A SEA HORROR

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1930, Page 5

A SEA HORROR

'TWO STEAMERS COLLIDE

OIL CARGO IGNITES

FORTY LIVES LOST.

Lmtt*d P'-esii Association.—By Electric

l«.egrapu.—Copyright.;

(Received this day at 9.40 a. in.) NEW YORK, June II

A report from Boston states: Thyoughout the early hours of the morning details came trickling in here or a tire following a. collision between the coastal steamer Fairfax carrying seventy passengers and .t ta./aer believed to be the Pinthis, carrying a crew of nineteen, of the Shell Oil fleet, off Sciluate, resulting in a Joss of life which is now estimated at over thirty. Both vessels were on route to Boston in a thick fog, when tho Fairfax rammed the Pinthis midship, on the port side, remaining fixed, The tanker carrying many thousand barrels of petrol immediately ‘burst into flames. 'I he passengers of the Fairfax rushing forward, the better to see the aeecient, were immediately sprayed with burning petrol. At least six, and possibly ten became blazing pyres and leaped into the sea which was also covered with, blazing oil. The tanker split - and sank very quickly. The ‘efforts to extinguish the flames on the'Fairfax were successful only after several hours’ fierce fighting. One passenger died front the effects of burns. The rescue of either the crew of the tanker or those who leaped into the sea from the Fairfax was impossible.

The radio was disabled after the initial signals had brought a sister ship of the Fairfax, the steamer Gloucester, to the scene.

The Fairfax arrived here this morn* ing with a, long list of passenger/ suffering from burns. These were taken to the hospital. Members of the crew and passengers gave a graphic account of a night of extreme horror.

Later Boston messages state the identity of the tanker is not yet determined. It is feared a crew of forty is lost in addition to eighteen of the passengers and crew of the Fairfax.

The tanker disappeared twenty minutes after the crash in a blaze of burning oil.

‘ Officers of the Fairfax estimated 'that sixteen members of the crew, all believed to be negroes, plunged over the ships rail during the fire and were drowned. The dead are now believed to be over forty.

FURTHER PARTICULARS,

(Received this day at 10 a.m.) NEW YORK, June 11.

Most of the lives were lost when in the first panic many jumped into the sea. Five ‘women,- 'three me'n and eleven of the crew disappeared. \ group of women knelt on deck in prayer during the height of the excitement, An eye-witness told of seeing a man, wife and child plunge overboard into the blazing sen,

Everyone aboard the Fairfax believed their ship was doomed. The officers helped the women and children into lifeboats, These returned when the fire subsided. One woman was hurled into the air by the crash and fell across a deck rail, limp and unconscious, Slowly her body sagged towards the burning oil-covered sen. The flnmes played about her, and just as her weight drew her downward, a passenger named Walker ran and threw his arms about the woman’s legs, but the weight was too much and the pair slid slowly over the rail to death.

A Boston report states that the tanker is believed to have been the “Pinthis,” of Full River, Massachusetts, bound for Portland. Maine, with 12,000 barrels of gasoline. It is calculated she would be at the place of collision at the time, and she has fade to reply to radio messages since the disaster. She carried nineteen men. The total death roll was placed at 45 this afternoon.