GRAPHIC STORY OF SEA RESCUE TOLD BY TUGMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17854, 24 May 1926, Page 1

GRAPHIC STORY OF SEA RESCUE TOLD BY TUGMEN.

WONGANELLA TOWED TO PORT THROUGH MOUNTAINOUS SEAS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Cop3 r right. A us. and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received Mav 24, 10.5 a.m.) BRISBANE. May 24. With the arrival of the Wonganella a graphic story is told of the rescue by the tug St Giles. Two days out from Newcastle, bound to Ocean Island, the Wonganella ran into dirty wea.ther when about 160 miles east of Sandy Cape and. two hours before dawn her propeller shaft snapped in the tube. Th« sHip lay helpless. By noon the wind had increased to a moderate gale and in its force the ship rolled heavily and drifted closer and closer to the Queensland coast, at the rate of three miles hourly. On Sunday morning the tempest* increased to its full fury an£ the vessel rolled alarmingly at times in the seas, some of which were forty feet high.

At 3.26 in the afternoon, with Sandy Cape only thirty miles away, an S.O.S. was sent out and the steamer Queda arrived at midnight. With such a sea running, the task of getting a line aboard proved impossible in the darkness. At daylight the Queda was preparing to put a line aboard the Wonganella when she was advised by the latter that her owners were sending a tug and as the wind had changed and was blowing off shore, there was no need for her to stand by.

The Queda then resumed her voyage, but as the weather v again became stormy she returned and stood by till the tug arrived.

The tug’s crew state that on the journe} r out the tug was continually awash and was engulfed by mountainous seas. Nobody aboard had much sleep for three days. Finally they arrived at the Wonganella and got a line aboard with difficulty.

Five hours later it snapped and they had to wait until morning, when another line was put aboard. That night the line again parted, but communication was restored the following morning. The weather then improved and they successfully made Brisbane.