MATATUA IN COLLISION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4679, 26 March 1924, Page 2

MATATUA IN COLLISION.

EIGHT PERSONS KILLED. SHIP STRUCK AMIDSHIPS. NO BODIES RECOVERED. LONDON, March 24. Eight persons were killed on the s.s. Matatua, bound for Lyttelton, al Gravesend to-day. The Matatua collided with the United States steamer American Merchant. The Matatua is damaged on th? port side, and her rudder is put out of action. She was making water, and has been run ashore. The inaccessibility of the Thamesside d’strict, where the Matatua and th- American Merchant collided, greatly delayed receipt of authentic information, hut it is now clear that the disaster resulted in eight of the Mitatua’s crew being killed outright in their bunks, and three others, seriously crushed, were sent to the hospital at Gravesend. The difficulty expo; ienccd is to penetrate to the bunks where the men slept, and probably some days will elapse before the dead bodies are extricated. The Matatau has been brought on t<> Mucking Flat, though still partially

submerged. The Matatua was proceeding to Hclehuvcn, and was turning round, when, at four o’clock in the morning, the 7500 tonner American Merchant, of the United States Line, on her maiden voyage from New York, crashed into her broadside, striking amidships in the engine room. Survivors from the Matatua state th.it the scene in the forecastle was a terrible one. The American Merchant's very sharp bow cut clean tli-ough the Matatua',s plates like cutting through paper, water rushed into the hold, and the ship began to sink, but the captain managed to beach her. The American Merchant pro 7 cemled to summon the assistance of tugs from Tilbury with pieces of the Matatua's plates hanging to her bow and with her flag at half-mast. None of the Matatua's dead have been recovered. They lie in their bunks under water where they were trapped. Their names are still unknown.

The Matatua is a Shaw, Savill, and All ion Co.. Ltd., steel twin-screw steamer built by Workman Clark ami Co.. Ltd., of Belfast, in 1904. Reregistered tonnage is 8010 tons.