MINED & SUNK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1940, Page 5

MINED & SUNK

UNION CASTLE LINER DURBAN CASTLE CAPTAIN & TWO OTHERS KILLED. RESCUE OF ALL PASSENGERS REPORTED. By Telegraph—Press Association —Cowright. LONDON, January 10. The Union Castle liner, Dunbar Castle (10002 tons), was mined off the south-east eoast yesterday afternoon. She was bound for Hie Cape and. carried about 48 passengers, including nine children, also a crew ol' about 150. The captain, a storekeeper, and an able seaman were killed. Another storekeeper is reported missing. The cook was injured and the second officer had a leg broken. It is understood that all the passengers were rescued. Ninety survivors landed from six boats at a south-east port. Others landed elsewhere. The ship listed badly after the explosion, the deck buckling up in Several places. Lifeboats, already swung out, were speedily and quietly filled with people. They drifted for some time and eventually were picked up by a coastal motorship. One passenger, interviewed, said: “We were just finishing luncheon when a violent explosion rocked the ship from stem to stern, extinguishing all lights. The ship’s galley blew up.” A member of the crew said the explosion blew the foremast practically out of the ship. It fell on the welldeck. Captain 11. A. Causton, of Southampton. was killed. He was on the bridge, which collapsed. Bady hurt, apparently he tried to reach his cabin. He was found dead outside the door. Chief Officer Robertson was the last to leave the ship, carrying the captain’s body. The chief wireless operator, who was also among Hie last lo leave, was forced lo swim to a boat. The kitchen stall suffered most, as the explosion threw oil and fat over them. Passengers paid tribute to the skill, courage and discipline of the crew, who saw ah passengers safely to the boats before entering themselves. There was no panic, in spite of difficulty in getting the boats away because of water rushing into the holds. The last boat got away just in time. One passenger said a stewardess rushed from, the galley, her clothes in flames. The next time he saw her she was helping to row a lifeboat. She was a real heroine. STRUCK AMIDSHIPS SHIP SINKS WITHIN FIFTEEN MINUTES. LONDON. January 10. The Dunbar Castle had been less than a day at sea when she was mined amidships. She broke in two and sank within fifteen minutes. Most of the passengers lost all their belongings. TALES OF HEROISM ’ TRIBUTES TO LINER'S CREW. (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) LONDON. January 10. Passengers say that the Dunbar Castle was in an outward bound convoy when she was mined. Only three of the 48 passengers and 150 members of the crew are known to have lost their lives, including the captain. The passengers are at a loss lo find words to describe the crew’s heroism. They tell of the bravery of the Second Officer, Mr Saunders, who set his own broken leg while in a lifeboat in a choppy sea. Though suffering great pain, he never complained, but went grimly along with the setting, simultaneously directing the crew. Among those rescued were the .members of a young family, including a 10-weeks’-old baby. The parents had sold up their home in Nottingham, and were going to Africa to make a new home. They have lost everything. The passengers pay a special tribute to the heroism of a stewardess, who took an oar in a lifeboat and later attended to those injured. She refused to give her name.