Captain Prevents Crew From Leaving

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 522, 27 November 1928, Page 9

Captain Prevents Crew From Leaving

SIXTEEN DROWNED ZUYDER ZEE TRAGEDY (United P.A:—By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. noon. LONDON, Monday. The weather in the North Sea is stiU most severe. Numerous casualties are reported, including a number of men who have been washed off ships. The captain of the Swedish steamer Gann, when a storm was raging, and a lifeboat arrived, refused the crew permission to leave the vessel. Suddenly the Garm foundered at the mouth of the Zuyder Zee. One man leaped into the water, and was rescued by the lifeboat, but 16 were drowned. The French transport Cesaree sank in a storm off the Moroccan coast. Eighteen of the crew were drowned. Four were saved by vessels which answered the wireless S.O.S. THRILLING RESCUE Officers and cadets of the Mercantile Marine training barque Pommern, who landed from the German tug Geros, tell a thrilling story about their rescue. Their ship was heading for Portsmouth in a heavy gale on Saturday. Her three masts were washed away in quick succession. A German steamer was near, but failed to get alongside, and the Pommern drifted at the mercy of the gale for several hours. The German tug Sealfalke managed to pull alongside. Every attempt to get the hawser aboard failed. Heavy seas smashed in all the Pommern’s lifeboats, and the water was rising in the hold. The Geros struggled all night before she got a lifeline aboard. Under perfect discipline the boys were dragged off singly through the water, till an Admiralty tug came and rescued the remainder.