OCEANA FOUNDERS.
AFTER A COLLISON
London, March 17
A collision took place at Beachy Head between the German barque Pisagua, and the P. and O. steamer Oceana, of 6610 tons, knots.
The vessels collided in the darkness. There were over 200 passengers aboard the Oceana. One boat was swamped, but it is believed the occupants were saved.
A Channel steamer secured the passengers ol the Oceana, and was towing the vessel to Dover, when she foundered off Dungeness. She had a million in specie aboard.
The Pisagua’s damage is slight,
The Oceana carried a crew of 280 and 40 passengers. The remainder of her passengers intended to join her at Marseilles. It is estimated that four passengers were drowned, The bodies of a stewardess, a Lascar and a lady have been found. Possibly half a dozen of the crew perished.
There was a terrific crash when the vessels collided. A hole twenty feet wide was made by the Oceana, and a great inrush of water occurred.
The discipline of the officers and the European section of the crew was exemplary, but the Lascars huddled together, alternately wailing and screaming, and terrifying the otherwise courageous women folk, who were awaiting their turn in the boats as patiently as the males.
Life belts were distributed and there was ample boat accommodation. The swamping of the first boat is attributed to an accident with a block rope. Miss Macfarlane, a clergyman’s daughter, was the only occupant, and she was rescued. It is stated that her lather and mother and some ladies were drowned.
Thirty-two passengers arrived at London last night. Their clothes consisted of blankets and towels, and some were bare-headed.
The ship’s carpenter was lying in his berth at the moment of the collision, and had his leg smashed. A passenger had his arm fractured.
The captain and the remainder of the crew quitted the Oceana only when she was settling. Within twenty minutes the vessel healed over, the stern rising and a dense smoke announced that an explosion had taken place. She lies on an even keel.
The Pisagua’s damages are worse than was originally thought. She arrived at Dover in a sinking condition.
The Oceana sank six miles off Eastbourne, It is now believed that seventeen were drowned. The officers of the German barque Pisagua, with which the Oceana collided, paid a tribute to the coolness of the Oceana’s officers, adding that the captain behaved with the greatest presence of mind, like all British captains.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19120319.2.14
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1020, 19 March 1912, Page 3
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415OCEANA FOUNDERS. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1020, 19 March 1912, Page 3
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