SUNK IN FOG

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 122, 25 May 1937, Page 6

SUNK IN FOG

IRISH SEA COLLISION

NIGHT PASSENGER STEAMER

TARANAKI INVOLVED

(From "The Post's" Representative). LONDON, April 10. Two lives were lost when the Shaw Savill and Albion motor-vessel Taranaki (8448 tons) collided during a dense fog in the Irish Sea with the Lairdsmoor (1578 tons), a night passenger steamer. ' The Lairdsmoor sank in 14 minutes. The skipper, Captain John Campbell, was killed by falling structure, and a fireman, Edward 'McBride, was drowned in a rush of thick oil when a 40-ton" oil tank burst near the stokehold. The remainder of., the crew 0f,33, together,with six passengers, were taken on" board the Taranaki, which arrived iater in Liverpool with two gaping holes in her side. The Lairdsmoor carried 48 tons of cargo and 321. cattle. -. ', ■'..- ■: )'- ■;,■, The - TaranakiV was on'her way to, Liverpool, from--Glasgow, where she had arrived on March' 18, from. New Zealand,-and the Lairdsnioor was'en route from Dublin to Glasgow. The accident occurred at : 3.22 a.m.; five miles, off: the':Wigtownshire coast, at Black Head,. and the- Eairdsmoor sent an! SOS to ../the- Pontpatrick' wireless station. ■ The Donaghadee ■-~ (Northern Ireland) lifeboat was warned and raced 21 miles across the Channel, but by the .time it arrived, passengers --andcrew had been' transferred to tha Taranaki despite ■ the difficulties of ; effecting 'rescues in, the darkness,'and fog. ABSENCE OF PANIC. There was; little, warning of .the dis-: aster" and the'six- passengers of-; the.' Lairdsmoor were asleep' in their buriks. Everyone was ordered on deck, and there was no .panic. Many of .the cattle got free and were swimming in the sea, which was v thick with oil from the burst tank. Second-Officer Daniel Fyfe and Second-Engineer James Taylor played a heroic part The last two alive on the sinking ship, they had to throw a raft overboard, and, although impeded by ,the cattle, they managed to stay afloat until picked up by the Taranaki. . Before they sought. their own safety,. however, they fastened a lifebelt round the body of the skipper in the hope .that it. Wduld be washed up. '•■•;. ■■ ■ * ■For a time .the Taranaki was bedded in -the- Lairdsmoor, and, while the passengers .and some of the, crew were getting away,, in. the ship's life-, boat, the 'crew of the: Taranaki' threw, down a. Jacob's- ladder to the'iLairds-' moor's deck : .so that the rest.; of 'the crew were;'able,to. scramble to;safety.-. One; passenger-had a- remarjcable'.escape, for, his cabin was: ;shattered--.by' the impact and he., clambered: on;t6 the deck through the smashed" bulkhead. .' ' ' .' ■ ■ ■ '■'■?. .",i ~:;-■■-;:. SURVIVORS' STORIES. ,Mrs.'.Stalker, of Glasgow,5 a stewardess on the /Lairdsmoor, described, -the. experience "as '"rathe*1 terrifying." She said she did not, however, intend to give ;up the sea as her career. .-. Mr.. E.. Carroll, whose home-.is in Edinburgh, said: "I was awakefted by a terrific crash,-which shook, the Lairdsmoor from'stem' to: stern. 'We were all Warned to get up at once, and, throwing on'what .clothes I .could,; I-made my. wayjon;-ideqkland'found;that:tjie Lairdsmo'br'fclifebqat had;' been" ed out.' VtSe&hsj.'pfitlie.'- paisenger^ 'Weife put into."this boat, and; Were rowed;tb the Tar,anaki;' which had drifted ..off after the, collision,.. The;, boat ;,then came back for the rest'r.f u-s, and'also a Taranaki'lifeboat was' sent over. '. li with some, of the ,crew,.fwas .put'-into the Lairdsmoor lifeboat and taken off." How Fireman Mcßride met his death was told by Fireman Cardwell, who said: "I was in the stokehold with McBride When there was a terrific crash. Mcßride was trimming the fire and I was standing at the bottom of the. gangway. I realised things were pretty desperate, so made at once for the ladder to climb up on deck.- I'shouted to Mcßride that she'was'going; under and that he had better follow, me. The 40-ton oil tank burst: Mcßride was drowned in the rush of thick; oil." ■ Mr. Albert Seymour, of Sandiford, Glasgow, a passenger, was able : to get out of : his • cabin i after- the. collision, but-he saw the .occupant of the next cabin clambering out,: through the wreckage of. the bulkhead. , "We: both ran..on to the', deck,", he .said. "The other passengers and the stewardess got.into the'lifeboat,; but I got; off by the Jacob's ladder.;;; It. was a: nerveracking, experience to :swing '.thirty feet at the end: of a .ladder-and with the Taranaki's side looming high"above me. " I must, pay my-tribute, "."to the crew. There was no panic, 'and everything ■ possible- -was "done- .throughout the. rescue." ■"..■.■ Tribute to. fhe cpurage of SecondOfficer Fyfe arid Second-Engineer.Tay-lor Was paid by, Mr. Andrew'Robertson, of Glasgow,.a greaser,,Wlio, after the collision, ran up ,on -deck wearing scarcely any clothing. -He said the two officers did all they, could for the skipper, putting a lifebelt, on his body. "No one," he added, "seems to know how the skipper'died, but the general belief was that he had been killed-by falling structure" when we were .hit. From; the Taranaki we, saw. the two second officers prepare. to leave the ship.' There were quite a lot of cattle .swimming in the water, which was black with the oil from our burst tank. The two officers threw a raft into the' water, arid then, jumped" for it. We wondered whether they would be'swamped by the cattle before one of the Taranaki's boats could get to them. They were covered with thick oil when they were brought aboard the Taranaki." One of.the rescued crew was Arthur O'Neill, a steward, of Glasgow. This was his fourth shipwreck.