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Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19990, 5 November 1927, Page 7

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FERRY PASSENGERS Drowned Like Rats When (Leycliffe Went Down DIVER’S DISCOVERIES SYDNEY HARBOUR DISASTER (By Teiearraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright.) Received Nov 4. 11 p.m. (A. & N.Z.) SYDNEY, Nov 4. As th® diver continues his work on the wreckage of the ferry steamer, Greycliffe, the appalling nature of the disaster is becoming apparent. After finding four bodies, the diver found two more, and was then horrified to see 18 others buddled in another cabin. Efforts are being made to extricate them, but the task is difficult. Examination of the hull shows that it was not cut in half, though the upper works were badly smashed. When the diver commenced his operations he had only been down a few minutes when he signalled for a slate, upon which be wrote that he had discovered four bodies. Immediately a rope was lowered and the body of a young Truman was hauled to the surface, and the others were later brought up, the diver having repeatedly to come to the surface owing to the great depth in whicn he was working. After working all the morning, the diver secured an assistant, and both men, working strenuously, discovered further bodies. The work of identification is still slowly proceeding, but it will be some time before the divers are able to extricate all the bodies so far discovered from the mass of wreckage in which they are entangled. Captain Carson, the pilot who was on the Tahiti, when interviewed, refused to make any statement in connection with the disaster. Immediately after the collision the Tahiti sent a radio message to the Union Company, advising it of the disaster, and stating that the Tahiti was thoroughly seaworthy, but no official report of the events leading up to the disaster was given. Harrowing Scenes The Greycliffe had about 125 passengers when she left Circular Quay for Watson s Bay. On that trip she always carries a large number of children returning from school. Harrowing scenes at the landing stage and the hospitals continued throughout the night, people searching for relatives who had not returned home. Altogether there were 86 casualties and 29 people are still missing, with a possibility of other names being added to the list of missing, including a number of tourists who were spending a holiday in Sydney. Only a few of the passengers on board the Tahiti knew anything about the collision till it was practically over. All had heard a shrill burst from the Tahiti’s siren that immediately preceded the crash. They felt little more than a bump as the steamer crashed through the frail timbers of the ferry, and it was not till they heard the screams that they realised that something serious had occurred. Then there was a rush for the upper decks. Another passenger was watching from the bow of the vessel, when suddenly he became aware that a vessel was immediately ahead. He could see that nothing but a miracle could avert a crash, but he was not prepared for the full horror of what was to follow. A Sudden Calamity In a moment after the crash one side of the ferry had disappeared from view. The other immediaetely became alive.with screaming terrified people, some clinging frantically to stanchions, rails or anything that would afford support, clambering hopelessly upwards on the slowly submerging side of the wreck, but it was those who were in the lower cabins who were truly in desperate straits. Realising that unless they could fight free through windows or gangway openings before the vessel became submerged they must inevitably perish, they struggled madly to escape. Some achieved their object even after the vessel sank, but many were trapped. Eye-witnesses describe the suddenness of the calamity. One states that it was all over in 20 seconds. According to their testimony the two vessels were travel! irg in the same direction. The ferry boat, which was somewhat ahead, appeared to swing over. Some of those caught inside the saloon broke the windows and managed ?o get free while the Greycliffe was sinking. A passenger on board the Tahiti says: * 4 From the time we hit the ferry till she sank was less than a minute. Those on board the ferry had no time to do anything. The screaming of the women and children was terrible, but it was wonderful how everyone tried to help each other.”