Took 24 Hours to Cross the Channel

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 514, 17 November 1928, Page 1

Took 24 Hours to Cross the Channel

STEAMERS IN GALE STORM SWEEPS LONDON British Official Wireless. Reed. 11.30 a.m. RUGBY, Friday. London was swept by a great gale this afternoon, the wind attaining a velocity of 64 miles an hour. Much damage was done and telegraph and telephone lines suffered considerably. The force of the wind was so great that at many points people were blown down. Even rougher seas than yesterday’s raged in the English Channel, accompanied by torrential rain. Steamers in the Bristol Channel took refuge in Barry Roads, and no ships were able to leave Swansea. It was impossible to land gold or West African mails at Plymouth from the liner Aba, and from the mail steamer Maid of Orleans. The afternoon boat from Boulogne to Folkestone had considerable difficulty in reaching its berth at Folkestone. Even when it got into the harbour the wind and tide were so strong that it toola 20 minutes to get it to the quayside. An Imperial Airways machine from the Continent had a tremendous fight against the wind. When flying over the Maid of Orleans it dipped and ! only cleared the wireless mast of the steamer by less than 10 feet. The Southern Railway steamer! Vera crossed from Southampton to Guernsey in the teeth of the gale, and the passage took 15 hours. There were 70 passengers aboard. The Vera arrives to-day at St. Hellier, Jersey, nearly 24 hours late.