FERRY STEAER RIPPED ASUNDER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 193, 4 November 1927, Page 1

FERRY STEAER RIPPED ASUNDER

Run Down By Mail Boat

Fearful Tragedy in Sydney Harbour

Death-List Will Approximate Forty

•TURNED over and ripped asunder by the sharp bow of the big mail steamer Tahiti, a ferry steamer, the Greycliffe, with 125 passengers aboard, sank within a minute in Sydney Harbour yesterday afternoon. Many perished. Eleven bodies have been recovered, andit is likely that 29 persons who are missing also perished. Six of the 50 who were taken to hospital g,re critically injured. A scene tragic and terrible is described by eye-witnesses. The Tahiti struck the ferry steamer amidships and tore her in halves, so that the bow floated by on one side of the liner , and the stern on the other. There were many schoolchildren and women on the Greycliffe, and it was their fearful screams as the boat quickly sank, after the terrible splintering sound of the collision, that told the Tahiti passengers of the tragedy—the worst that has happened in Sydney Harbour.

By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Reed. 1.30 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. ypHE steamer Tahiti had left the - 1 - wharf bound for Wellington, and was passing Bradley Head, when she crashed into the Greycliffe. The casualty list, so far as it can be made out, is as follows: DEAD Mrs. Mary Terry, William Renton. Mrs. Elizabeth Coombes. Mrs. Elsie Ramsay. Mrs. Williams. Mrs. Mabel Carroll, 54. Marjory Ellen Girand, 13, a schoolgirl. • Henry Thomas Thompson, 48. J. T. Treadgold, 72. Mrs. Bryant, of Wellington, N.S.W. Mrs. Purnell, Watson’s Bay. MISSING Surgeon Lieut.-Commander W. Paradice. Dr. C. W. Reid, chief quarantine officer. Dr. R. Lee Brown. R. Wright. Alfred Barker. Charles Garrett. Bernard Landers. C. Wolfe. C. Bloom. Mrs. John Corby and daughter. John Bagg. —. Wright, a girl. Eight naval ratings. Eight others. " CRITICALLY INJURED Marie Aria. Ivy Stewart. James Carruthers. Mrs. Molly Jones. Dorothy Sully. A child, unidentified. Most of the victims belonged to the suburb of Vaucluse. There were harrowing scenes at the landing stage and in the hotpitais. Throughout the night people were searching for their relatives who had not returned home. There is a possibility of other names being added to the list of the missing, including a number of tourists who were holidaying in Sydney. A diver who descended to the Greycliffe found four bodies in the wreckage. Divers are still at work. Altogether there are 86 casualties. Captain Williams was wrongly included in the earlier list of the missing. He returned home safely. Over 50 persons were taken to hospital. Most of them are only slightly injured, but others are in a critical condition. William Renton, one of the dpad, was a chief petty officer of the warship Penguin.—A. and N.Z.

TERRIBLE CONFUSION

SHIP’S BOILER BURSTS HEROIC RESCUES

Reed. 11 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. The accident is described as the worst that has ever occurred in Sydney Harbour. it is feared that a large number of the missing, if not all of them, will be dead. A diver is to be sent down to the Greycliffe to examine the cabins. The ferry boat had about 125 passengers when she left Circular Quay for Watson’s Bay. On that trip she always carries a large number of children returning from school. Many men from the Garden Island naval depot were picked up at Garden Island. The collision occurred at a point nearly opposite Bradley’s Head.. Both the Greycliffe and the Tahiti were travelling in the same direction. The collision occurred so suddenly that the

passengers of the Tahiti did not realise what had happened. Screams from the women and children on the stricken ferry rudely enlightened them. Apparently the Greycliffe was broadside on to the mail steamer at the moment of impact. The sharp bow of the Tahiti bit into the wooden superstructure of the ferry boat, pushing it forward, turning it over, and then tearing right through the vessel amidships, one half of the Greycliffe going onpthe south side of the Tahiti, and the other on the north. In a moment all was confusion. Ter-

rible scenes were witnessed as, the ferry passengers sought to free themselves from the wreckage, which quickly sank. In the engineroom the boiler burst as it became immersed, adding further to the terrors of the situation for the unfortunate passengers. A fireman from the Tahiti dived overboard and rescued two children, and assisted others. The Tahiti swept on for some distance after cutting through the Greycliffe before she could pull up. Eventually she anchored, and lowered her boats to go to the rescue of the survivors. The Tahiti is undamaged Only the scratched paint on the bow is the noticeable result of the collision.

