FIFTEEN DAYS ON RAFT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 92, 23 July 1943, Page 3

FIFTEEN DAYS ON RAFT

AS TOLD BY SURVIVOR ''Even before tlie convoy left port, -1 had a feeling that things were going to be tough on this trip. For one thing, my mother was'worried. She didn't say so, but I sensed it. It wasn't my Atlantic convoy,, either. I'd been on British merchant ships ever since the war began. If she had been apprehensive before, she had never let on. But she was uneasy this time, I knew. And. so was I." Stanley Powell, a seagoing vetcran of 21 years, was speaking. His face lost its boyishness and appeared almost drawn,, as he recalled the bleak days, the cold,, wild nights when he and his comrades, huddled on a life raft that tossed like a chip on the vast Atlantic. To get the story took a bit of persuasion, writes Josephine Ripley in the Christian Science Monitor. It ■was not a pleasant one to recall. Yet. if his experience might give heart to someone else in a tight spot, help them to hold on to life and hope, he would talk. If it would, help folks to realise more keenly what a tough proposition this Avar really is—then its telling might be justified. So he went on. First Bad Mishap "We set out in a rough sea, with the wind whipping the. ocean liike an egg beater. Our vessel bucked and rolled as it swung into the con- 1 xoy. Things seemed to go wrong on that ship from the first—little things. But it wasn't until we'd been out nearly two weeks that we had our first bad mishap. "We'd, been cutting through a heavy fog for about 1(5 hours. I'd just come off the watch and turned in when there came a terrific jolt. I grabbed my lifebelt and rushed topside, thinking sure it was a torpedo. "It wasn't? But it Avas almost as had. We had smashed head on into the ship in front of us. It all. happened in a Hash, and the ship Avas gone like a phantom. Our bow Avas smashed in and the forward compartments tilled Avith water. We found we could jjrocced slowly under our own steam, but had to drop out of the convoy. "There avc Avere without the protection of our cruisers—crippled, unprotected, a perfect target for the U-boats. To make matters worse, the fog lifted shortly afterward'and the next da3 T I( picked up the warning that tAvo subs Avere in the Aicinity. We redoubled the Avateh, but we never saw-the submarine or the torpedo that got us. " Sank in Three Minutes "Our ship rolled OA r er and sank within three minutes. There Avasn't even time to send, out an S.O-S. I just managed to get my preserver on,, grab the small portable radio transmitter and jump. 'T came up, gasping and choking in a heaA 7 y slick of Diesel oil. Four life rafts had been blown free Avith the explosion, aiid a capsized lifeboat to Avhicii three men were clinging. I swam to one of the rafts. Two others pulled themsch-e.s up beside me, and Ave looiked around. There Avere three rafts, with three men on each, and the overturned boat. The fourth raft got away. Twelve left of a crew of 411 "We managed to manoeuvre the rafts together and fastened them. Prospects of rescue seemed good,, and wc were not in despair. It wouldn't be. long, of course, we assured each other. There'd be ships. Food provisions seemed ample, five one-pound tins of malted milk tabJets, three one-pound tins of chocolate squares, six pounds of. hard biscuits, and live, gallons of water on each raft.

"We settled down and tried to dry ourselves in the sun and wipe the oil "off our faccs and lacerated hands. We took account of our supplies;, worked out a system of rationing, organised a sort of shipboard routine, and all was ciuiet until the next day, when a shout from one of the men on watch brought us ail bolt upright. "He was pointing at the horizon, shouting and waving. A low-llj T ing| bomber hummed across the sky. We waved franticaMy and screamed at it. I fumbled with the radio transmitter, tiding to send out a signal. Jjut the thing wouldn't work. "The plane disappeared, and we sat back exhausted. Meantime, the jfooys who had been perched on the liccl of the lifeboat managed to get it righted and climb in. *'On the third day, things took a turn for the worse. A storm was blowing up and Ave decided it would be wiser to separate Liu- jails. They

