SIMPLY OVERWHELMED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 195, 7 November 1927, Page 9

SIMPLY OVERWHELMED

FERRY CUT TO PIECES HELPLESS PASSENGERS Press Association. WELLINGTON, To-day. The wharf was crowded as the Tahiti was being berthed. Beyond a scar in the paint a few feet from the waterline and a few slight dents in the plates, not observable until the vessel was very close, there was nothing to show that the tragedy had taken place. It was apparent that everyone on board had been under intense mental strain resulting from the shock and the awful suddenness of the catastrophe and the helpless plight of the Greycliffe’s living freight. The thirty seconds during which the Greycliffe was above water after the collision had a numbing effect on all who saw it. The disaster was too big to grasp, and full realisation only came later. Nothing could convey a strong indication of the magnitude of the horrors than the reluctance with which men could be brought to speak of it. ~ , , "No one who did not see the actual occurrence could possibly visualise the full horror of it,” declared one of the Tahiti’s passengers, a well-known Wellington resident. “My wife and I were standing on the starboard side when we noticed the Greycliffe right in front of the Tahiti. In a few minutes everything was over. The mail steamer seemed simply to overwhelm the little ferryboat and cut her to pieces. “A woman in a white dress came up just opposite to us, in the midst of the wreckage. We both called to her ’Throw your arms back,’ for there was a big piece of timber behind her, but she just threw up her arms and went down a yard or two away. “A youth was hanging on to another piece of wreckage. A big bit of wood surged up against him, aim he was forced to release his hold. We never saw him again. Every second we saw a similar scene. It was too ghastly for words.”