CENTAUR SURVIVORS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 217, 9 June 1943, Page 3

CENTAUR SURVIVORS

Men Praise Red Cross Help

Australian survivors of the hospital ship Centaur, torpedoed by a Japanese submarine last mouth, who have since arrived home on leave, have given enthusiaastic reports of tthe Red Cross aid received after the sinking. An able seaman from Melbourne managed to clamber on to a raft with others. As they sat on their raft, with sharks swimming close around,.the seaman saw a Red Cross container of medical kit drifting toward them and managed to salvage it. With the contents he dressed the burns of Captain Salt, the 'Torres Strait pilot, saving him terrible pain. 'When the men were finally picked up by a rescue ship and landed at Brisbane, the Red Cross met them and gave them breakfast. Eight survivors going to southern States were again met by Red Cross cars at. Sydney railway station, and were taken for a drive in the afternoon.

Later, the men were given tea and food, and were issued with quantities of cigarettes and a Red Cross, bag, containing chocolates, razor, soap, tooth brush and paste. At Melbourne, Red Cross cars again met the train and drove home the men and their welcoming relatives. A survivor said it, was the first tims in JO years of sea-going life that he had needed the Red Cross, but on this occasion it did a good job at the right time. Everything the survivors needed, apart from the travelling expenses paid by the shipping firm and some help from the Merchant Navy Club, was given by the Red Cross, he added.