ICE FORMED ON LEGS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 113, 16 May 1942, Page 5

ICE FORMED ON LEGS

SEAMAN'S ORDEAL WHEN SHIP ABANDONED (Special Correspondent) London, May 14. | Thick ice formed on the legs oi i Abie-Seaman T. H. King, of Inver- ! cargill, when lie anil thirty sailors 1 clung on to a Carley float for two ; hours when their siiip sank during j n convoy voyage. The ice prevented King from swimming towards the rescue ship. "I was on the mess-deck,” he said, “preparing for tea, when there was a terrific crash and all the lights went out. We rushed up to the upper deck and were ordered to abandon the ship., I helped to put the Carley float overboard and also helped a wounded man, but he died in the water, which was covered with fuel oil four inches thick. The water was bitterly cold, but I struggled towards the float, kicking off everything except my trousers and singlet. Then we sat, blue with the cold and with our teeth chattering, trying to keep up our spirits until we were picked up. I was never colder in all my life. Two men eventually picked me off the float and removed the ice ■ from my legs. We were stripped, massaged, given a welcome tot of rum, put between blankets, and were all right after six hours. Miraculously, I did not catch a chill, but I still feel a bit weak in the legs. It was so cold that ice formed very thickly all over the ship, for which reason we were obliged to go round playing a steam hose on every required movable part, for instance the antiaircraft guns and machinery, in order to keep them in .working order.”