might pound each other to pieces in a heavy sea. Good-byes Avere said. We hardly expected to see each other again. Some of tli® boys swapped messages for families that the surviA T ors could pass along. "Three times that night, avc were thrown into the sea. And each time battled our Avay back to the raft. In the morning Ave looked around for the others and shouted Avith joy as AA T e accounted for each raft and its crcAV. But the lifeboat had disappeared. "We began to cut down on our rations now, to catch what little rain Avater avc could, to add to Avliat AA r e had. Nights were the worst of all. We AA r ould fall olf to sleep and | dream of being home. It Avas horrible to AvaJken and realise Avhere avc | Avere! SAvam to Get Warm "Our clothes Avere rain-soaked and cold. Often Ave would jump into the sea and swim around to get Avarm, for Ave Avere drifting in the Gulf Stream. W r c liA 7 ed for the days Avhcn the sun came out and avc could, get dry for a ■ few hours. Even when there Avas no rain, the dew Avas heavy at night and soaked us to the skin. "1 used to sit by the hour and Avateh the fish play around the raft. I'd try to spear them Avith a knife, but. Avas never successful. One. day avc drank same sea water. It didn't seem to affect us. Someone pulled in a clump of seaAveed and ate it. I didn't. I wasn't ravenous enough for that. "As days Avcnt on,, our life, took on a simple routine. In the morning we'd paddle up to the other rafts to see how things Avere going. At night Ave sang hymns, then we'd pray. We prayed for rescue, for strength to keep on, for those AA'e'd loved at home. One of the boys had been in the Salvation Army earlier in his life. All this came easy to him. "But the other man —older than the. rest of us—probably hadn't seen the inside of a church for years. He Avcnt at it as earnestly as a deacon, though. In fact, he became so concerned about the error of his former Avays that he AA'ent off into long, lurid confessions, and promised the Deity a life of blameless conduct from noAV on in return for rescue. "On the sixth day avc lost sight of one of the rafts, but two of us still remained together. On the seventh, aac Avoke to d.iscoA r er that the others had ripped off a couple of boards and rigged a sort of mast, Avith a tattered shirt as a signal. "On the tenth day,, one of the men became delirious. We tried to talk to" him, but it Avas no use,, so Ave tool'v one of the fellows on his raft OA r er Avith us. The other remained to try to restrain his mate, but he finally Avent over the side. "Before Ave could take the survivor off,a heavj r mist sAve.pt over the sea and when it lifted a feAA T hours later all that Avas left of the other raft was broken pieces. We hauled in one of the buoyancy tanks that floated by. 1 think that really saved our IIA'CS. "We. cut it open and used it for a sort of sleeping bag. It Avas lined with kapok, and tAvo of us could manage to squeeze in and keep warm for a while. Then Ave'd get out and let the other two have it. "Our clothes Avere seldom dry. Nights AA'ere cold, bleak nightmares with only the namnv slats of the raft betAveen us and the sea. Food and Avater Avere desperately loav. The biscuits were green Avith mouldWc didn't talk much. But, in spite of all this, I didn't, seem tjqj feel werfk, and I paddled for hours in what avc figured Avas the direction of land.

"This Was the Day!" "The tfith day broke with a burst of brilliant sunshine. We took heart. This was the clay! we told each other. The sea was calm and a gentle swell seemed to propel us along easily in a westerly direction Land was miles away, we knew, but we were approaching it, and. there was comfort in that. We never doubted somehow that we would be rescued eventually. Our prayers had sustained us. God was near and good. "In the afternoon we saw a sight that made us catch our breath. It was a trace of smoke on the horizon. Then we heard the. hum of an aeroplane. It wasn't an hallucination. We could see it! We ripped off our shirts and waved them, shouting as; iJL' the pilot could hear over the sea and the wind and roar of his motor"Ile wasn't headed in_ our direction. He was passing by. We almost sobbed in dismay. Then sharply lie banked and turned. He was coming toward us. We waved wildly. lie

had to see us. He had to! "Now he circled low, signalled with - his blinkers, and llew back toward the ship on the-horizon, flaslir ing the word, 'Survivors ahead. Follow me." "We cried and we thanked God. We chipped each other 011 the back and. shooik hands. "Two and a half hours later we were picked up. Later the same ship picked up the lifeboat, with one survivor of its original crew" of three. What did we want first? Water! We couldnt get enough to dirnk. Then a bath. We longed desperately for sleep,, but it was a long time before Ave fell into a natural, restful sleep."