RESCUE FROM LINER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20541, 16 February 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

RESCUE FROM LINER.

Author’s Story of Wreck in Rough Sea. HIT SUBMERGED ROCK. Sailing the Caribbean in quest of material for a new book, Hendrik de Leeuw experienced the thrills of a rescue at sea when his ship hit a submerged rock off Trinidad. The. author of “ Crossroads of the Java Sea," “ Sinful Cities of the Western Worlds " and “Cities of Sin” describes here the dramatic events that followed the wrecking of the liner Vestvangen. (By HENDRIK DE LEEUW.) PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, December 11. QUICK THINKING by Captain Mattheis Oran saved the liner Vestvangen from a watery grave when it struck a submerged rock off Mateiot Point, on the northern coast of Trinidad.

The Vestvangen, which I boarded at Parimaribo on Saturday, was loaded with 2000 tons of bauxite consigned to an American port. She carried Captain Oran, a crew of twenty-eight men and six passengers, including, besides Mrs de Leeuw and myself, the captain’s wife and his daughter, aged nine; William Olyslager, a Curacao Trading Company official headed for San Salvador; and J. H. Cabrera, representing the American celcuresol.

Captain Oran, a carelul, Norwegianborn skipper, exercised extraordinary care in the turbulent waters, which were growing steadily rougher on Monday morning as we approached Mateiot Point, the northernmost point of Trinidad.

I was working in the smoking-room on my next book, “ Crossroads of the Caribbean Sea.” when I felt a jolt which threw me clear off a sofa and over a table, along with my typewriter. My first thought was that we had struck a whale. But the captain sent down a message ordering the passengers to prepare their small baggage and get into lifeboats. The ship began listing badly, leaning toward the forecastle. In less than twenty minutes we were being lowered in lifeboats in the charge of the second mate.

A strong current drew our lifeboat toward the churning propellor, but thanks to the supernatural strength of Olyslager, who stuck a hook into the ship's side, our boat steered clear of the danger and we were saved by a hair’s breadth.

Captain Oran and the balance of the crew stayed on the job, manning the pumps of the Vestvangen. The ship had struck a submerged rock, uncharted on the navigation fnap. We rowed away as fast as possible from the ship, which was lying sixty miles from Port of Spain and twenty miles from Bocas. Half the foredeck was under water. Empty oil drums were bobbing around in the ship, together with lumber, as if a hurricane had hit the vessel.

Captain Oran deftly manoeuvred the liner at full speed toward the shore, seeking a cove for shelter, and beached her w r ithin an hour. Our lifeboat was called back to the ship. Soon the heavy bauxite began mixing with water, assuming a pink colour. As the waves were getting bigger, we experienced difficulty in reboarding the Vestvangen. The passengers had barely partaken of a hasty luncheon when we were ordered on deck again. All the baggage was lined up and a second lifeboat was ordered down, filled with the baggage. Ten minutes later .two lifeboats left the ship, for the fear of an explosion grew as the engine-room became inundated. We were ordered to row away from the ship as fast as possible. Captain Oran was calm through it all. He had sent out an S.O.S. immediately after the vessel struck the jock. The liner’s agents had radioed back that a motor launch was on the way. Later the sister ship, Austvangen, loading: at Port of Spain, was reported on the way to our rescue, and other ships were reported steaming toward us at full speed. As the waves grew more turbulent, all hands in our lifeboat, including the captain’s wife arid Mrs De Leeuw, helped in handling the oars. The team work was magnificent and spirits were high. Slowly the Vestvangen leaned over, her nose digging deeper into the shallow water. All hands on the ship were ordered off, with the captain. sticking to the bridge. Shortly after 7 o’clock in the evening, the Austvangen was seen on the horizon, anchoring five miles from our position. Wireless orders came from the captain to take the lifeboat loaded with baggage in tow, and, for an hour and a half, we rowed through heavyseas until we were in sight of the Austvangen, guided by the faint rays of a crescent moon and an oil lamp, which often was extinguished by the increasing wind. Finally we reached the starboard side of the Austvangen. and, owing to the heavy seas, we had difficulty in getting to the boarding ladder. It took us half an hour to board the vessel, exhausted but happy. The Vestvangen's lights could still be seen faintly, as Captain Oran still directed the rescue work. No one was injured and nothing was lost by the passengers except a little baggage. Lloyds’ agents reported the vessel was doomed, with two big holes in the forecastle and the bauxite getting like cement. If the captain had not used his head, the ship would have sunk in deep water. The Austvangen brought us back to Port of Spain, all in good health but physically exhausted.—N.A.N.A. Copyright. _______