The Daily News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15. THE PENGUIN DISASTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 18, 15 February 1909, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15. THE PENGUIN DISASTER.

Words fail to express the sorrow universally felt throughout the Dominion I to-duy at the dreadful Penguin disaster, in which over 70 shipwrecked people have been claimed victims liy the relentless sea. Parents rendered childless, children orphaned, willows, widowers, and sorrowing relatives to-day plunged into mourning have in tlieiv poignant grid the deeply-felt sympathy of the whole of .New Zealand. Brought home so closely, one. ill a measure realises with horror the silent suffering, ihc despair, the devotion, the courage manifested by true manhood ami womanhood when fa"ced by the supri'iuest of trials--midst theawfuiness of imsuceoureil and helpless shipwreck. What actually drove the doomed Penguin, with her precious complement of liu's. and steered by a tried and trusted navigator, a total abstainer, out of her course on to the treacherous . Thorn's Hock, later investigation may determine; but nothing can assuage the pain of the* subseipii-iit awful loss of life. A conviction form-it on one | is the singularity of the faet that, while every one of those who sought refuge on the 'one-time despised raft's «-a.s ..avcil, not a single one of the five life-boats reached shore safelv: and of the boatloads that left the sinking ship, only two persons survive. No one lives to tell the manner of disaster that overtend; the boats, and i.. can at. present unlv be surmised that thev were capsized in the breakers. Were they defective or iifiillieirally maimed V These, are pertinent questions that will, no doubt, be fully investigated. Meantime the astounding disparity between the life-saving record of the boats and that of the rafts is too significant to pa.ss without notice. The magnificent stoicism, fortitude, self-sacrifice and discipline of everyone, passengers inn', stand out in thrilling relief amidst the desolation of life. True to the glorious traditions of maritime Urilaiu, tin- utmost coolness prevailed, anil under the directing hand of the captain on the bridge, ollk-ers and seamen, stewards and stewardesses, methodically and expeditiously followed orders for the saving of the passengers in their charge. It is some satisfaction to know that all that human agency could do to save Unlives entrusted to them was done by the Penguin's New /-calami , sailors, the majority of whom have shared wjth their charges a watery gjav'e. Whilst, it is impossible at present to slate exactly the number that lias perished, some of the ' passengers, no doubt, having booked aboard, the records of which have gone to the bottom wii.li the ship, it is known that the death roll totals at least 70. of whom probably 25 belonged to the vessel, the remainder being passengers, verv main- of whom were women and hcljdcss children. There have been shipping disasters of greater magnitude in New' Zealand waters; none, however, that in its totality so completely and intimately touched New Zealand. In deploring the calamity and expressing Taranaki's sympathy with Hie bereaved, wo can only add that, should it be required, the people's purse-strings will lie wide-opened to relieve any distress consequent on the disaster. The comparatively dangerous coastline of New Zealand' has exacted heavy toll from shipping at different periods, and lessons have been learned at terrible cost. We can only hope that the lesson of the. Penguin', if the cause of the disaster can » be ascertained to have been humanly prcventiblc. may in the interests of human life be turned to account. Xo f amount of precaution, however, can guarantee complete immunity at sea, | and accidents, be it from error of judgf. ment or the forces of nature, will occur.