RESCUED IN MID-OCEAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 222, 19 March 1914, Page 8

RESCUED IN MID-OCEAN.

CHEW OF MAYFLOWER. NEW ZEALAMJEU'S HRAVEKI. Thrilling details of the rescue by the Lusitania of tli» crow 01 ike brigantine Mayflower, wa» given by tile passengers of the Cunard liner when the)' arrived in uuiuU.il. It will he remembered that on January 15 the Lusitania, found the Mayflower drifting rudderless in midAtlantic- with all her canvas carried away and with a bad leak, caused by a splintc. i sternpost. The captain o*dered .. boat to be lowered and called for voiunteeei's. Many more men than were needed came forward, and the lifeboat went oil' in charge of the lirst offer, Lieutenant Alexander, R.S., and the third officer. Sub-Lieutenant D. T. Watson Foden, R.N.R. The latter oll'icer is a New Zcalandcr, having been born in Tiniarti 25 years ago. I'pon the arrival of his family in England he entered the Bancroft Schools, passing from there to the train ing ship H.M.S. Worcester. There ho obtained iiis lir.-t-class extra certificate. After serving several commissions, in the navy, obtaining all his certificates and that of master mariner, he entered the sciv,ee of die Cunard Company eighteen months ago, and he has spent his time since then on the Laconia and Lusitania. CREW JUMP INTO THE SEA. One of the passengers gives the following account of the work of the lifeboat crew: ,; With great difficulty the boat readied the which was rolling under a heavy beam sea a quarter of a mile astern of the Lusitania. A line was thrown, but the bow of the lifeboat was struck by the counter of the brigantine, and for the moment it seemed almost impossible for the boat to right itself again. The line had to be let go, and the boat's erew then endeavoured to get near enough to the brigantine for the men to jump into the sea and he dragged into the lifeboat. "After much hesitation, one man tied a line about hi in and jumped. 'He was-' half frozen into the boat, and one by one the remaining seven men were pulled through a raging Bca into the lifeboat. Snelgrove, the mate of the Mayflower, was almost exhausted, but 'he refused absolutely to be drawn into the boat until the ship's cat, which he was carrying, was taken aboard. Tic cat, however, was dead. Captain Halflyard was the last to leave the brigant'n'e, and before he did so be went below and set fire to the ship, so that she might not bo dangerous to navigation;

FOUR HOUR'S HARD WORK. "' Exhausted by their offorts in making the, rescue, the crew of the lifeboat had to pull liaif-a-mile hack to the Luait-ania. It was an arduous task to get the tencued men aboard the steamer, but it was still more difficult to hoist up the lifeboat and its manly crew. The falls of the davits wore swung to and fro by the wind so rapidly that the crew were in great danger-' of losing their lives. First Office* Alexander wits hurled to the bottom of the lifeboat-, and received a very severe wound. When thev finally came on board they were utterly exhausted by their four hour's labour, and their gallant efforts were heartily cheered, It was nearly six o'clock when the Lusitania was able to get under steam again, and soon after the Mayflower broke out into flames, and lighted up tliG whole horizon with a lurid glare." The passengers on board the Lusitania collected £354, which will he divided: 40 per cent, to the crew of the Mayflower, and 60 ner cent, to the crew of the Lusitania's lifeboat. Commander Dow, of the Lusitania received an illuminated address and Lieutenant Alexander and Sub-lien-tenant Foden were each presented with a gold watch, suitably ihscrihod. Mr Foden has been fortunate in sa.ing life on two previous occasions—it Beira, South Africa, and at Taltai, South America,