SHIPS COLLIDE.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1921, Page 5

SHIPS COLLIDE.

ONE SINKS QUICKLY, SEVERAL LIVES LOST. A TRAGIC EPISODE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Received Sept. 25, 5.5 p.m. London, Sept. 23. During a fog the Ostend mail steamer Jan Breydel collided with the Norwegian steamer Selina, off Goodwin Sands. The Selina sank in a few minutes, and ten of the crew were drowned and two killed by the collision. The Jan Breydel’s boats rescued the remaining fourteen, several of whom were seriously injured. Jan Kubelik, the famous violinist, who was on board the Jan Breydel, says that after the collision he first thought of his Stradivarious, valued at £25,000, and he ran to his cabin and placed a lifebelt around the violin. He then returned to the deck, where he came to the conclusion that the Jan Breydel would not sink, though the people on deck were crying and screaming. After the collision the Salina, which was three hundred yards away, sank in five minutes, without time to lower the boats. He saw people clinging to a spar. The Jan Breydel’s boats rescued ten. A tragic episode occurred to Merrel, thte Salina’s captain. He saw his wife, a baby in arms and his young son in the water, and he swam to their aid, clasped his wife and baby under an arm, while the boy clung to his back. He thus struck out for the Jan Breydel, which picked them up. Unfortunately the baby was dead, and Mrs. Merrell died later from exhaustion.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.