SHIP MINED
MESSENGER KILLED DOCUMENTS SAVED LONDON, Dec. 1. , The latest report of individual bravery carries on the record of indomitable and cool courage displayed generally by the men of the merchant service. A modern tramp, which was hastily commissioned to transport a King’s messenger to a North Sea port, struck a mine 20 miles from its destination. The second mate knew that the messenger carried most important documents, wrapped within leaden covers to ensure sinking should jettisoning be necessary. He also reasoned rightly that the explosion had killed the messenger.
While shipmates hurried to the boats, he crawled below, searched through wreckage, found the document’s, and scrambled back on to the deck.
A raging fire had broken out and all the life-boats had been hurried from the vessel. He was stranded alone. He gathered spars and a rope and completed a miniature raft as the ship foundered. He was eventually picked up.
Despite hours in the freezing water, partly floating and partly swimming, the mate clung to the leaden package and delivered it safely to the proper addressee.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19391213.2.56
Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20119, 13 December 1939, Page 5
Word Count
179SHIP MINED Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20119, 13 December 1939, Page 5
Using This Item
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Gisborne Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in