LITTLE HOPE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 9

LITTLE HOPE.

WRECK OF DORRIGO. FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR CREW. (by cable—muss ASSOClATlON—copikight.) (AVSTEALIAN AND S.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) BRISBANE, April <5. A tireless search by land and sea for the 22 missing men of the steamer Dorrigo proved fruitless, and hopes for their rescue are now considered slender. Many lifebelts have been washed ashore.

The son of Captain Gray, who was rescued with his father on a raft, says that he was asleep in the forecastle when- a fireman rushed in and shouted: "She is going over!" Gray, with a dozen others, rushed on deck. Iho Dorrigo was then slowly heeling over.

As the crew tried to launch the boat it capsized and floated upside down beside the ship. Cases of benzine rattled off the deck, followed by cases of fruit. As the Dorrigo took another dangerous lurch, the crew jumped overboard. Captain Gray remained with the ship. As she sank, logs shot out of the water like corks, and the sea was soon strewn with flotsam and jetsam.

A stroke of luck saved the captain. As he sank, a portion of the after sundeck planking, which was covered with canvas, rose to the surfaco underneath him. Some more of the crew reached a raft of logs, and some were on the lifeboat. As the afternoon advanced, the parties drifted apart, and they lost sight of them at dusk. As night closed in, a school of small sharks hovered round the sundeck, on which Gray and his son were floating. When daylight came there was not a sign of smoke or a sail. The school of small sharks had disappeared, and the vigil was taken up by three huge brown sharks. The Moruya turned up some hours later and rescued them.

A party has left .to search Fraser Island.

Dixon, the chief steward, who was previously listed as one of the victims, signed off a few hours before the steamer sailed. His place was taken by W. Watkins.