TRAGIC COLLISION AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 43, 31 May 1910, Page 2

TRAGIC COLLISION AT SEA.

18 LIVES LOST IN SINKING SHIP. SOLE SURVIVOR'S TALE. London, April 9. Eighteen lives were lost in a collision which occurred off Land's End at 4 o'clock in the morning, the Liverpool barque Kate Thomas and the steamer India, bound for Penzance. The Kate Thomas, a vessel of about 1700 tons in (ballast, was being towed by the Belgian tug John Bull. On hoard the barque were a. crew of 17, while the captain and mate were accompanied by their wives. At 4 o'clock the steamer approached the tug and the barque and era=hed into the latter. The Kate Thomas sank in eight minutes. A fairly heavy sea was running, and before the tug could render aid the arque and all but one of those on board her had gone down. The sole survivor is an apprentice named Jack Nelson, 1!) years old, who was .picked up by the I tug. Later in the day the coasting I steamer India put into Penzance with I damaged bows and reported having been in collision with a light ship at 4 a.m. off the Longships.

The India had to steer clear of t-,vo or there steamboats, and then, when going half-speed, ran into the stern of the Kate Thomas, which had not been observed. The night was not uirty, but a fair sea was' running and the India •shipped a good deal of water.

The apprentice Nelson gives "the following account of the disaster: "We left Antwerp on Friday morning for Port Talbot in ballast, half of the crew being shipped at Antwerp. It was intended to ship the other half at Port Talbot. Captain Williams was accompanied by his wife, who comes from Anglesey, and Mrs Roberts, the chief officer's wife, was also on board. She belongs to Pwllheli. "All went well till about 4 o'clock in the morning, when I was awakened by something banging into us. I 'rushed on deck, and' saw the lights of a steamer sheering off. I rushed back to get some clothes and then I went on the poop, where I saw the captain and his wife, the chief officer and his wife,. arid tile third officer. The captain's \yifo; shouted to the tug for help, and the chief officer's wife was very calm and collected. She was quite a'young woman. : ''The.,Kate Thomas gradually heeled over. We were all hanging on for about eight minutes, till she gave one final ■plunge.' I got a lifebuoy and sprang clear to try to save myself from "being sucked down. Two or three huge seas enveloped me, and when I looked around there was nothing but a mass of foam, and the Kate Thomas had gone. "I swam for the tug, and in a few minutes I saw, the third officer in the water. I asked him if I could help him and he replied 'No.' I then discovered he had his sea* boots on, and I tried to take them off, tout I could not manage it.' He soon disappeared. ' '■ < "I then got to the tug and just managed to grasp a rope, by which I was hauled on board.

'"'l did not know what I -was doing. It" is impossible for me to tell how the accident happened, but the captain .of the tug told me the steamer steamed away and did not stop. I was in the water about 20 minutes. The tug cruised around for two hours, but could not ;see any bodies. The crew was a mixed one. The captain's wife had' made the round voyage, and after being home for a little holiday had returned to make another voyage. We hau all our lights burning. Whether any efforts were made to launch the boats I do not know."