THE TAHITI’S END
GRAPHIC ACCOUNT. \ *'• PASSENGERS IN BOATS. tßy Telegraph--Per Press Association.) SUVA, Aug. 23. John Menzies, a passenger on the Ventura, states that the Ventura was 60 miles west of Pago Pago when she was odered to assist the Tahiti. She averaged seventeen knots speed till she arrived at the Tahiti at 10 in the morning on the Sunday, in fine weather. She lay.close in. She found the Tahiti was low at the stern, and was throwing dense black smoke from her funnel. All of her pumps were working hard, and there also were forty gallon buckets working with the aid of winches in lifting the water from Number 3 hold. Two buckets were lifted per minute. When the Tahiti sighted the Ventura all of the Tahiti’s passengers and crew were already aboard tlie' lifebpats, and were ready to board the Ventura. There was no mishap except for one canary dropped overboard. After the passengers, they transferred the- cabin luggage and portion of the mails. About 2.30 p.m. all were aboard the Ventura. Captain Toten was the last to leave the ship.
THE TAHITI’S GRAVE. Seeing there was no chance of saving the vessel, the captain took a. boat's crew, and smashed in all of the portholes of the Tahiti, then, returning to the Ventura, they drew the plugs from the lifeboats, and turned the boats adrift.
Half an hou r after, the Tahiti showed signs of sinking. Astern she was awash. Then she took a list to port, the water reaching to her deck house. Her stern was now well down, whereas her how was lifting in the air. A loud noise, of falling machinery was heard, and on the water reaching the boiler, it sent up dense volumes of black smoke and steam. The vessel s funnel then crumpled to pieces, and crashed into the sea. The foi emast cracked into several pieces and then toppled. Tlie air forward kept the vessel from sinking too rapidly. Next the boilers burst, and there wa<s a big upflow of steam, smoke and ashes. The Tahiti started her final plunge into the depths in a calm sea. With hastening" speed, she gracefully dropped out of sight, leaving in her wake, a tremendous vortex, caused by the suction and pressure of the- sea. The water was strewn with small heaps of burning cinders and other objects. Amid the seething waters, there was a big patch of whitish-looking substance,' then on the swirl subsiding, there was a calm sea again,-and there was but little visible on the spot where the liner had. made her final plunge. As the boat disappeared, the Ventura blew two whistles as a token of farewell. The crew and passengers cheered farewells. The captain gazed regretfully at the vessel which..he had commanded for some years. It was a sad sight to witness the loss of an ocean liner in a calm sea.
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Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1930, Page 6
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484THE TAHITI’S END Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1930, Page 6
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