NIGHTMARE AT SEA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 258, 28 September 1940, Page 7

NIGHTMARE AT SEA.

ENEMY SUBMARINE’S VICTIMS

SURVIVORS’ EXPERIENCES

LONDON, Sept. 27

When they were lauded, tlic survivors from the City of Benares, the evacuee ship which was torpedoed m the Atlantic on September 17, said the lifeboat’s rations and water were exhausted and they were preparing to face death when they heard the roar of the Sunderland flying-boat’s engines.

The survivors include a number of members of the crew, all of whom yvere admitted to hospital, the millionaire Polish shipping magnate, M. Bohdau Nagorski, a Roman Catholic priest, Father O’Sullivan, and a Londoner, Miss Mary Cornish, aged 21. The two last-named were children’s escorts.

M. Nagorski said a ship was sighted on the sixth day. “We signalled frantically,” lie said, “but it passed on without seeing the lifeboat. The children behaved magnificently. After- two days we discovered a sail in the locker with which, and with the aid of oars, we made good headway. The officer decided to steer east in the hone of reaching the coast.. The next two days were like a nightmare. Heavy seas broke over time after time • and it took all our enorts to prevent the children from being washed overhoard.”

MEAGRE RATIONS,

Howard Clayton, aged 11, said; “We had a terrible time the first night. AVe saw other floating rafts at daybreak and picked up a number of survivors till the boat became rather crowded. Miss Cornish took charge right away and dealt out. food and water. AVe did not have breakfast any day. The first meal was lunch, when we were given half a biscuit and sometimes a piece of sardine and a little meat.

“Once daily each of us received one-eighth of a peach and a little water. This had to do us all afternoon. For tea we received another biscuit and water. There was also condensed milk, but we did not take it because we discovered it thickened the saliva and made us terribly thirsty. One of the boys first sighted the Sunderland when it was a speck miles away. “Miss Cornish was a wonder. She massaged our feet to prevent them being affected by the water and the cold. The crew of the warship gave us clothes and we had a great time coming home.” SUNDERLAND SIGHTED.

Kenneth Sparks, aged 11, said: “Rowing all night was the worst. All the boys took turns and also turns at resting under canvas in the bow, where there was room for three. 1 was the first to see the Sunderland. Father O’Sullivan began praying it would see us. AH the boys joined in. A seaman signalled the plane and it answered. Some of us began to cry. Everyone was lifted aboard tbe warship. AVe could not walk because we had not stood up since getting into the lifeboat.”

The fourth officer of the City of Benares, Mr R. M. Cooper, commanded the lifeboat and navigated by means of a compass and the sun. Survivors agree that tbe hoys owe their Jives to Mjss Cornish who, crouched in a pitifully confined space, massaged their limbs and improvised exercises to keep the children warm. She was the only woman in the lifeboat.

Miss Cornish paid a high tribute to the children, who, she said, never complained even when they could not eat dry biscuits because they were too thirsty. Miss Cornish said : “The main problem was to keep the boys’ circulation going in the bitter cold. Our most engrossing pastime was planning the meals we would have after rescue. AVe lost all account of time after two days.” All tbe children were Government evacuees.