SINKING OF THE TAHITI.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18650, 20 August 1930, Page 9

SINKING OF THE TAHITI.

Passengers Anxious Time. DRAMATIC STORY OF TRAGEDY. United Press Association—By Electrle Telegraph—Copyrlah c (Received August 19, 11.45 p.m.) VANCOUVER, August 18. Pago Pago advices state that dramatic details of the sinking of the Tahiti were related by passengers put ashore there by the Ventura. The stories reveal that the Ventura arrived just in time to rescue scores of men, women and children, who were clinging to the sloping decks of the Tahiti. Masterly seamanship by the captains and officers of both ships prevented a disaster, for the heavy swell might have proved fatal for the lifeboats, which were bound to be scattered if launched overnight. A curious feature was that the water entering the Tahiti through the shaft tunnel finally flooded the forward holds, carrying the bow down, and it was bow foremost that the liner took her last plunge. “The bulkheads were giving way, and the water rose to in-between decks scarcely fifteen feet from the main deck,” said Mr E. L. Watkins, of San Francisco, who described how the list increased each hour. “Great good fortune attended us all through, for this curious business might easily have been a terrible disaster. We underwent an awful scare for thirty-six hours. We did not know at what moment we would have to take to the boats. That is a tough outlook in a vast, unchartered sea. Before the Ventura arrived, Captain Toten ordered us away, and then we got a respite as the crew found that the water was not gaining. It was God’s mercy. The Ventura appeared hours before we expected her, but even then it was a close race, for we just managed to cheat death, that’s all. We were all grateful for the steamer Penybryn standing by, but she had not equipment to move us, and no accommodation. Lives would have been lost if we had started to transfer to her. so our officers just hung on until the Ventura hove to alongside. First the women passengers, then the men and finally the crew were transferred. When all were aboard, an attempt was made to save the mails. How the old Tahiti sagged and staggered in the restless seas, but still just managed to remain afloat. All the letters were rescued, but the newspapers and parcels were lost. The boats were returning for more parcels when all of a sudden the Tahiti lurched, took another roll, waves swept her bows which did not rise again, and then the old liner straightened to an even keel. White spray flew as tho bridge was engulfed. The stem rose with the lone port propeller hanging idle, and away she went out of sight in a boiling white whirlpool. There was an acre of splintered upper works and debris still floating as the Ventura turned and steamed away.”