CYCLONE BATTERS TAINUI

Taranaki Daily News, 8 August 1930, Page 9

CYCLONE BATTERS TAINUI

FIRST OFFICER OVERBOARD

TERRIFIC THREE-DAY BATTLE ROTORUA ALSO DAMAGED By Telegraph —Press Assn.—Copyright. / London, Aug. 0. A terrific three days’ battle with a cyclone, in which the steamer Tainui lost the first officer overboard and had live of the crew injured, was revealed when the battered vessel berthed at London.

Captain Hogg says the vessel carried 67 passengers and a cargo of butter and meat. When six days out from Auckland, off Pitcairn Island, the ship encountered a tremendous cyclone which, by the morning of July 4, had its centre astern, causing mountainous seas, many of which were shipped throughout the day. The two worst flooded the engineers’ quarters and lifted off the refrigerator pipe . Enormous seas shipped at 10.30 that night washed away the chief officer, Mr. Seddall.

“When the water cleared off we were able to take stock and found that Mr. Seddall was missing and that five men were injured, one with a broken arm. The sea stove in No. 3 hatch, breaking pipes and doing’ other damage. It was considered too dangerous to round the ship in view of the seas then running. In fact, apart from the darkness, Mr. Seddall was then three miles astern. Mr. Baker, the second officer, and the crew repaired the damaged hatch. “Terrific seas continued to swing the vessel like driftwood, and the wind was blowing at 90 miles an hour. There were times when I thought that the end had come. A terrific sea at 5.30 on the morning of July 5 smashed in the steerage door, flooding the third class. After that the weather moderated.”

The missing officer commanded . a minesweeper in war time and was thrice blown up. The Rotorua, which was some miles distant from the Tainui, was also damaged and three of the crew were injured.