MANY DISASTERS IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 4 January 1930, Page 10

MANY DISASTERS IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

HOUSES SWEPT TO SEA. AND 26 LIVES LOST. (Special to the “Star.”) VANCOUVER, November 27. Deeds of heroism, self-sacrifice and miraculous escape during the fifteen minutes when, early in the morning, a tidal wave caused by a huge earthquake under the Atlantic swept twentyfour souls to eternity on the southeastern shore of Newfoundland, are being revealed with the initiation of relief by the. Canadian Red Gross. So short was the notice that the telephone operator at the little settlement of Burin was unable to give the alarm. She escaped with her life as the telephone office was swept into the sea. As the incoming sea reached its height, houses were flung back with succeeding waves two or three times. Then, as the water receded, they went out to sea with the speed of a steamer. The story of the rescue of a baby by a Newfoundland dog is a feature of the record. This was at Port-au-Bras. where nine people were lost. The dog plunged into the sea as the house was swept away, carrying his master, wife and baby girl. The dog was sighted swimming toward the shore, the baby held high out of the water. Dumping it on the shore, where willing hands revived it, the dog dashed back into th2 water, reaching the house, only to be crushed when it collapsed. Both his master hnd mistress also perish’d. Unforgettable Incidents. The tragic sight of a woman with a lamp standing in the window of her house as it was carried out to sea was a spectacle that will long remain memorble in a chapter of unforgettable incidents. Seeing the incoming flood, a man rushed to save his family. Ilis path was blocked by another house floating by. Before his eyes his house passed by him, his wife and children in it. He was too late to save them, and the house and inmates were swallowed up. One man placed his wife on his back and, with a child under each arm, waited until his house was swept back on the crest of the wave. He jumped to safety as his house was swept out for the last time. Captain Ilollitt, of Burin, said: “I had just finished my meal, in company with the mate of the Daisy, when the wave hit Bflrin. My house is 40ft above sea-level, and the water entered the first floor to a depth of 3ft. I rushed out, and saw the harbour filled with houses and wreckage. “ The store of the Hon C. A. Bartlett, member cf the Legislative Council, which was 60ft long by 40ft wide, was lifted from its concrete foundation and carried inland for a distance of a quarter of a mile. It was stocked with winter provisions and supplies, yet not a thing was damaged. My own store was destroyed, and the stock scattered all over the harbour. Eight houses were swept away.” Sea’s Destructive Force. “The sea cut a hole sft deep and 10ft wide through a solid wall of bluestone, and created a harbour where there had not been one,” said Father Miller, a Roman Catholic priest, who had many narrow escapes as he ran from place to place, rendering assistance. The deaths totalled twenty-six. The little peninsula, a narrow outpost of Southern Newfoundland, was in a direct line with the epicentre of the break in the Fundian Fault which shook the steamship Olympic 650 miles out at sea, making the officers believe the vessel had struck a submerged wreck.