EXPLOSION AT SEA

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1931, Page 5

EXPLOSION AT SEA

SEALING SHIP VIKING. BELIEVED TO BE LOST. [United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.] (Received this day at 9 a.m.) ST. JOHNS. (Newfoundland), March 16. Unconfirmed reports to-day said the sealing ship, Viking, Captain Abraham Ivean, with Variek Frisscll, film director, and a crew of one hundred and fifty, exploded at sea, near White Bay, on the north coast of Newfoundland. The report stated a blast was heard on Saturday night, and the ship seemed to be burning. The Viking was the only sealer in neighbourhood. Three vessels are making a search. NEW YORK, March hi 6. Varivco Frisscll was a Yale graduate and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He conducted explorations along Labrador Coast for several years, and headed an expedition in 1930, returning in March, with photographic and sound records of Labrador sealers at work, capturing seals on the ice. j It is believed in motion picture circles that Fl'issell is now in Labrador making another picture. | A later message from St. Johns states messages reaching the Government! from White Bay reported surviving | members of the crew of the unidentt-1 fled vessel which was burned to the water’s edge, and are believed to be the Viking’s are marooned on a loose ice-packs in the North Atlantic, which is drifting seawards.

FURTHER. PARTICULARS. (Received this dav at 9.40 a.m.l NEW YORK, March 16. Bowring Brothers Ltd., owners of the Sealer Viking, received word to-day that an explosion killed 20 persons. According to information brought by men walking ashore, all the crew have not landed yet. Steamers with doctors and nurses have been despatched. The information is meagre. ST. JOHNS, (Newfoundland), March 16. Premier Squires read in the Assembly, a message from Horse Island stating portion of the crew of the Viking had arrived, and reporting the men were on an ice floe which broke up. The Assembly then adjourned.