NO OFFICIAL STATEMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1068, 4 September 1930, Page 7

NO OFFICIAL STATEMENT

CAPTAIN AND OFFICERS AWAIT INQUIRY TO TAKE OVER MONOWAI? No statement of any kind was made by Captain A. T. Toten, master of the Tahiti. “Nothing will be said by myself, tlie officers or the crew about the actual sinking of the Tahiti until the official inquiry, which will he held in Wellington,” he said on the Tofua yesterday afternoon. Captain Toten suggested that he would be taking over command of the company’s new vessel Monowai, and that probably the officers and crew would be going with him. “I can never sufficiently thank my officers and crew for the way in which they carried out all orders at a critical time. Nor can 1 sufficiently thank the passengers for their cheerfulness and courage. Everyone was wonderful.” The officers of the Tahiti refused to talk about the important part they had played in saving the situation. Any accounts of their magnificent work had to be gathered from the passengers. Mr. F. N. Davidson, the wireless operator, who stuck to his post until the last minute, was not to be drawn. “It was only my job,” lie said, “and the wireless did play an important part ” DINNER WAS COOKING WHEN TAHITI SANK HEROISM OF STEWARDESSES LIFEBELTS ON DAY AND NIGHT When the Tahiti took her final plunge into the depths of the Pacific dinner was cooking in the galley. That morning the breakfast menus had been printed as usual. “We tried to keep to the usual routine of ship life as much as possible,” said one of ihe stewardesses last evening on the Tofua. Bishop Bennett, who also returned, paid glowing tributes to the heroism of the stewardesses of the Tahiti. He said that they were wonderful in their attention to the comfort of the passengers, taking over the work of most of the stewards who were called on Jo help at the winches when water was emptied from the ship. Mrs. Westbury, one of the stewardesses, was in the wreck of the Manuka off the Otago coast. This is her second experience of being rescued from a doomed vessel and she hopes it will be the last. “NEVER COMPLAINED” Miss J. Dixon, another stewardess, said that they all went about their work as usual as far as they were able. “The passengers were really wonderful,” she remarked. “They never complained and they never asked for anything. “We were in our clothes and lifebelts for two days and two nights. It was a great relief to get them off after we got on to the Ventura. Our chins were skinned from wearing the lifebelts.” j “[ cannot tell you how thankful we ; were to see the smoke of the Ventura | rising over the horizon,” remarked Mrs. N. Maxwell. “Nor can 1 describe that wonderful feeling of relief when the Penybryn arrived. It was a moment. I shall never forget as long as 1 live.”