BOMBARDING THE ICE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3530, 17 July 1920, Page 6

BOMBARDING THE ICE.

'HOW SOLOVEI WAS RESCUED. MEN WORK LIKE DEVILS. * ‘ PARADISE ’ ’ FOR LOST COMPANY. LONDON. July 10. The commander of the icebreaker Sviatogor, which proceeded to the Kara Sea to rescue the lost steamer Solovei, cable s from Vardo as follows; — “\Vt .eft Vardo on June 9, but were do.ayeu oy the close pack ice in the Kara Sea until June 18. Meanwhile the So.oVvJ had drifted further north than* ever. The Soviet icebreaker Xanada overtook us, and we held a conference, after which our ships raced excitingly for the Solovei. “The Sviatogor forged ahead, utilising all her ten boilers. The ice, 20ft. thick, was thunderously bombarded,

and broken into vast blocks like marble, to the accompaniment of the groans of the timbers and engines of the ship, which intermittently rose several feet.

“The Solovei sent a message that she had sighted the rescuer’s smoke, and was reached at midnight. The ■whole of her company of 5J gathered on the deck and cheered indescribably. The captain, his wife, and seven passengers feasted on salmon, and described their sensations as like paradise. ' SCURVY AND FILTH. - “The Kanada then came up, ' and helped to coal and provision the Solovei, several of whose people had to receive medical attention. Many w r ere jfijthy, yet a healthy child had been born aboard the vessel.

“On the return journey the Sviatogor led, followed by the Solovei and the Kanada. “We reached the Kara Sea on June 21 but the Sviatogor then grounded on a sandbank in a fog. We transhipped coal until we refloated, and then proceeded to Bielushya Bay, bound for England, while the other vessels went to Archangel. ‘'Much gratitude was expressed to the British Government ’for readily placing a vessel at the disposal of the rescuers, otherwise it would have been impossible to save the people aboard from the depths.” The Daily Graphic adds that the Sviatogor’s men worked without rest fill the end like devils. Several of those on the Solovei were evidently “White” fugitives. One general Jumped aboard the Sviatogor for protection.

Moved by an S.O.S. call from the Arctic, the British Admiralty and Foreign Office decided last April to send the British, ice-breaker Sviatogor to the sescue of a party of Russian men, ■women, and children who were learnt to be starving and perishing from cold in the drift ice of the Kara sea. between Nova Zembla and the Yalmal Peninsula. The Sviatogor is one of the ' two most powerful ice-breakers in the world.

First news of the desperate plight of the Russians came by Bolshevik wireless on the last day' of March. It was then stated that 80 men, women, and children were on board the Solovei, which wa s caught in the ice on January 24/ and, drifting south of Kolugue Island, had on March 23 reported herself by wireless off Gape Ebtarna, on the Yalmal Peninsula. The crew and passengers, probably peasants making their way to a coast settlement, were in extreme straits. Their coal wan (.exhausted, and the only fuel available teas a number of wooden barrels. Without fuel they could not even wireless their state or position. The ice was 24 ft thick. Lieut.-Commander O'Brien, who was in .command of the Sviatogor last year in the White Sea. and has had five years’ experience of ice-work in those regions, said, before the expedition started; “It will take two weeks for the Sviatogor to reach the Kara Sea. She can get through if any ship in the world can. She -was built for ice-breaking, with a cut-away bow, which enables her to climb on the ice and break it down by her weight. Her bo-w and sides are of unusual strength. In May the ice in the Kara Sea will begin to melt. The Solovei will then be at the mercy of the winds and ice, and the task of finding her will be extremely difficult. An aeroplane might help by scouting for her if it were possible to carry one on board the ice-breaker. ”

SERMONS BY FILM. I j VICAR’S SCHEME TO FILL HIS , PEWS. ‘ (

An application by the Rev. B. J. Tatham, vicar of St Peter's Cliurc>% Middlcsborough, for a license to give cinema exhibitions in his church, prirv

cipally on Sunday evenings, has caused a flutter in religious circle's" here. “Some stimulation is needed for bringing the teaching of religion more in touch with the masses of the pie,” he said to me to-day. “I have tried to bring the poorer people into the church. In a way they like the church service, but it fails to retain their interest. “They want something that appeals more to the understanding and their interests, and the thing that supplies , their ordinary lives is the ‘pictures. 1 “We have no idea of trying to compete with the picture houses, because

wo are limited by not charging for entrance. The exhibitions are intended to take place after the ordinary evening services, nnd at other times for the children.” —London Daily Express.