TRIED TO SAVE SHIP

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 593, 20 February 1929, Page 9

TRIED TO SAVE SHIP

CAPTAIN'S VERSION OF KANOWNA WRECK COOL. EFFICIENT CREW j (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) f Australian a id N.Z. Press Association) Received 1.10 p.m. MELBOURNE, To-day. Captain Newberry, the master of the sunken steamer Kanowna states I that from eight o’clock onward on ! Sunday evening tho weather was so i thick that it was impossible to see the light on Wilson's Promontory, j understood. that somo of the i passengers claimed to have seen a ! light, but this was probably on the | steamer Mackarra, which had just | been passed. j After the Kanown struck on Cleft ! Island she floated again almost immej diately, but lie found that water was j entering the engine room. The ship's I gear was in good order and was j handled in an efficient and seamanlike j manner. The port boats could not be lowered because the ship was listing heavily. The boats’ crews were quiet and expeditious in the performance of their tasks. This reassured the passengers, preventing anything like a panic. The fact that the passengers were safely transferred to the Mackarru within an hour is proof of this. The captain and some of the crew stayed aboard the Kanowna till it was evident that she was settling down. L lie> then took to the boats and boarded the Dumosa, which had rivedLater the Captain went aboard the Ivanowna again and examined her. Some preparations were made on the Dumosa to tow* the- stricken ship oft' the rocks, but it became apparent that her case was hopeless, so lie and the skeleton crew returned to the coliler and the Kanowna sank sliortlv afterward. IN SEVENTY FATHOMS When the steamer Kanowna slipped off the rocks, she sank in 70 fathoms of water. Further details of the scenes at the wreck were obtained to-day from rescued passengers. It revealed that, when the Kanowna struck the sea in the vicinity was comparatively calm and that fact made the rescue efforts

of the crew of the Mackarra fairly simple. All the passengers on the doomed vessel climbed down slippery ropeladders to the lifeboats. Two men fell into the water. One, a heavy man, was rescued by Alex. Nikitin, ship’s apprentice, of Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Mackarra stood off at a distance of 250 yards. It was just possible for the Kanowna’s passengers to see her through the fog. Many women were in a state of great fear. A prospective bride lost £4OO worth of articles in her “glory box.”