legge, “and there another lady took us to her home and gave us hot soup and a chance to dry our clothes. Some of the passengers had not sufficient time to dress, and had only a blanket thrown round them. In the afternoon a special train took the passengers to Dunedin. AU the way in on the train food was brought to the stations by people along the route, but really wo were all too *done up’ to eat!

Crowds wore waiting at the Dunedin terminal to get a look at the rescued people. “We all went to a hotel,” concluded Mns. Legge, “all arrangements giving been made by the Union Steam Ship Company. In tho morning tho Relief Society camo to our rooms and fixed us ”p. And that’s about all there is to it. Everybody was just wonder-ful!"--Dominion.