HEAVY FATALITY
-SHIP STRIKES ROCK IN STORM MEN WATCH COMRADES DROWN. VANCOUVER, October 7. The horror of watching their thirtyfive companions perish is evident in the tragic story told by the three survivors of the American cargo steamer Nevada, which was pounded to pieces on the rocks at Am-atigmak, one of the Aleutian Islands, off the southern coast of Alaska. . The disaster occurred on Tuesday night during a blinding snow,storm, and the survivors, their clothing crusted with ice, spent two days of misery before being rescued by the Dollar liner, President Madison. “We were steaming -at full speed,” said James Thorsen, seaman, who told the thrilling story, “and we struck the rocks so hard that I went spinning along the deck. Amid the thrash of the waves, which broke over the ship■and swept through the howling surf, we tried to launch the boats. It was an impossible business from the start, but most of our men followed the boats over the side, trying to hang on •until the seas would sweep them ashore. The ship cracked under our feet. Tile last time I saw the officers they were standing by the rail. They must have leaped over, too. , “I was luckier than the rest, being carried ashore. JVe crawled up the beach, our clothes turning to ice, and the 48 hour's we stayed there seemed a life-time. Finally, we coukl hear the rescue ship’s sirens, but the fog came down, and it took them hours to find three of ns.
“Bill Robertson, the radio man, locked himself in the cabin. His S-OS was repeated many times and he must have been drowned there.” The Nevada Was bound; from Portland to Japan.
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Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1932, Page 3
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281HEAVY FATALITY Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1932, Page 3
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