LINERS COLLIDE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18973, 26 March 1924, Page 5

LINERS COLLIDE

DISASTER OFF GRAVESEND MATATUA PARTIALLY SUBMERGED EIGHT LIVES LOST. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Copyright. LONDON, March 24. The Shaw, Savill steamer Matatua, bound from London to Lyttelton, collided off Gravesend with the. American steamer Amerieant Merchant. The inaccessibility of the Thamesside district where the collision took place has greatly delayed the receipt of authentic information, but it is now clear that the disaster led to eight of the Matatua’s crew being killed outright in their bunks, and three seriously crushed and sent to hospital at Gravesend. The difficulty is to penetrate to the bunks where the men slept, and probably some days may elapse before the bodies can be extricated. The Matatua has been brought on to Mucking Flat, though still partially submerged. The Matatua was proceeding to Holchoven, and was turning round when, at four o’clock in the morning, the 7500-tonner American Merchant, of the United States Line, on her maiden voyage from New York, crashed into her broadside on, striking amidships in the engine-room. Survivors from the Matatua state that the scene in the forecastle was a terrible one. The American Merchant’s very sharp bow cut clean through the Matatua’s plates like paper, water rushed into the hold, and the ship began to sink, but the captain managed to beach her. The American Merchant proceeded to summon the assistance of tugs from Tilbury with pieces of the Matatua’s plates hanging to her bow, and with the flag at half-mast. The Matatua is a steamer of 8000 tons and. was built in 1904 for the Shaw, SavilL Line. She is 44 Bft long. 56ft in width, and has a depth of 30ft.

“COME UP QUICK” A NEW ZEALANDER’S STORY Received March 25, 10.45 p.m. LONDON, March 25. One of the Matatua seamen, Moore, a New Zealander, interviewed by the Daily Express, said: When the collision occurred twenty-two out of thirty-two of our men were asleep. I was going to bed when I heard a Cry “Come up quick.” I ran up in my shirt just in time to see the American Merchant cut right through the cabins. The collision sounded like an explosion. Moore said he was sleeping in the next berth to those killed. It was lucky the Yankee ship struck a glancing blow until the plates buckled and then cut halfway through the Matatua, tearing away the derrick and donkey engines. The Yankee kept her nose in the hole, giving the captain a chance to beach the Matatua. NINE BODIES RECOVERED Received March 25, 10.45 p.m. LONDON, March 24. Nine of the Matatua’s dead have been recovered. They were lying under water in their bunks where they were trapped. Their names are still unknown. FIVE BODIES RECOVERED (Sun (able). Received March 25, 10.45 p.m. LONDON, March 25. Five bodies have been recovered from the Matatua’s forecastle. The other men were probably drowned. The captain explains that the current. caused the Matatua, which was at anchor, to swerve as the American vessel approached.