DISASTER AT SEA

Waikato Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 2607, 8 April 1926, Page 6

DISASTER AT SEA

CREW OF 22 MISSING. —<- NO HOPE OF RESCUE. £;:i: ;18 0 Cable—Press Association). ' - SYDNEY, April (5. The coastal .vessel/- iDorrigo waswrecked off the coast of 'Queensland. A wireless search by land and sea tor the 'missing ci‘ew of. 22 has proved hope- ' Jess, and hopes of their rescue are now •considered slender. Captain Gray’ andhis son were’ picked up from a raft, after o-Uhours in thejwater. \ THE CAPTAIN’S SON’S STORY FEARFUL EXPERIENCES. pi ■; ' ' FOLLOWED BY SHARKS. B KISBANjK, Later. Tireless search by land and, sea for the 22 missing men ~.of the Uorrigo proved fruitless, and hopes for theii res cue are now considered slender. Many lifebelts . have been washed ashore. . m •• •' •• The son’of. Captain.: Grey . says he was asleep in the- forecastle when the fireman rushed in and shouted “She is •going 'over. ” Gray with a , dot.cn others. rush(ml op deck. Tlie Dorrigo was fhen slowly heeling over. A crew tried to launch a boat. It vapsi/.ed and. floated upside down beside the ship. Cases of benzine rattled pfV the.deck, followed by cases of fruit; ■f As the- Dorrigp took another dangermis lurch the crew jumped overboard. Captain Gray remained with the ship as -She sank. Logs shot out of the water like corks, and the sea was soon strewn, with flotsam and jetsam. ■ A stroke of luck saved the captain. As he sank si portion of the after sun- • decU iplunking, covered with canvas, rose to the surface underneath him.; Home more of the crew reached the raft of logs, arid some were on. the life-r-boat. As the afternoon advanced the parties drifted apart, and they lost plight of them at dusk. • As night closed in a school of small tslmiiks ;ho-veml round the sundcck, on : whiic-h Gray and son were floating. 'When daylight came there was not a sign of- smoke or sail. The school of small sharks had disappeared and vigil was taken up by three huge brown sharks. The Moruya turned up some hours later and rescued them. A party has left to search Fraser Island.