ENGINEER’S GALLANTRY

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18062, 7 March 1923, Page 5

ENGINEER’S GALLANTRY

FUMES BRAVED ON LINER. The King on the recommendation of the President of the Board of Trade, has awarded the silver medal for gallantry in saving life at sea to James Christopher Corrigan, senior second engineer of the liner Adriatic. On August 11, 1922, during a voyage from Liverpool to New York, a. violent explosion occurred in No. 3 lower hold of the Adriatic, as a result of which a .number of seamen lost their lives. When the accident happened Mr Corrigan, on learning that some of his men were still below, groped his way through smoke and fumes into the hold npd made an unproductive search for the missing men. On his return to the engine-room, Dir Corrigan, finding three men still unaccounted for, went back to the hold and carried out a further systematic search among the wreckage, which resulted in the discovery of one man, who, however, was already dead. The Board of Trade state that, although Dir Corrigan did not actually save life on this occasion, he undoubtedly incurred considerable personal risk owing to the possibility of the wreckage in the hold collapsing at any moment, and, in addition, there was danger of asphyxiation from gas fumes.