TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXX, Issue 8428, 19 April 1906, Page 2

TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.

Loss of the British King

(' Frhco Mail Steamer)

Boston , , 1-lth March

Suffering, mental and physical, and numerous acts of heroism in saving life rarely equalled in the records of tragedies of the sea attended the loss of the Phoenix line steamer British King, which, on Sunday last, in a raging Atlantic storm, foundered about 150 miles south of Sable Island, and carried to death twenty seven members of the crew. Thirteen were rescued from the sinking vessel by the Leyland liner Bostonian, bound from Manchester to Boston, and eleven by the tank steamer Mannheim. Five others, who had been drawn into the vortex where the British King sank, up from a frail bit of wreckage they had grasped after a desperate struggle in the whirlpool. Captain James O'Hagon, of the British King, died aboard the Bostonian from injuries sustained in trying to save the ship. The rescued brought here include:.—James Flannegan, second officer ; J. D. Crawford, chief engineer; Adolphus Brew, fourth engineer; and William J. Curry, steward. The others were coal passers and sailors, mostly Belgians, and one stowaway from New York. Two lifeboats of the Bostonian were crushed and volunteer crews were thrown into the high running seas- while engaged in the work of rescue, but all safely reached the steamer again. They were rescued by lines thrown from their own steamer. A second boat-load of rescuers was thrown into the sea, and only rescued after an hour's work by comrades. The British King sailed from New York for Antwerp on 7th March with a miscellaneous cargo, and 150 cattle. Previous to the appearance of the rescuing steamers every small boat of the British King haJfefen demolished, and there was no way o^Bcape.