The Gambier Disaster.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 658, 12 September 1891, Page 2

The Gambier Disaster.

VARIOUS INCIDENTS. Melbourne, August 30. The group of survivors found aboard the Easby when that vessel was moored alongside the wharf presented a pitiable spectacle. In spite of all that had been done for them since the rescue many of them were still shivering in wet garments, and women and children had not recovered from their terror and prostration. Some of the tales told were very pitiful, and threw a ghastly light on the few awful minutes that elapsed before the Gambier was overwhelmed, and on the still more terrible experiences that came afterwards.

The third officer, Mr Spilman, was washed overboard when the ship sank, and saved himself by clinging to a bundle of rugs and a hatch until within swimming distance of the Easby. Neil McCauley, one of the seamen, went down with the ship, and was kept beneath the surface by being caught in the debris for a space of four minutes, ae he concludes. At last he freed himself, though nearly exhausted, and, clinging to some lumber, managed to sustain himself until rescued. The women and ohildren had some terrible experiences. Mrs Turner was sustained in the water by a seaman named Harridan tor a considerable time. Ultimately, when placed in one of the boats, she was insensible from exposure, and remained so for some time.

Mrs Glenfield (wife of a commercial traveller) who, with her ohildren, was a passenger from Sydney, had a distressing tale. She seized her child and made hasty preparations to leave the ship. She gathered together a little warm clothing for the child, and picked up a bag which she thought contained money and jewellery. With this in one hand, and the child in the other, she then ran on deck. While waiting for the boat she was swept overboard; but with maternal devotion clung tightly to the child, and after being buffeted about by the waves, was thrown against a hencoop. With this she supported herself until rescued. After being removed home to Northcote, Mrs Glenfield became completely prostrated with delirium. In her ravings she called for the child she had saved. One whose conduct marks him out for honorable mention is George Martin a steerage passenger, whose destination is Adelaide, and who formerly lived in Auckland, He acted with great nerve and good judgment, and saved the lives of several people, among them being Mrs Robinson, a steerage passenger, and Thomas Phillip, and Joseph Rooke, beside three children of a resident of Caulfield, Miss Harriet Nuttall, who was in charge of these children, shares with Martin the honor of saving them, as she watched over them

with much devotion, but ter which they must have become separated and most probably drowned. Hannah Lloyd, stewardess on the Gambier, did good work. She had seen other wrecks. Her quiet manner assisted greatly towards quelling the alarm of the women on board, and in addition to that she saved a little girl named Nellie Orchard.

Mr and Mrs Robineon, of Adelaide, are from Sydney, but originally left Newcastle. They were rescued in one of the boats. Those in charge tried to separate them by forcing Mrs Robinson into a boat by herself, but she refused to leave the ship without her husband. She answered “No ) we have lived together, and, if necessary, we die together. I shall not go unless he comes too." Her busband was then permitted to enter the boat. Upon this couple being interviewed, they expressed much concern about the loss of their luggage, "It is all we had in the world,” they said, 11 and our little stock of money has gone down too.”

Mrs McCarthy, one of the steerage passengers, escaped in her nightdress only, all else she had being lost, even her husband. When informed that her husband was amongst the missing, Mrs McCarthy, who is a young and lately married woman, abandoned herselt to grief, and throughout the day was in a very low state indeed. Her husboad jwas waened out of the boat that capsized.

Arthur Hill, a Salvation Army cadet, on his way from Brisbane to the training home at Richmond, was awakened out of his sleep by the chief steward. He helped to get the ladies into the boats, and was swept into the sea when the waters rushed over the ship. He held Miss Russell, a female cadet of the Salvation Army, by the hand, and retained his hold when they were washed overboard. Holding her with one arm, he swam towards one of the boats with the other. Having reached it, he placed Miss Russell upon it, but it capsized. He caught the young lady by the hair, and retained hold of her until he and she were picked up. She was then insensible, and remained eo almost all the morning. Cadet Ellie Woodlands, also destined for the Female Training Home, was lost. The steward of the Gambia, Mr Hughes, says that when the Easby strucker her, the Gambier ran aground on a shbal, hut slid back about 100 yards immediately afterwards, and settled down in five fathoms of water. One of the lads, named Turner, who was saved, narrates that when struggling in the water he felt something biting his neck. This ha found to be a rat, which had fixed it’s teeth firmly in the flesh ol the lad’s neck, instinctively grasping for support, the boy pulled it off and shared a plank with the animal, but says his curious companion was very soon washed off. The blow which the Easby struck the Gambier was of telling force as regards herself, and the battered, disfigured entrance with its riven plates and frao'.qred, distorted framework, attests the violence of the collision. The sternplate is carried away fully 10 feet above water-line to some distance beneath, and the plates, instead of snapping off short, as more brittle material would have done, have been simply curled back by the blow.