NEW 1ZB ANNOUNCER IS SURVIVOR FROM ATHENIA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 70, 25 October 1940, Page 48

NEW 1ZB ANNOUNCER IS SURVIVOR FROM ATHENIA

Hilton Porter Tells His Story

| ILTON PORTER, who has had extensive experience on the stage in Australia, New Zealand, and England, and is a survivor from the torpedoed Athenia, is now a member of the 1ZB announcing staff. He was born in Devonport, Auckland, thirty-seven years ago, and educated at King’s College. He was well known for his appearances in amateur dramatics in Auckland until he left this country in 1924 to take a part in "Rose Marie" in Sydney for J. C. Williamson’s. Until 1934 he toured Australia and New Zealand in J. C. Williamson’s musical shows. In 1926 he married Dorothy Woolley, the Australian mannequin, who was then claimed to be the highest-paid member of her profession in the world, earning £130 a week. The year 1934 saw Mr. and Mrs. Porter in London. Hilton stepped off the ship and straight into a part with a London theatre. This was followed by tours in Ireland and England. He was associated mainly with the Theatre Royal of Drury Lane. When war seemed inevitable, Hilton and his wife planned to return to New Zealand, but this was not easy. He booked a passage on the Altonia, but they heard at the last minute that this ship had been requisitioned by the Government. They were delighted to secure an alternative booking on the Athenia. They sailed from Liverpool. In His Own Words This is Hilton Porter’s own account of the tragedy: "At mid-day the following day, Sunday, September 3, a notice was placed on the board that England was at war with Germany. Doff (his wife, Dorothy) and I were in the third sitting for dinner, so at 6 p.m. ‘I had a bath, gave Doff a brandy for her sea-sickness and left her on a deck chair up on deck, while I went along to the bow and looked over at the boat ploughing its way along and thinking how dark the sea looked, as it was on the point of turning towards dusk. "Suddenly there was a bump, or series of them, as if the boat was bumping over rocks. I was thrown against the rail, and I first thought it was a mine, but instantly knew that to be impossible. or I would have got it properly at the bow, whereas the trouble seemed further back in the ship. I remember hoping she would right herself when there was a terrible explosion that shook the Athenia from stem to stern — debris fell everywhere, and the masts shook and rattled. I saw a huge column of smoke rise from the rear port side and looked out to sea and saw smoke of a dark colour about a mile away. I instantly made a dash for where I had left Doff, but had only gone a few steps when there was a further explosion, and the Athenia heaved over and flung me down the deck and against the rails. I thought it was going to turn completely over and felt that the end had come. I looked out to sea again and saw two gun flashes-I am not sure they didn’t come from two different places.. All my thoughts. at once went to Doffy, and although it was sloping dangerously, I was» able to scramble along the deck, but when I got there Doff had left and there was no one about, so I rushed back a little calling her name, but I could not hear my own voice on account of the screaming."

The narrative goes on to recount how Hilton found his wife and went below and waded about among the debris’ floating in rapidly mounting water, looking for life-belts. They eventually secured these and went back up on deck. "The boats were being lowered, and luckily we chose the side that had been hit -the port side. There were fewer people there, as most had gone to the other side, thinking they would be away from further gun-fire. A boat was about to be lowered and I tried to put Doff in, but she would not leave me, so I rushed her along to No. 6 boat, and there was plenty of room, although the boat, on account of the slope of the ship, was a distance away and below the level of the deck. I made her climb on to the rail-held tight to her left hand and sang out * Take it steady, now-jump!" and we cleared the space and landed in a heap in the lifeboat. "After the boat was lowered we sprang to the oars and pulled like blazes to get: clear of the Athenia before. she sank and _ pulled us down with her. We decided to row against the waves for safety, but I found the fellow on the rudder steering in a different direction, and told him so. He said he did not understand steering, so I said, ‘ Well, who does" There was no answer. I said, ‘Who is in charge of our lifeboat?’ No one. The steward knew nothing, and ‘there was only one seaman, and he was a boy, and had been taken on at. the last minute, so. yours truly did not mince matters any. longer, but. took charge. «+ ." After nine hours tossing about in the Atlantic during a heavy rainstorm they were at last picked up by a Norwegian ship, the Knute Nelson. They were then taken to Galway, in’ Ireland, and crossed: to Glasgow. The couple lost all their belongings on the Athenia except for a few pounds which they had to spend on their. passage a second tithe to Canada. There Hilton worked for a while in Montreal with the Canadian Broadcasting Commission, in radio plays. He did similar work for the Colombia Broadcasting System in New York and Los Angeles before returning to Auckland.