WRECKED AT NIGHT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 244, 15 October 1932, Page 4

WRECKED AT NIGHT

AMERICAN CARGO VESSEL SURVIVOR’S THRILLING STORY \ ANCOUVER, Oct. 6. The horror of watching 35 coni panions, perish is evident iu tho tragit story told by the three survivors of thi American cargo steamer Nevada, whict was pounded to pieces ou the rocks ol Amatigmak, one of the Aleutian Is lands, off the southern coast of Alaska. The disaster occurred at night during a blinding snowstorm, and the sur vivors, their clothing crusted with ice spent two days of misery before beinjj rescued by the Dollar liner President Madison. “We were steaming at full speed,’ said James Thorsen, seaman, who told the thrilling story, “and we struck the rocks so hard that I went spinning along the dock. Amid the thrash of the waves, which broke over the ship and swept, through the howling surf, wt tried to launch the boats. “It was an impossible business from the start, but most of our men followed the boats over tho side, trying to hang on until the seas would sweep them ashore. The ship cracked under out feet. “Tho last time I saw the officers they were standing by the rail. They must have leaped over, too. I was luckier than the rest, being carried ashore. We crawled up tho beach, our clothes turning to ice, and the 48 hours we stayed there seemed a lifetime. “Finally, we could hear tho rescue ship’s sirens, but the fog camo down, and it took them .hours to find the three of us. Bill Robertson, the radio man, locked himself in the cabin. His S.O.S. was repeated many times, and he must have been drowned there.’’ The Nevada was bound from Port land to Japux.