The officers of the Ditmar Koel highly "compliment the wireless} operator. He stood to his post for} 50 hours. There was, of course, no sleep for any, the situation was too precarious, no-one even thought of sleep.
They also speak feelingly of the French wireless station. The oper for in efarge of the latter com: municated with Mr. Carl Roper, of Messrs, Melchers & Ca, General] Agents for the Norddeutscher Lloyd 8/8 Ca., before daybreak at his re-nce and he in turn communieated by urgent wire to Germany. In reply, Messrs. Melchers were instructed to look after the crew. On! hearing that the crew were proceed-_ ing to Shanghai, Mr. Roper arranged accommodation for them at] the Savoy Hotel. He also saw Capt. Kennedy, of the Sikh Branch of the 'M, C. and arranged for all the Indian crew to be accommodated.
Mr. Roper, in the course of an interview last night, made special mention of the facilities put at his; disposal by Capt. Kennedy. "It can well be realized," he said, "that the putting up of some forty to fifty Indians in Shanghai, is no easy] matter and without the assistant of the Sikh branch of the S. M. C. don't know what we should have done." As it was, they were met by, compatriots on the wharf and were speedily conducted to quarters, The officers lay stress on the extraordinary current obtaining in the vicinity of the Amherst Rocks. They also commented on the extreme uselessness of the Indian crew. They could neither row or do anything useful. All. they thought about was saving their pots and tins at the risk of their lives. On one occasion, it was found necessary for a lifeboat to leave] the S. T, Saucy and proceed to the ship. The tug towed the lifeboat so that it could drift to the wreck. 'The mon in the lifeboat rowed hard, the while the Indians prayed, but the current took the lifeboat a' mile oF more from the wreck. The tug retrieved the life boat and it was only after two more attempts that the lifeboat war able to make the ship.
The Size of the Rocks After the ship struck the rock she listed to starboard, the list increasing to about 20 degrees. The position when the crew last saw liber, was that holds, one, two and three were full of water and the seas were washing the forepart of the ship as far as the bridge, which is amidships, und there were 18 feet of water in the engine room aft.
The officers also commented on the size of the Amherst Rocks. They. said that the whole rock, submerged and apparent, only occupied a space of about half a mile and the rock itself was about 100 feet by 50 feet and 30 feet high. They took soundings and found that at points the water was 19 feet deep and a yard oF two off would be 40 feet deep. Aft of the ship the water reached 'a depth of 80 feet in places and 60 feet in others. They estimated that there was a six knot current and were grateful that ship remained firm and did not slip as the Lienshing dig, It she had slipped off soon after the rash, there would un. doubtedly have been a heavy loss of life og with the heavy sea Tuning, the launching of lifeboats would' have been an extremely hazardous undertaking. 'They also paid a great tribute to the captains and officers of the salvage tugs who did everything possible to save life and belongings. The pilot boat, they' said, stood by for hours, " even
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.