SAVED BY DREAMS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3139, 8 February 1911, Page 8

SAVED BY DREAMS.

WARNING TO PASSENGER IN THE LOST WARATAH .

VISION' OF SHIP’S END

A feature of the inquiry into flic mysterious. loss of. the Blue - Anchor liner War a tali' which vanished between Durban and Capetown in. July 1909, witli a- completeness almost unparalleled in the annals of the sea was the evidence of. Mr. Claude Sawyer, who left tho Waratah at Durban as" the result of three warning dreams. Mr. Claude Sawyer said he booked a first-class passage in the Waratah from Sydney to Capetown. He said he first noticed something unusual about the ship when she came out of Melbourne. She they had a big list to port. Going through some disturbed water she wobbled about a good deal and took a list to starboard which remained for a lon nr time. He was standing on the promenade deck find she went right- over until the water was underneath him. “About throe or four days before wo got into Durban.” he continued, “I had a dream which was most unusual. I saw a man with a long sword in a peculiar dress. He was holding the sword in his right hand, and it was covered with blood. I saw this vision three times. Tlie second time it came I thought, ‘I will know it again.’ and the third time I locked at it so intently that I could almost design it, sword and all. even now. Next day I mentioned the dream to a gentleman, and he said. ‘lt’s a warning.’ Then- 1 began to think win- T should be warned, and I was anxious to leave the ship.” VISION OF THE -SHIP’S END.

“Did it appear,” counsel asked, “three times on the same night?”— “Three times in the same morning.” Had it any influence in making you leave the ship?—lt reminded m-e I had made up my mind to get off. You would have got off had you uot bad the dream?—l think I should. After he landed at Durban he dreamt he saw the ship in heavy seas and_ one big roller came over her bow and she rolled over on her starboard side and disappeared. The witness’ opinion was that the Waratah was top-heavy, but whether this was the fault of the ship dr the loading he could not say. Mr. Robert Dives, of Newcastle, said lie saw the ship at Durban on the day she sailed. He had never seen a vessel with such a high bridge before, and lie went as near as he could to see it, as he bad a presentiment that he would never see her again. Mr. Leslie Scott, K.C., (for the owners): Mav I take it you are rather a believer in clairvoyance?—r am a believer in Divine inspiration. “Do you think on that ocasion that you were inspired?—l tlnik I was led to notice this peculiar bridge and to consider it a source of danger.