HEBRIDES LASHED BY HURRICANE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 302, 22 December 1939, Page 5

HEBRIDES LASHED BY HURRICANE

VILLAGES BATTERED ) I MISSION SHIP’S ORDEAL AUCKLAND, Dec. 21. T’he graphic story of a hurricane that swept lhe New Hebrides, leveling all buildings in its path and uprooting trees, was told when lhe Melanesian Mission motor ship Southern Cross arrived in Auckland after a 15months’ trip lo the Solomons, New Hebrides and New' Britain. The Southern Cross encountered lhe full blast of lhe hurricane, and with her twin Diesel engines racing at full speed in the teeth of the 80-miles-an-hour w'ind, the vessel stood almost still, three miles off the island of Toga. The only damage was to a lifeboat which

was torn from its lashings and smashed in the raging sea. The hurricane struck the snip with little warning, said Captain T. A. MacPherson. ‘‘We’ were in the Torres Group, off the island of Hiw, on December 4, and had set a course for Uraparapara, in the Banks Group, when lhe hurricane hit us,” he sai l. "It was then 9.20 p.m. and throughout the night we sailed into the teeth ot it. By five o’clock the next morning we had travelled only 20 miles. At JO o’clock the wind had reached a velocity of 80 miles an hour and the seas were breaking oxer the bridge. The wind, which had been south-east, was blowing due south. "The ship behaved marvellou.-Jy. For a time we were worried about Ihe steering gear, but it held aod the ship rode out the hurricane like aduck. .She shipped only two le.u.y seas, but throughout, the worst of the blow she was awash. It was impossible to cook and with the exception I of some coffee that three of lhe j "boys” were able to make there was ; no food. Torrential Rain. "For hours we stood three miles off the coast of Tonga, making no headway, but holding our own. Torrential rain fell throughout the hurricane. At two o’clock the wind swung round to the south-west and dropped.” Captain MacPherson paid a tribute to the native crew, who had worked well in the emergency. He said that Port Vila, in the south, had not experienced the hurricane, bur the islands lo the north, especially Lama Langa, had suffered badly, wh'lc on the island of Aoha the settlement of Lolowai had been wiped out. The only passenger in the Southern i Cross during the hurricane was Mr. j J. Surr, one of the secretaries of the | Bishop of Melanesia, Bishop W. H. I Baddeley. The bishop was at his | headquarters at Tulagi, in the Solo- | mons,. but the remainder of the pus- j sengers had been landed at Lolowai. | The scene of devastation on the

j island of Ao’oa was described by 1 [ Rev. H. Reynolds, of Wellington, o • of the misionaries, who is on lu: "ru; 1 He stated that the night was a terrii I one. and that all buildings ha I be razed. 'These included lhe nal. church and school, also all the naii houses in the village. Heavy Lost* of Fruit. More serious, however, was (he i. of trees and fruit. Al. Lhe sca.'jl new orange grove had been esta lished and lhe fruit, on six-year- ■ trees, was ripening for the first cu Every tree was uprooted. Some we blown to the top of the mountain i land. Coconut trees were blown o\ or stripped of all their fruit or fo'.ag while bananas, mangroves and hm were ripped and haltered. Th? grour was carpeted with a thick coaling ■ fruit. Where trees were left standi', their upper branches were matte with the broken boughs of other tree beams and material from the naii\ houses and twisted sheets of iro from the roof of the church. Damage was believed to be wid< spread on the other islands, especial! those to the north, said Mr Reynold. It was thought that coconut plant. lions would suffer severely and th-a heavy Josses would result to th

growers. Lolowai is lhe central missio station of Southern Melanesia and ha a population of 150, including eigh white people. After the hurricane th Southern Cross returned and picke up her passengers, who were brough on to Vila. The ship left Vila a w? -i ago on lhe 1000-mile voyage I' Auckland, encountering fair weath° during the trip. Throughout the .1: months since she left New Zealand shdid not sight another ship. Her passengers, most of whom aeon furlough, include Sister P. Me Kenzie, Dunedin. Sister Winte-bottom Sydney, Sister N. Talbot, Timaru Miss A. N. Armstrong, Cambridge Messrs. J. Riley, Wellington, Mr Reynolds and Mr. Surr.