AN ATLANTIC TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143771, 20 April 1912, Page 6

AN ATLANTIC TRAGEDY.

WRECK OF THE ATLANTIC. At a time when the sympathies or one auu an are suruuu uniurus vuoxe and nave just experienced tue uutolu horrors or siupwrecx, aim res attendant suiienug, turuirgn me awmr disaster to me iil-i a sea Titanic oi me unite star mne, much nan met in-i Ute m mat dangerous stretch ot ocean uetween e,..pc Alice ana Table Tsiana, so graphically named me‘ graveyard or mo mlantrc, it may do of interest to our roauers to anew that they nave amongst them in the person oi Mr. Joan Tiougson, a man wuo on the first or Apru, Tend, was wrecneu in that neigliuourliuuu, when serving as third, engineer on board mo Atlantic a ship belonging to mo same company as tno Titanic. Tu a chat with a Tieraid reporter, Mr. Tlodgson recalled some moments ol mat awtul disaster, which occurred 21 miles west ot tho cJandDorough Lightnouso, on the iNova Goast, on Golden Rock, near Halifax, not very tar # irom the scene ot the recent disaster. The Atlantic, a vessel of about bund tons sailed from Liverpool, and from the start of her voyage, encountered. heavy weather. Her human freight was comprised of some 800 German and Irish imigrants, and her crew. Having been through such rough, weather, her coal bunkers were nearly empty by the time she approached the Canadian shore, and she was making for Halifax to replenish her coal stores. When in the vicinity of land, her steam sterring gear broke down, and she had to be steered by hand, six men being required for this difficult and dangerous task. Their captain had tho reputation of being a careful and good navigator, who always slowed down during rough weather on this coast, but on this occasion he was driving his.ship at full speed, when at two o’clock in the morning, without any warning, they crashed into the rock. Mr. Hodgson had had a presentiment that something fateful was going to happen, when he came off duty at midnight. When the crash came it was so severe that he was thrown right out of his bunk. He rushed up on deck, and looking up saw tho towering snowclad rocks above them, and immediately realised that the ship was doomed. His first thought was for his engines, and he hurried below to open the safety valves. On returning to the deck, tho scene which met his gaze was too dreadful to describe, the heterogeneous mass of struggling humanity, some cursing, some praying, and all more or less paralysed with fear, and numbed with the bitter cold, and the frozen spray, which was drenching over them all. Some few yards off, was a ledge of rock on to which some fifty or sixty people-had managed to scramble. Of the 800 on board less than 200 reached the shore, and the scene on the b ach next day, when the survivors counted over 500 corpses which tho sea had thrown up, is better imagined than discribed. Mr. Hodgson walked the 21 miles across country-to Halifax, in his half frozen and clothes, where he found employment under Ismay, the father of the White Star director, who was on board the Titanic, After 38 years at sea, Mr. Hodgson ‘who, although 70 years of age, is hale and hearty, is still following his profession ns an'engineer, but amidst less dangerous surroundings.