A HEROIC CAPTAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 100, 5 January 1912, Page 8

A HEROIC CAPTAIN.

<I MUST STAY BY MY SHIP." A dramatic account of an English captain's heroism when the steamship Tucapel, 2907 tons, was wrecked on August 12 on the Chilian coast, was related by a survivor who arrived' at Monte Video, Uruguay. "I was thrown out of my bunk at four o'clock in the morning, and hearing shouts and screams from all parts of the vessel rushed on deck. There I found a scene of confusion, panic-stricken passengers and crew rushing about. "Captain Collins was the only English officer, all the others beinc ■Chilians. Ife alone was able to keep his head, and ordered the boats to be maimed. Immediately a boat was ready a fierce light took place, knives and revolvers being freely used. 1 was by the captain when some sailors begged: him to come into I the boat which was putting oil', and I 1 caught his reply. •The captain cannot i save himself. He must stay by his ship." Shortly after this a young girl I implored him to save himself from ( drowning. ITe said nothing, but press- ! ing her hand took oil' his lifebelt and j fastened it round her. She was later | picked up safe and sound. "A woman with three children attempted to enter a boat, but was thrust back by struggling men. She then im- , plored the crew to take her three children, and succeeded in getting them all into the boat. She herself was later washed ashore alive, but she was a witness of the swamping of the boat in which her children were. "Captain Collins was the last to leave ihe ship, jumping into a small boatWhen within a few yards of the shore this was >wamped, and the captain was nut s,.en again. He was -sixty years of age. and had been in South America for twenty years.