CAROLS ON A WRECK

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8350, 10 February 1913, Page 3

CAROLS ON A WRECK

PASSENGERS’ CHRISTMAS DAY OX A LINER. WAITING FOR LIFEBOATS. TREMENDOUS SEAS MAKE WRECK UNAPPROACHABLE. LONDON, December 29. Christmas 1912 is nol likely to be forgotten in a hurry by the passengers and crew of the United Fruit Company’s steamer Turrialba, which went ashore in a blinding snowstorm off Barnogat; on the New Jersey coast. The Turrialba, which is one of the new 5000-lon freight and passenger-carry-ing liners which ply between the West Indies and New York, left Kingston, Jamaica, with over 100 first-class passengers, most of whom were hurrying to spend Christmas with friends and relatives on American soil. The weather was bad, however, and a fierce gale sprang up on Monday afternoon, the vessel having to fight her way through a blinding snowstorm. Navigation became a matter of the utmost difficulty, and hardy travellers were scarcely surprised when she struck a shoal near the entrance to Barnegat Bay. There was no panic, for the vessel is furnished with wireless apparatus, and the officers and crew were able to assure the passengers that messages asking for help had been dispatched and acknowledged .by the land wireless stations at Sandy Hook and Atlantic City. There were many anxious hours of waiting, however, for owing to the snowstorm the tugs and lifeboats which quickly started to the rescue were unable to locate the vessel, and great alarm was felt when one tug returned without having been able to find any trace of her. The Turrialba’s passengers and crew displayed the greatest courage and selfcontrol under most trying circumstances. Christmas Eve was celebrated with carols while the rescue ships were groping round in the snow, and the stewards, apologising on behalf of the captain for the delay, announced that the cooks were preparing Christmas puddings and mince pies. Hence it was a fairly cheerful crowd of distressed mariners which watched the arrival of the first lifeboat. Tlie seas were running so high that it was impossible to approach the wreck for many hours, and despite the terrific pounding to which the Turrialba was being subjected by the waves, it was, perhaps, the rescuers who were in most danger during the long night vigil. The U.S. Revenue cutter Seneca managed to get near enough to take off the passengers by means of her small boats. The work of transhipment was attended by the greatest danger, but cluck and good seamanship pained the day, and all were got off without much more than a good wetting. The Turrialba, which carries a cargo of coffee and bananas valued at over £20,000. is still on the shoal, but despite the fact that her stern is badly damaged, her commander hopes to refloat her with the assistance of the salvage tugs which are standing by.