DEVOTION TO DUTY

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

DEVOTION TO DUTY

STANDING BY BELOW. ECHO OF MANUKA WRECK. '‘The disaster to the steamer Manuka, under the command of Captain Ross Clark, fortunately without loiss of life, on .he night of Monday, Dceember 1(1, 1929, off Long Point, brings t our inindjj very vividly soma of the appalling maritime disasters of past yeans,” states the annua) report of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand institute of Marine and Power Engineers. Toe report goes on to refer to the loss of the Titanic on April 15, HT2, when not one was saved of the engineer officers 'who. in their devotion to duty, stood by bel'ow in an endeavour to keep the ' machinery going in the hope that thefe on deck might have the last chance of safety. r ueh an experience, continues the report, la one of the memory of wincu keeps green throughout a lifetime, and while the o.„rers and men on deck .-are ;U:qrljli.y cf honour a-nd praiu:.'. wht’n/ Hi fitur.tgond of: peril on the- ma, -they mpi-

hold tl dignity and courage oi manhood, the officers and men in tire engineroom, where the vital elements of progress and safety of flotation lie, are quite as worthy, with the addition that their fight for life is against greater’ odds, and therefore more desperate. The presentation oi emblems to the engineer officers of the Manuka for devotion to duty by remaining below until ordered on deck, will help ever to perpetuate and preserve that sacred heritage or the. sea, which w so eharact- tic oi the men of the British mercantile marine. Captain Ro.-6 Clark, in a letter to the Institut at the time said: ’T would like to record mv admiration of the ship’s engineers during "that trying period from the time the ship struck until all (lie passengers and cre-w were . -ifelv embarked, in the boats. In every respect, from the chief engineer down, they upheld the highest traditions of the British merchant service.” The egine n? of the Manuka were: Chief, M. E. A. Griffith; second. Mr. Ki J. McLeod; third, Mr. L. V. Jelly- ' man';' 'fourth, Mr. J. Chambers; fifth., l rt DF’Gibb; sixth, Mr. H'. ,A. .AAioe;' ■deytnihj‘'Mr; D. J. McKenzie?■