A TALE OF THE SEA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9581, 29 June 1909, Page 1

A TALE OF THE SEA.

DISASTER ON AN AMERICAN COLLIER. MEN SUFFOCATED. A BRAVE FILIPINO. "Cnited^ press Association-i-By Eleeirio --■ . To}egr_p_Jr = r,Co_»s3.g_t»r '.'■■■ •'■'-'•" P6_tT "DARWIN." June 28. Eastern files contain details of a calamity aboard the American .naval collier Naqsbau, which arrived at Hoi^g Kong on June 5, from Cavite, Philippines. On tho voyage she met a typhoon, and shipped several huge seas, which stove the forward bulkhead. The water penetrated the paint room, where the stores got adrift. Escaping naptha caused foul gases. After the gale the chief officer, Mr Larkin, and another

officer, Mr Rapp, with some- members of the Filipino crew, went below to put things right. Subsequently Captain Carver, missing the officers, went in search. ; Then a couple of hours later the bosun went down, and. came up covered with a sticky mixture and. almost suffocated. . When, he recovered he reported that the captain, tho two officers and several of the crew were in the paint locker suffocated. Mr Saunderson, the only officer left, headed a rescue party, which could see the bodies awash, black from a mixture of tar and water. When the foul gases had somewhat cleared by means of a wind* sheet a Filipino quartermaster, De la Cruz, volunteered to go down. He was lowered down into the locker, and secured one body. Although suffering severely, and at each attempt almost overcome by the fumes • arising from the mixture of naptha and water, De la Cruz persisted in his heroic efforts, bringing up seven bodies, one by one. Efforts of resuscitation were successful in the cases of Captain Carver and one of the Filipinos, but Larkin, Rapp and threo others, Filipinos, were dead. Captain Carver was badly injured. Mr Saunderson brought the collier tb Hong Kong. _.