BRAVE WELSH CAPTAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1935, Page 5

BRAVE WELSH CAPTAIN

LIFE GIVEN FOR CREW. After helping all his crew to safety, when the ship was being smashed to pieces against the Black Point rocks, off the coast of Nova Scotia, in a snowstorm, Captain Duncan D. Milne, of Cardiff, was drowned. His ship, the New - castle freighter Kenkerry (3930 tons), ran on to the rocks during the night. Its crew of 28 men, mainly from Cardiff and Port Talbot, South Wales, were rescued in an exhausted condition, after hours of hardship in a pounding gale. Following the highest traditions of the sea, Captain Milne insisted on Remaining on the sinking ship until all his crew : had got ashore in. the breeches buoy. Meanwhile, the ship split in two. When the skipper tried to get into the buoy himself he was so chilled by the intense cold during his long wait that he lost his grip and fell into the sea. A huge wave swept him to death. The Kenkerry was bound from Balti- •. more for Halifax, to pick up a cargo of grain. 'ln a blinding snowstorm she; stranded in Portuguese Cove,, about 100 yards from land. It was pitch dark, and; the crew fired rockets to summon help. Within half an hour her hold began .to fill with water and her lights failed. Heavy seas pounded over her. It was impossible to use the boats to get to the shore, which is studded with sharp rocks. Tugboats from Halifax arrived, but could not get near the doomed ship. It was then that fishermen from Portugese Cove village came to the rescue. The crew shot a line ashore and the fishermen made it fast.. One of the crew, Stanley Davis, of Port Talbot, South Wales; was the first to get into the buoy. The basket stuck halfway, however, and he was tossed into the sea. He was haul- - ed back on board. Another line was fired, and this time the breeches buoy was effective. One man after another reached safety, and then came the tragic climax of the skipper’s death. Shortly afterward the vessel disappeared.