PERILS OF THE SEA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1678, 19 February 1913, Page 8

PERILS OF THE SEA.

—_ « :— ADRIFT IN AN OPEN BOAT. TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS. The most serious loss occasioned by the recent gale off the British coast was tho foundering of tho Danish etcamor Volmer of Copenhagen off tho Cornish Coast, only two men of the crew of 17 being saved. The captain and ono of the crow wero rescued after practically three.days, and three nights' exposure in an open boat. Tho steamer (gross tonnage 1300) carried seventeen hands, and was out of Swansea with coal for Nice. The Central News Penzanco correspondent had intervieire with Captain Oerbach, of Copenhagen, skipper, and Eindvig Trosiorviez, aged 25, of Kiel,. a member of the crew of the Volmer. Captain Oerbach explained that a gale was blowing when he sailed, but lie put to sen bocauso he feared ho would not, bo able to get his crew together again until after tho holidays. As it was, they sailed with two men absent, though the-seven-teen aboard were quite sufficient to man the ship. • , ' Tremendous Sea Broke on Board. The captain, telling his story, said:— Tho weather moderated until wo passed tho Scilly Island lights ait eight o'clock on Christmas evening. Then we began to experience the full force of tho terrible Atlantic gale. Tho waves mounted higher and higher, and we hid to keep full steam ahead in the teeth of the storm in order to bo ablo to steer at all. All night we struggled on, but at half-past ten the following 1 morning, when about 25 miles south of the Scillie3, a tremendous sea broke aboard, sweeping away everything on deck, ripping off the bulwarks, and smashing in tho hatchways. Water rushed in torrents into tho holdsand enr gine-room, putting out tho engine-room fires, and leaving the ship practically in a sinking condition. We thought our end had come. ' However, the steamer lifted herself put of the trough of tho sea, and the crew tried to cover tho hatchways. They found then that everything had been washed away, and hepo was abandoned. I seized my only chance, turned the steamer round, and let her run before the gale. For fivo hours wo drifted helplessly, and at three o'clock wo found tho steamer actually sinking beneath us.

. Wo -had been flying signals of distress, and we noticed another steamer somo distance away. I do not'think she could havo understood our position exactly, or she would havo como to our aid when we first siphted her, and hnd sho' dono so we might all have been saved. ' As sho did not como I ordered, tho boats to be lowered. The first one was smashed, and soma of tho crew were drowned. Tho last boat-capsized, and when I looked over the 6ide I.raw six men'clinging to her keel. Tho Boat had drifted away from tho Volmer, but T jumped overboard.and swam to her. Wo turned tho boat over and scrambled in. Almost diKitly afterwards we saw the Volmer sink. We made a vain attempt to reach tho othen, steamer, and then darkness fell. It was then that my men began.to dio ono after.another, until only two of us were left alive. During a terriblo thunderstorm the vivid flushes of lightning showed us two steamers, which passed us without feeing us, and left us in an agony of despair. Wo had no oars and no water, and when wo tried to get a bit'of. bread from the airtight : tank the m snatched it away from us ns-' we sat in tho boat up, to the neck almost in water. Anonles 0 f Thirst. Several times during that frightful night of horror we wero washed out of tho boat, but managed to scrainblo back again. All next day we drifted, and night touud us in tho same pitiable condition.' to afford ourselves somo siight shelter from tho blinding rain and the lashings of tho sea, wo covered ourselves with a bit' of sail,, and I believe it was that which saved us from perishing. Wo wero suffering agonies Ironi thirst, and my oom- ' panion wanted to suck tho sail to obtain relief. Knowing that tho cloth was saturated with salt water, and that it;would drivo him mad, I prevented hiin' doing so,'and thrusting my hand out caught somo rain drops, with which we moistened our lips. Throughout tho night wo : drifted, and it was not until ten o'clock on Saturday morning that we were'espied by. a sailing ship. She, under sail; could not manoeuvre to reach us, but signalled to tho Ibex V, irho camo alongsido and throw us a rope, which we had just strength to fasten round our waists. Dragged through tho sea, wo lost consciousness, and woke to find ourselves in a bunk.

Captain Oerbach, who has been on the Volmer since she left the builder's > yards, told his story witlMears running down his cheeks.

On tho arrival of the steamer Duchess of Cornwall at Falmouth, it was reported that.a terrible time had been experienced in the gale off the Lizard on' December 26. Tho vessel was making . for Falmouth to repair some damage when a tremendous sea struck her. . So heavy was tho impact that'the steamer's funnel was torn away and washed overboard. All boats were smashed, tho fires put out, cabins gutted; and tho skylight smashed in, / Large volumes of water found /their , way fcto the. vessel's hold. The' wave' washed the chief mato, Mr. W. Walquost, of Cardiff, overboard, also a seaman named Martin, of Wicklow, who was steering at tho time, both men being drowned. It was only tho heroic work of the engineers and stokers that saved the ship, for they worked up to their knees in water, and kept the fires going. • Captain Yeo had a very lucky escape from being, hurled overboard. He was standing on tho bridge with the chief mate, and only left to examine tho chart in the chartroom, when'a big sea struck the steamer,.

; The Glasgow steamer City of Lucknow, bound from Liverpool to Kurrachce, with a largo general cargo, reached Plymouth in a storm-battered condition, after exneriencing a hurricane in the Bjiy of Biscay. On Boxing Day tho 'captain was swept off the poop, and hurled down the companion to tho saloon, Another sea washed him into his cabin, and his injuries rendered him unfit for duty. Four hours later the chief officer was .knocked down by a big sea, and,had his collar-bone broken in two places. Tho vessel's shearing gear is smashed, besides other damage. '