Passage of Peril.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 July 1922, Page 1

Passage of Peril.

WAVES 70 FEET HIGH.”

SYDNEY, Juno 10

“When man is face to face with his Maker how small he feels.”—Quotation from the private log of an officer on the steamer Otterburn. Seldom lias a steamer brought news of a storm so sensational as that through which the Otterburn passed recently. A remarkable story illustrative of tiie fortitude of seafaring men when confronted by death was told when the vessel was boarded to-day at the wheat silos.

When in the North Atlantic without al)v warning a terrific storm hurst over til,, ship. For days it held her in its grip. Hurricane and mountainous seas did their utmost to sink the staunch little trader.

During that wearisome period with death staring them in the face, the gallant British crew carried on with never a moment of sleep. Angry waves tossed the vessel as they would a cork. With the smashing of each billow against the side of the steamer tons of water swept the decks. Iron rails on the poop deck were carried away, ventilators smashed, and every object, Inshed or unlashed, found its end in the deep. It was only with the greatest peril that any man ventured on. to the open deck. All nerves were strung to their utmost when tlie hand steering gear went. It was to the hand’steering gear on the poop deck that the men were pinning their faith ; for momentarily they expected that the tempest- would carry the steamer’s bridge before it., together with the captain. Tbo waves towered to a height of 70 feet. It was - when death was staring, them in the face, so an officer remarked today, that tbo men realised bow feeble mankind was when pitted against Nature in a fury. “Wc did not think it strange nor did we think an officer a goodv-goody who wrote in liis diary, "when man is face to face with bis Maker, how small bo feels.’

“The ship’s log will bear out that we were indeed face to face with our Maker.”

Even with the ship controlled from the bridge, the greatest difficulty was experienced in keeping her head on. No lifeboat, tliev knew, could live in such

a sea. To-day the men saddened ns they told of flow lie elements claimed a victim before the storm ceased to molest the trailer. Battered liy furious torrents, the ice chest on the poop deck was torn from its lashings and burled on to the deck below. Then swiftly the gushing waters swept it toward the bulwarks. A young seaman, tlie pride of the ship, was caught a smashing blow by the revolving chest, and pinned to the bulwark. When his mates reached him his life was fast ebbing away. His jaw had been broken in three places, and his skull shattered.

From then on the storm abated, and the steamer hastened to Marseilles, where temporary repairs were effected, and the vessel was later overhauled at Cardiff. Can the sea be lashed to such a fury that the waves throw their crest 70 feet in the air? was a question freely discussed when the Otterburn reached safety and the story of her doings became known.

The officer sand men on her say that it can. Tlie master -Captain Wilsen, also has no doubts. 'And if a man of the experience of Captain Wilson says that the waves did soar to 70 feet, then who will gainsay the statement?