A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 257, 13 January 1941, Page 8

A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE

COLLISION AT SEA TAURANGA MANI'S LUCKY ESCAPE In a letter to his parents in Tau— ranga written from a private hospital at Potts Point, Sydney, Mr Geoffrey Isherwood, who was fourthengineer of a vessel which came into collision with another ship off" Sydney Heads recently, gives a.' graphic account of the predicament in which he found himself when • the collision -.occurred. "I was perched on my mattress, on the inboard corner of what was left of my cabin looking into the water," he writes. "My bunk was gone—the rbOf:*('boat deck) had £one and the after bulkhead 1 , including the third's cabin was missing. "Naturally I thought it was limine but when I saw the other boat • standing off and I it was it collision. The third engineer wasthe luckiest man I know. He was doing his watch below in the engineroorn and said be had just sat on a stool near the generator a piece of coal out of his the stem of the other ship came through and knocked the generator ever. He did>Vt wait. The place was in darkness. He said it tooli: hijin (just 10 seconds to get to the > top of the engineroom. By that' time there was 12ft. of water in tflie engncroom and within 3 minutes there was a depth of 25ft of water in the stokehold. Luckily, the bulk-: heads fore and aft of these compartments held. Latest advice indicates that Mr Isherwood is making a good recovery from liis injuries. ■ . ■