14
(2)11
been inadvisable to have towed her off in a sinking
condition. I, therefore, stopped the engines and
decided to await assistance both as regarda dis-
ambarkation and salvage. After that I made calls
for assistance. The first vessel to arrive was the
the "Nahadka" who came in response to rocket sgmls.
She anchored a mile off and sent her Chief ofa cer
in a pulling dinghy. About the same time H.M.S.
"Hart" appeared on the scene and put her 1st Lieu-
tenant and party on board. The position was dis-
cussed regarding the transfer of passengers to the
get Russian vessel, and two attempts were made to H.M.S.
-costly
the
to
"Hart" alongside which proved a costly delay due to
dravs the time when in swinging in and out of the gengway
Laker
A
and inconvenience in handling the motor which had
been swung inboard and was extremely difficult to
swing outboard again due to the list. About this
time a U.S. destroyer arrived (either "Fox" or
"Hawking) and asked if she could assist.
Through H.M.S. "Hart" I arrnged for the
American power boats to asist in the disembarkation
and later I presume the request was extended to
include the 2nd destroyer which arrived. A message
from the "Hunan" indicated she would arrive about
noon and as she was a much handier vessel than the
Russian who had no power boat, I decided to dispense
with the services of the "Nahadka", thanked them and
requested her to proceed. We commenced disembarkation
at 11.0 A. H. using boats from the British and
American wharships together with the "Hong Kheng's"
motor lifeboat which was assisted at 1500 hours by a
similar boat from the "Hunan". The disembarkation
went along smoothly and all women and children wee
gone by 3.0 P.M. At about 5.0 P. the vessel sheet
P.M