JUST IN TIME.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1922, Page 5

JUST IN TIME.

H. B. STERLING RESCUE. A THRILLING EXPLOIT HAZARDOUS RESCUE WORK. Full details of the rescue of the passengers and crew of the American schooner Helen B. Sterling, abandoned at sea on Monday morning, reveal a thrilling exploit. Great credit is given to the officers and men of H.M. A.S. Melbourne for their magnificent work in the distressed seafarers under most difficult circumstances. STORY OF THE-DISASTER. UNABLE TO MAN THE PUMPS. SEAS SWEEP THE DECKS. There was no mistaking the party of tired-looking, unshaven men who filed ashore from H.M.A.S. Melbourne at Auckland on Wednesday night for other than a shipwrecked crew. The deepsunken eyes of these men of the schooner Helen B. Sterling plainly told the story of the terrible experience they had gone through. Some had no boots, some wore bandages over wounds, all fortunately of a minor character, caused by their having been knocked about on a wave-swept deck. Most wore dungaree suits with sparse underclothing, and the skin showed through rents in the rough garments. They evincea no inclination to talk about the ordeal through which they had passed. Doubtless it seemed to them a horrible nightmare, and their being ashore in safety gave them a sense of unreality owing to the nearness of the battle against a hurricane. They seemed almost confused at landing from a man-o’-war upon a brightly-lighted wharf to step iirto waiting motor-cars. The roar of the angry ocean was in their ears and sights of the last few days in their eyes. EXTENSIVE LEAKING STARTS. Over their meal at the Home the sailors told the story of the disaster that overtook their vessel. Trouble started early in the voyage. Two days after she left Newcastle the gas engine for working the pumps broke down, and thereafter the hand pumps had to be used to keep down water from the ordinary leakage to which a wooden vessel is always subject. Two days later a fire broke out in the forehold in the beam, but this was promptly extinguished. The voyage was continued with varying weather. The ship did not make an undue amount of water, and the hand pumps were sufficient to keep it down.

On Saturday, January 21, a strong gale sprang up from the eftst, accompanied by a very heavy sea. That night it had increased almost to hurricanp force, necessitating the sails be-double-reefed, and the vessel being hove to. The sea rose higher and higher and constantly broke aboard, filling the main deck fore and aft. The only dry quarter in the ship was the forecastle head and poop, which are highly built on that vessel. The hand pumps being situated on the main deck were right in the wash of the pounding waves which broke on board, and it was impossible for the crew to map them. The laboring of the ship soon 1 started extensive leaking, and in the absence of pumping she soon sank lower in the water. The position became hopeless at 5 a.m. on Sunday, when the main mast went by the board, and it was then realised* that the vessel would have to be abandoned. The crew was thereafter engaged in clearing away wreckage and repairing any damage possible.

LESS THAN A FOOT OF FREEBOARD. Throughout the long morning the vessel was pounded by the storm. The water from the leaks was steadily rising among the coal which filled her holds, and she sank lower and lower in the water, and became more and more lifeless. This was responsible for more water being shipped. The main deck being flooded, the soundings of the pump well could not be gauged with any degree of accuracy, but it was estimated tha* there was not less than 9ft. of water in the holds, and at the time she was abandoned she did not have more than one foot of freeboard. In the afternoon the crew gathered on the poop and awaited the arrival of the Melbourne. The boats had been provisioned the previous evening, and were ready in the chocks on the poop to be manned in case of necessity. The idea was not-to launch them, but to trust to the chance of them floating clear if the vessel foundered. All through this day and the following night, however, the sea was so high that no one believed they would live five minutes. ACCESS TO PROVISIONS. Fortunately, owing to the high build of the galley and poop, the crew had access to provisions, and so did not suffer from hunger. Sunday night was a long night of anxious waiting, although the men were fairly hopeful that the Melbourne would arrive in time. Before the Melbourne saw thenrockets the sea had begun to moderate, but it was still running high, , and would have overwhelmed the sterling’s boats had they been launched. The sight of the Melbourne’s searchlights broke joy to all hearts. It was more than a beacon of hope; it was almost a certain promise of safety. SAVED BY AN ACCIDENT. The Helen B. Sterling was one of the few sailing vessels fitted with wireless, and it was solely due to her being so equipped that she was able to signal her distress and called to her aid all vessels within range. It may have caused some surprise that, notwithstanding the fact that her main mast carried away, she still retained her aerials. This was due to a moat fortunate accident. On the previous voyage, her main masthead had btyn broken off about sft. from the top. This brought the masthead below the aerials, which were stretched between the fore mast and the jigger mast. Thus when the main mast went by the hoard it could not touch the aerials, and to this fact the passengers and crew probably owe