WRECK OF TRAWLER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19512, 10 June 1933, Page 8

WRECK OF TRAWLER

LUCKY ESCAPE OF CREW. VESSEL BELIEVED TO BE SUNK. By TelegraDh—*>-ess Association GISBORNE. June 9. The complement of the lost trawler Serfib had the best of fortune in sighting the riding lights of the fishing launch Huia while making their way to shore in a leaky dinghy, after the abandonment of their vessel near Waipiro Bay.

This portion of the coast is noted for past shipping tragedies, and landing through the surf would have been a perilous proceeding under prevailing conditions. The Huia had left Tokomaru Bay on the previous night to seek shelter in Orange Bay Cove, at the southern extremity of Open Bay. and her owner, Jack Brennan, noted the appearance of the Serfib during the afternoon when about five miles offshore. The trawler’s bows were then high and her stern down, indicating the possibility of distress, but no signals were flying. Three hours later the Serfib’s crew drew alongside the launch Huia. and Brennan conveyed them to Tokomaru Bay, a distance of ten miles, landing them there at 9.15 p.m.

The distressed mariners hoped to proceed to Auckland to-day by the Margaret W. Coasting, a motor vessel. Reports from various points along the coast north of Waipiro Bay indicate that the vessel was not sighted during the night or early morning, confirming Captain Flett’s opinion that the Serfib did not survive long after her abandonment.

Captain Flett, a trawling master of a lifetime experience in Home and New Zealand waters, knows the coast well, and fully realised the peril of attempting a landing on Open Bay shore, but the condition of the trawler left no alternative. The water gained on the pump at the rate of eight feet in half an hour, and the ship was wallowing in the trough of a heavy swell, with occasional seas sweeping over her. When last seen the captain had no doubt that she. would sink in a short time.

Difficulty was experienced in launching the dinghy, which, owing to the lurching of the stricken trawler, was damaged on the deck fittings. Bags were put over the side of the dinghy, and she had to be bailed constantly during the long journey to shore. The crew and officers saved nothing, abandonment being left to the last moment of safety. The complement comprised—Captain Flett; mate, Black; engineer, Samuels; deck hands, Jennings. More and Whettaway; firemen, Elliott, Taylor and Howlett; cook, Henderson.

The skipper is certain that the trawler struck nothing, and the only theory to account for the sudden inrush of water was the breaking of a seacock under the engine-room. Three pumps failed to keep the water in check, and haif an hour after the first alarm the fires were put out and steam released as a precaution.