TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 October 1939, Page 8

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

OF NEW ZEALAND WOMAN. IN ATHENIA TRAGEDY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND. October 24. Wiry despite her 72 years, Mrs A. Oliphant, a Dunedin survivor of the Athenia, has returned to New Zealand after an experience which she says she is anxious to forget. She was in an open boat crowded with women and children, many of whom were seasick, and spent 12 hours before being rescued .At one stage, in the effort to keep the boat head on to the sea, she took an oar and earned the admiration of those less able to help. “I was not able to pull very hard,” she admitted, “but I was anxious to do something. The boat, rudderless, tossed in the trough of the sea.” When the Athenia was struck. Mrs Oliphant was in the library reading after dinner. Some of the passengers were still in the dining-room, but a considerable number had gone to bed. “Like others, I escaped with what I was wearing,” she said.

While she did not see the submarine, many other passengers did. and it was an ordeal throughout the night knowing that an enemy craft was in the vicinity. She praised the people was provided comforts and clothing for the survivors who landed in Scotland.