STRICKEN STEAMER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 510, 13 November 1928, Page 1

STRICKEN STEAMER

P assengers and Crew of Liner Abandon Her For Lifeboats DRAMATIC RESCUE RACE A DRAMATIC story of the sea is told in messages from New York. . ,^ le li ner "V estris, canting -deeply over through her cargo shitting, was abandoned at sea, after sending out frantic calls for help. Her passengers and crew, numbering 337, were at last advices braving a rough sea in the lifeboats, and seven ships were racing to aid them.

(United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service)

Reed. 9.38 a.m. NEW YORK. Monday. Tlxe Lamport-Holt liner Vestris, | bound from New York for Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, with 127 passengers and a crew of 210 men, has been abandoned at sea about 300 miles south-east of New York. According to word received by a United States radio operator, the Vestris sent an S.O.S. shortly after ten o’clock in the morning, and continued frantic appeals for help for over three hours. The last message, received at 1.25 p.m., and bearing Captain Carey’s signature, read: “We are now abandoning the ship; we are taking to the lifeboats." Further word stated that the pas sengers were first sent to the lifeboats. while the captain and a skele ton crew remained aboard the vessel until all hope had been entirely abanboned. A series of messages throughout the morning indicated that the wireless operator was holding his post, despite the fact that toward the end the vessel was likely to sink at any minute; but no word has been yet received as to the cause of the disaster. Among the passengers was Mr. W. W. Davies, formerly the American correspondent of the Australian Press Association, and now representative of “La Nacion,” Buenos Aires. Within a few minutes after the first distress call was received, there began a dramatic race to reach the stricken ship.

coastguard destroyer Davis was nearest the scene, but she was almost 100 miles away at one o’clock. With her fires under forced draught she could not arrive for three hours at the earliest, and would probably be later. No other vessel could possibly reach the spot before five or six o’clock, indicating that the passengers and crew must occupy the lifeboats in what the messages described as a "moderately rough sea." Several hours must elapse before there is hope of rescue. Later advices indicated that the Japanese steamship Ohio Maru was nearer the Vestris than the destroyer Davis, and was likely to reach the vicinity by four o’clock. It also transpired that the Vestris gradually settled over to starboard until the angle was so great that it was only with difficulty that the passengers, mustered on the deck and in the cabins wearing life-preservers, could maintain their footing. All the information received by the coastguard headquarters indicated that the accident was probably caused by the cargo shifting. Major Inouye, Japanese Consul at Buenos Aires, was among the passengers. Abandonment of the vessel began at 12.50 and lasted 35 minutes, with seas running high as the small boats put out . The captain of the Vestris notified the destroyer Davis that just prior to leaving the seas were washing over the liner’s decks.

Seven vessels were speeding toward the spot within the hour, including the United States warship Wyoming. The

The Vestris is a steel, twin-screw steamer of 10,494 tons. She was built in 1912 by Workman, Clark and Company, of Belfast. Liverpool was her port of registry.