FOG DISASTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1923, Page 3

FOG DISASTER.

LATEST CABLE NEWS

SEVEN U.S. DESTROYERS’ LOST. AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CARLE ASSOCIATION. NEW YORK, September 9. Seven [Tailed States Naval Destroyers nro piled up on rocks oil’ San Aligucl Island, and also the liner “Cuba’’ They went ashore in the worst foe ever recorded thereabouts. Twcntyiivo sailors are missing, and almost certainly tiro dead. One officer tnnl eight men from the liner ‘‘Cuba" are adrift in a small boat. It is believed the casualties will be confined to tbe.se. All the naval craft will Ibc a total loss. The officers say that they do not know whether the liner ‘‘Cuba” will lie recoverable. 'I ell sailors are suffering fiom injuries and exposure, and aro in a hospital. The disaster centres round the Arguello Light, seventy miles north of yauta Barbara.' THE LINER DISAPPEARS. NEW YORK. Sept, 9. A message from Santa Barbara, states the destroyer flotilla was in command of Captain Edward Watson, ft was travelling in formation Til'a speed of twenty knots. There was a dense fog and a heavy sea. The flagship Delphic was carried ahead by ail eccentric tide, and crashed ashore. W ithiu a few minutes six of the others beached at intervals of 250 feet. They were the Chauneey. Woodbury. -Fuller Spice. Nicholas, and Young, 'flic last named capsized within two minutes of striking, and drowned twenty-five men in their hunks, and injured another twenty. The rest of the personnel in the flotilla safely landed. The wrecked destroyers are. slowly breaking up, and already are beyond redemption. The seas are so heavy that all of them were taking in water within a few minutes.

One hundred men, cut and bruised, .. swain shorewards. Scores of the sailors, it is reported, disobeyed orders, and leaped overboard and swam ashore. Tho boatswain’s mate, I’etersdfi, of tho destroyer Young, swam to the Chauneey with a rope line, over which tho survivors escaped from the fast submerging boat. Being lost in a fog, the destroyer Bono took a different channel. .Suddenly she encountered boats from tho stranded liner “Culm” which had met witn the same fate as the destroyers, on another part of tho coast. All on the ‘'Culm” were rescued, except Ciptaiu Holland, the purser, a steward and eight others ol the steumr_,er's crow, who remained aboard to guard her silver and bullion, which aro worth two and a half million dollars. It is understood they were observed afloat in a small boat during a momentary fog lift alter too ‘‘Cuba’’ disappeared. NEW YOltK, September 10. A later message, from Anuta Barbara, says that tbo liner ‘'Cuba” lias apparently sunk, as rebel vessels have found no trace of her at the scene ol tho wreck. The casualty list remains unchanged. The survivors of the wrecked Destroyers arc encamped, under Naval discipline, near Honda. WIRELESS “.IAMB” TO BLAME. VESSELS MISDIRECTED. NEW YORK, September 10. A wireless air jamb was responsible for the disaster to tho U.S.A. destroyer squadron. Wireless vibration filled the nil, and, while speeding to the relief of the liner Cuba, the destroyer squadron was depending upon the directional wireless. In the fog, it lost its bearings and was piled by the current upon the reeks which, the commander believed were 20 miles away. The Delphi was broken into three pieces, all “V the destroyers appear total wrecks. Jphey cost £3,000,000. They were of the most modern type, and were commissioned since tho war. Each one carried live officers end over 100 men. All efforts to get. into touch with wireless from ashore were unavailable. The first news of the disaster came in the morning from some sightseers, who oberved tho destroyers from the beach, when the fog lifted. ’I hen boatloads of men began to come ashore, bringing with them 10 bodies of drowned men. Apparently the ships were travelling almost at right angles to their proper course when they struck sharp), swordlike rocks. The destroyer Young turned right over. Fourteen of her crew were badly k- injured, but were rescued and sent to hospital. Tho two .leading. vessels struck close inshore, and the others a few hundred feet out. The destroyers belonged to the “D” class, with a tonnage of 375. PECULIAR STOP PAG E. (Received this day at 9.15 a.m.b NEW YORK. Sept. Kb Tugs sent to the assistance of the liner Cuba report the vessel has entirely disappeared. The rucks where she N “struck are crowded with sea lions which greatly impeded the work of rescue. One lifeboat crew found it impossible to force their wav through a herd in the rough water, and were forced to return to the ship and try a new direction. . , Naval officers announced to-mg'u there was no chance of salvage of the seven destroyers, until the heavy surl abates. The. general opinion is they are total wrecks.