SEA TRAGEDY.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1925, Page 2

SEA TRAGEDY.

JAP STEAMER FOUNDERS. AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION VANCOUVER, Apt I 2:. The Faifuku .Marti foundered off Halifax. An ‘S.O.S.” called the Homeric. whit h witnessed the vessel sinking from ti distance. She reached the ' spot too late to save the whole crew. Forty-eight- out of sixty were lost. NEW' YORK, April 21. Hie toll of life through the sinking ot the Japanese cargo steamer Baifuku Marti in the* North Atlantic*, „ miles south and west of Sable lsalnd, is the entire crew, consisting of 38. Two rescue ships were unable to render any aid owing to raging sea. NEW YORK, April, 21. An amazing race with death was followed bv a dozen wireless stations, while the Japanese steamer. Kaifuku Marti was on route from Philadelphia to Liverpool. Rite- was laden with grain and her cargo shifted. The vessel listed thirty degrees. All the lifeboats were smashed in a terrible storm, which swept the shin with blinding snow far two days. “Now in great danger! Come quickly!’’ called the Japanese wireless operator, in describing their situation. The first signals had hardly ended, before the American liner Homeric. hotttul from New York to Europe, reported herself seventy miles' from the helpless vecssei. ' For the next three hours, the Japan-

ese? sent stirring messages as to how He waves were washing right over the sinking ship, which was expected to founder any minute. Then he reported that smoke wa-s seen. The Homeric was sighted at noon, and the Jaj'Uneso wirelessed:—“Wo cannot hold tip more than five minutes. Our decks arc awash. The men are getting lifebelts. 'They will ding to the wreckage when the ship sinks,” Excitement ran high aboard the Homeric. the' passengers lining the rails, watching the last throes of the Raifukti through their glasses. Too master tf the- Homeric wirelessed tit noon : —‘'Sighted steamer at ]0 45. M e were within three miles when she disappeared. MV searched the scene carefully, hut there weio havy seas and a high wind. Regret unable to save attv lives. The steamer witnessed: Me arrived only in time let see her sink. All hands were lost. Rescue was impossible in the heavy seas.

TUSCAN IA IN TIME. LONDON. April 22. Tbe Tusc-ania lias wirelessed that .she arrived in time.