RESCUE AT SEA

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 196, 17 May 1944, Page 4

RESCUE AT SEA

Survivors Of American Transport

FLYING-BOAT’S HARD TASK

The United States Navy Department has released the description of the rescue of 48 survivors ot' the S.S. Cape San Juan, a War Shipping Administration vessel, sunk in the I J acific while in the troop transport service. The rescue was carried out by a Naval Air Transport Service flying-boat manned by a PanAmerican Airways crew and commanded by Captain W. W. Moss, who has visited Auckland several times since the war began. Survivors of the Cape San Joan were taken on board the flying-boat after it had flown 300 miles out to sea. It then came down and taxied about on a difficult sea to pick up the swimming and oilcoated men. The following take-off was particularly hazardous, and the flyingboat bounced 30ft. to 50ft. from the tops of the heavy swells. The flying-boat, a twin-engined Martin Mariner, was arriving at a Pacific base on a regular trip with Navy supplies when word came of the loss of the Cape San Juan. The plane was quickly emptied of cargo, was refuelled, and had extra life rafts taken aboard. Three members of the crew were left behind to save weight, and the Mariner headed out to sea again. . Survivors were sighted aa the aircraft flew out of a rain squall. The men were swimming or clinging to pieces of wreckage. The swells were running 10ft. to 15ft high, but Captain Moss gauged them carefully and brought the Mariner down to a rough, but undamaged. landsea was not calm enough to enable the aircraft to manoeuvre close to the survivors. Instead, the flying-bouts crew threw out inflated life-rafts with lines attached, and trailed these behind as the plane taxied and tossed on the swells. Survivors from the Cape San Juan mam eged to struggle to the rafts and cling, to them till hauled alongside and nulled in through the aircraft’s side hatches. Forty-eight were all the Mariner could safely lift under the prevailing eondi tions. Two and a half tons of fuel were dumped overboard to lighten the heavilyloaded aircraft, and Captain Moss began his take-off. He eased the flying-boat on to the top of a big swell in an effort to jiurn on it and taxi along the crest for a take-off. , However, the difficult manoeuvre failed, and the plane went slamming across the waves. At 55 knots, the 23-ton craft bounced off the first swell to a height of 30ft. to 50ft, On the second bounce one wing dipped dangerously low, but Captain Moss managed to bring it up before the plane touched the water again. After five or six bounces the Mariner finally became airborne. The survivors on board were given medical treatment during the flight back to the base and were landed safely. „ . . Captain Moss is a former America? Navy pilot. He served three years in three different aircraft-carriers, and took part in the Pacific search for Amelia Harhart. He later joined Pan-American Airways, and was first officer of the Clip’ per which was caught at .Wake Island when Japan attacked the United States. Dated he evacuated personnel from the island.