HOPELESS SCRAMBLE

VESSEL SINKS FAST

Only a few passengers aboard the Tahiti knew anything about the collision till it was practically over. All had heard the shrill burst from the Tahiti’s siren that immediately preceded the crash. They felt little more

than a bump as the giant mail steamer crashed through the frail timbers of the ferry. It was not till they heard the screams that they realised that something serious had occurred. Then there was a rush for the upper decks. One passenger of the Tahiti said: “Looking over the side, I could see the ferry slowly turning over and then split in halves. One piece swept by where 1 ,waa standing. It was ter-

rible to hear the women and children screaming.” Another passenger was watching from the bow of the vessel when he suddenly became aware of a second vessel immediately ahead. He could see that nothing but a miracle could avert the crash, but he was not prepared for the full horror of what was to follow. In a moment after the crash one side of the ferry had disappeared from view. The other immediately became alive with scrambling, terrified people, some clinging frantically to stanchions and rails, and anything that would afford support, and clambering hopelessly upwards on the slowly submerging side of the wreck. But it was those who were in the lower cabins who were truly in desperate straits. Realising that unless they could fight free through the windows or the gangway-openings before the vessel became submerged, they must inevitably perish, they struggled madly to escape. Some achieved their object even after the vessel sank, but It is feared that many were trapped. A search of the debris was carried out by means of a searchlight till a late hour, when it was abandoned till morning. : Other eye-witnesses describe the suddenness of the calamity. One 'states that it was all over in 20 seconds. • According to their testimony the two vessels were 'travelling in the same direction. The ferry boat, which was somewhat ahead, appeared to swing over, and the Tahiti crashed with her. Some of those caught inside the saloon broke the windows and managed to get free, while the Greycliffe was sinking. A passenger aboard the Tahiti says: "From the time we hit the ferry till she sank was less than a minute. Those aboard the ferry had no time to do anything. The screaming of the women and children was terrible, but it was wonderful how all of them tried to help each other. The Tihiti’s passengers threw over lifebelts and rafts.”

PATHETIC SCENES

PARENTS RUSH TO QUAY A great number of children were on board the Greycliffe. They were returning home from school. Pathetic scenes were witnessed when the parents of these children, learning of the disaster, rushed to the quay where the survivors and victims were being landed. As the victims were picked up they were rushed to Man-o’war Steps.

where efforts to resuscitate them were made. There were many heroic attempts to rescue the ferry passengers. Naval men and civilians dived from launches in an endeavour to save sinking mc:wemen and children. A number of passengers were serionsly injured by ftyir.g timber when the Tahiti struck the ferry steamer. The latter was out right dQvwa ta the wster»i|ns.

Many of the people who were taken to Man-o’-war Steps by the rescuing launches were in such a condition that they could not be placed in the ambulances, and efforts had to be made to resuscitate them on the spot. The news of the disaster soon spread throughout the city and enormous crowds congregated on the waterfront waiting for the rescue parties to return. The impact was so severe that the survivors say it was aimost impossible for anyone on board the Greycliffe to have escaped injury. The Tahiti, on board of which were Archbishop Redwood and the New Zealand cricketers, finally cleared the Heads at 8 p.m.—A. and N.Z.

PILOT IN CHARGE

UNION COMPANY ADVICES Press Association. WELLINGTON, Thursday. In connection with the Sydney Harlir tragedy the Union Company's cad office in Wellington has been informed that the Tahiti at the time of i the collision was in the charge of a j compulsory harbour pilot. ! The Tahiti has for some time past |been jg fe M.