NIGHT OF TERROR ABOARD BARQUE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18016, 29 November 1926, Page 8

NIGHT OF TERROR ABOARD BARQUE.

HUGE WAVE SWEPT TWO MEN OVERBOARD. (Special to the “Star.”) SYDNEY, November 13. T ife on in and occasionally under the ocean wave, has been Cull of tribulation and hardship for the crew of the Finnish barque Killorai. during the past eight months. Leaving Newcastle, N.b.W, '''“Vi* cargo of coal for Callao South America, on April. 2 the KUioran encountered head winds all the ja) to. within a month's sail of tion. Then she was lard on her beam ends by a cyclone, and two men w rlost overboard. For two davs her crew helplessly awaited what threatened to be their en For days the weather had been bad. and the seas were mounting. Then one morning disaster came. A huge wave—officers declare it was as high as the first cross-tree —broke over the stem and swept the ship. The two men tending the wheel, Able-seamen Patterson and Aaf. were hurled overboard and not seen again. Captain Ericson and Second Officer Mattsson were washed from the poop do%vn the companionway on to the flooded main deck. The crew seized whatever was handy in the rush of water. Several of them were carried outside of the ship, where they hung on grimly until a wave put them on board again. It seemed minutes before the second officer, who clung to one of the davits, was able to regain his footing. battered by huge seas. Chief Officer Dahl and the third officer, who were at mess, had narrow escapes from drowning in the flooded cabin. The wheel, binnacle, and compass were carried away, the pump, whistle, and pin rail of the main mast were thrown aside, the sails were ripped to shreds, the coal cargo shifted, and the barque listed dangerously. . As the afternoon wore on the weather became worse. The gale howled and huge seas battered the helpless Sl) Night fell, and the crew, convinced that their last hour had come, gathered in the mess room at the suggestion of the captain, and commit ted themselves to the mercy of Him i who had stilled the storm on Galilee. The master and chief officer confer--1 red whether it would be better to await death in the cabins, decided

f that “there would be more fresh air | on the poop.”

NIGHT OF HORROR. It was a night of horror. The barque, with her precarious list, was the plaything of the elements. The crew, mustered On the poop, saw death in every big wave which vented its fury on the ship. The passing of a wave merely meant that another was at hand. It was a dread night of interminable waves. Day dawned, and the wind dropped. The hatches had stood the test. They were saved. There was work to be done in restoring what the elements had smashed so ruthlessly. There was a list of nearly 40 degrees to be righted. The water was lapping the portholes on one side, so all hands clambered through the ventilators and set about moving tons of coal. Four days passed before the ship was straightened, and, with new sails spread, resumed her voyage, guided by the lifeboat compass mounted on a flour barrel, and steered with a wheel made from capstan spars lashed together. The barque delivered her cargo of coal at Callao, and was 83 days out on the voyage back to Port Lincoln, South Australia. But still the elements fought against her. and she was forced to put in to Sydney yesterday afternoon. She had left Callao on August 25. Captain Eriksson said to-day that the vessel was 58 days out from Callao when he first passed Sydney. Since then westerly weather, often reaching gale force, had been experienced, and 31 days had been spent off the N.S.W.. Victorian and Tasmanian coasts. Four times he had entered Bass Strait, only to be blown out again. When off the Tasmanian coast he had encountered a severe electrical storm, with hail, and as there was only a fortnight’s provisions on board, and he was close to Sydney again, he decided to replenish supplies before setting oui, once more. The vessel will take a wheat cargo from Port Lincoln to Europe.