EPIC OF THE SEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 January 1941, Page 6

EPIC OF THE SEA

SALVAGE OP THE TANKER SAN DEMETRIO BURNING SHIP BOARDED IN GALE. FIFTEEN MEN AWARDED £14.700. • ! (R v Association—Copyi i'zht * < (Received This Day. 11.25 a.m.i LONDON. January 17. One of the most amazing salvage feats of the war was recalled in the Admiralty Court, when a claim was made by fifteen men for re- i muneration for the salvage of the burning tanker San Demetrio, after the master had ordered the abandonment of tiie ship. Mr Justice Langton awarded a total; of £14.700 among the claimants, who' had, ho said, the good wishes of the j owners of the ship. The claim was made by the second I officer, Mr A. G. Hawkins, and four-i teen members of the crew. The San,; Demetrio was in convoy which; was escorted by the Jervis Bay. Mr, Hawkins gave evidence that hss-life-boat passed two perilous nights before it found the San Demetrio, which was’ in flames. They boarded her to sal-( vage her in a continuous gale. Mr Justice Langton mentioned that the San Demetrio was worth over a quarter of a million sterling and also carried a cargo worth £(10.000. She was brought home with ten thousand ions of oil. The salvors had no sextant, but held an easterly course by the aid of the Pole Star, with a check by the moon and sun. They covered seven hundred miles without charts on a burning ship.