Untitled

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 1, 1 July 1939, Page 29

A dramatic' story of the wreck and of how 28 men battled against heavy odds in two boats for six hours was told by Captain George Pantelides, youthful master of 'the Greek steamer Fotini Carras, which was wrecked recently oft. the Bellona Reef, between Australia^ and New Caledonia, and other members of her company. After they left the wrecked vessel the men rowed for twenty-five miles through a reef-strewn sea in the dark hi an effort to reach the rescuing vessel, which could approach no closer. They

were marooned on their own steamer for two days. The 28 men arrived at Brisbane on June 20 by the steamer Tandra, having been transferred to that vessel from the Australien, which rescued them, three miles oft* Rabaul. "The crew panicked and rushed the boats when the ship struck the second, time," Captain Pantelides said. "I and the officers had to drive them back with revolvers and belaying pins." Tke Fotini Carras struck part of an unmarked reef at midnight on Wednesday, June 7. A terrific blow shivered the ship from bow to stern. Some of the crew were sent headlong, but no one was hurt. Water gushed into the engine-room, and the wireless operator tapped messages to all ships to keep a watch for them. THE CREW PANICKS. "Brisbane was the first station to reply," said Christ Malandrakis, the operator, later. "Then I heard from an English hip, and then came a reply from the Australien, about 400 miles away. From that time the ;; . Fotini Carras was i# constant communication' with the Australien and the DeputyDirector of Navigation and Lighthouses in Brisbane. The steamer came free of the reef and the captain put her in a southerly direction. She had steamed ahead for about half an hour, when she struck again. It was then that the crew panicked and rushed the lifeboats. While the capta.in and his. officers forced them back into the ship's waist, the radio operator was at his post continuously sending out messages. The captain lectured the men and quietened them, j and they again began to obey orders. He told them he knew how long it would be safe to stay aboard. "It was not mutiny, only a momentary panic/ ; said Captain Pantelides. i In a strong wind and rough seas the 7000-ton freighter struck the reef on the port side, he, said.j Water.poured

MEN'S ORDEAL

WRECK OF FOTINI CARRAS

in then but when she struck a second time a huge gash appeared in the hull and allowed the sea free entry.

"I thought we were on South Bellona Reef, with Sandy Islet about two miles away, so I abandoned the: ship to search for the isle^," the captain said. "It was dark and we could not locate the islet, so when we returned to the Fotini Carras, and she was still afloat, we decided to risk staying on her till daybreak. . ..

"We made ourselves comfortable and waited for results from our wireless

messages. The reef was from sft to 15ft high and about 500 metres in length from north to south." V THROUGH REEF-STREWN SEA. Morning broke with the sea pound- | ing over the sloping decks. The genera, tors had given out when the engineroom flooded and the wireless operator was working on a battery set. It had a range of about 150 miles and he was able to talk to the Australien. The boilers were emptied of steam to prevent their blowing up. At 11 a.m., on June 9, the Norwegian freighter Australien sent a wireless message to say that she was standing off 20 miles south and could come no closer. The men on the Fotini Carras could' see the smoke from the Australien on: the horizon. Captain Pantelides said that they decided to take the two boats and row out. Waves were then breaking the back of the ship on the reef. "We had to row twenty-five miles, and we never knew when we should strike another rock," he said. "Long before we got to the Australien it was dark, and we had to be guided by flares and '. the searchlight from that ship. At 7.30 that night the Australien picked up the crew. Tents had to be erected on the deck for the rescued men." Just before they left the ship the officers killed the twenty goats the ship carried, hbut left v live chickens, j Forty chickens were eaten while .the crew waited to be rescued. ; j Aiigelos Pontikos, the cook, has been shipwrecked six times in his twenty years at sea. Pontikos said that he did not have trouble in cooking during this wreck. "I catch the chickens we have on board and make them into a tasty dish with spaghetti," he added. "Why should a shipwreck spoil the cooking?" ■ ■ ■■■■.. .. ■.';. ' ■'*■■ The Fotini Carras was bound for Boweri for bunkering, and thence to Dunkirk.