GALE SWEEPS BRITAIN.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17761, 7 December 1929, Page 5

GALE SWEEPS BRITAIN.

WRECKS ON THE COAST.

1 7 DRAMA STAGED AT PENZANCE.

AN AMAZING RESCUE.

(British Wireless). RUGBY, Dec. 5

Many lives were lost and widespread damage was done to propei’ty on land and sea by the worst storm experienced for many years. A violent south-westerly gale swept over the British Isles last night and continued with unabated fury throughout the greater part of the day.

In the Channel and the North Sea extremely heavy seas are running and much shipping has made for. shelter where available.

The fishing trawlers reached Hull in a battered condition. The crews describe the gale as being as bad as any they have ever experienced. At the height of the . t gale the collier Frances Duncan, from Cardiff for Rouen, when two miles off shore, was caught by a veritable wall of water near Penzance. She heeled over like a child’s toy, and the water closed above her. When she reappeared she was lying on her side, and sank in c uli view of the shore - and of the crew of the barque 'Alice Marie, which' was near her.

Pluck of Barque’s Crew.

Sixteen out of her crew of 21 were drowned. Most of them were trapped below, but by a miracle five were saved, thanks to the pluck and quickness and remarkable seamanship of the crew of the Alice Marie. Those on shore saw a vivid drama as they watched first the Frances Duncan’s fight with the gale, then the disaster, and finally the astonishing rescues.