Perils of the Sea

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 162, 8 January 1914, Page 5

Perils of the Sea

THE OKLAHOMA DISASTER. MORE SURVIVORS PICKED UP. EXPERTS' OPINION'S 01' ACCIDENT. By Cable —Press Association—Copyright New York. January 6. Six survivors from tin? steamer Oklahoma have arrived aboard the steamer Gregory, having been picked up while adrift in the lifeboat. The death-roll is thereby reduced to twenty-one. Shipping experts believe that the Oklahoma's breaking in two was due solely to the terriiie battering of the seas, not to an explosion, as at first suggested. THRILLING TALKS OF RESCUE. ENGLISH OFFICERS' GREAT ' BRAVERY. . IX BOILING SEAS. Received 7, 10.25 p.m. New York, January 7. Thrilling tales are related by the surTivors of the Oklahoma. Of the crew of thirty-eight, eleven manned a boat and reached and boarded the steamer Gregory, which was en route to New York after a remarkable two-thousand inile voyage up the Amazon river. Nineidleon others manned a second boat which disappeared and was never seen again. Eight stayed aboard the Oklahoma until the Bavaria rescued them.

The Gregory sighted the boat with ii sail hoisted. The shipwrcei.cd men, however, were numbed and were unable to keep up the sail. The boat broached, filled and upset. Three English chief officers aboard the Gregory, named Buck, Williams and Roberts, thereupon plunged, half unclothed, into the boiling seas. One of the officers was tied to a line, but the others had no assistance. Each siczed a struggling sailor, dragged 'him alongside the steamer, and returned through the waves for the others.

, The first aboard died instantly. The others lived, through the devoted work of the doctors. When aman was seen swimming near the Gregory Captain Aspinall threw him a lifeline. _The drowning man grasped it, but a huge wave overwhelmed him and he disappeared. The capsized boat meantime righted itself and floated past the Gregory with a man, who was apparently dead, inside it. No further rescues were possible, the others having dis-

appeared. First Officer Buck bad previously gallantly rescued a man in the Bay of Biscay, for which he was awarded a medal. -AH. hove been recommended for promotion by the Xcw York agents of the Bootli Shipping Line. [The Oklahoma was a. vessel of 5853 tons, and was owned by the Gulf Refining Company.] .'. A j TIIE DALGONAR',3 FATE. j t TIIKOWX ON IJER BEA.U-EXDS. Received 7, 11.35 p.m. London. January 7. The survivors of the British steel ship Dalgonar (2GCS- tolrs), hwo were picked lip by the barque Loire on October 9. have arrived. They include C'nrston. a Xcw Zealander, mid Jackson, a South Australian. The Dalgonar- was thrown on lier beam-ends on October 9, in :i j;;ile which (Peru) and Taltal. The ship's decks were perpendicular, and" the boats which were launched were dashed to pieces against the hull. Captain I-bistcr and three of the men were drowned. Dunkcr, the ship's carpenter, did splendid work, lie cut out the masts in three hours, and the vessel jiartially lighted herself. The Loire stood by for four days and then the survivors.