The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 1911
Retrieved from the National Library of Australia web site,
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
THE MERSEY SAFE
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SHE "SPEAKS" THE RUNIC
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OVERHEARD IN SYDNEY
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It will be learned with considerable satisfaction that the White Star
training ship Mersey, nine to ten days out from Melbourne, is safe,
somewhere distant off the New South Wales coast.
H.M.S. Challenger, lying at Sutherland Dock, was able last night, at about 9
o'clock, to pick up fragments of a communication which the training ship was
having with the White Star liner Runic, from Sydney early yesterday morning.
The conversation was not at all distinct, this being accounted for by the
fact that the apparatus on the Mersey has but a limited radius.
Having passed Jervis Bay at 2.30 p. m., the Runic would, at 9 o'clock, be
somewhere in the vicinity of Bermagui. The Mersey, whether close in or far
out, would, therefore, be within 100 miles of this point. It was not clear
to the operator on H.M.S. Challenger whether the ship had sustained any
damage through the severity of the gale. It might, however, be taken for
granted, that Captain Corner, a Royal Naval Reserve man, who knows the
Australian coast thoroughly, has kept his vessel well out from the coast.
The steamers Westralia, Merimbula, Moruya, Corio, Ophir, Yongala,
Coomouderry, and Uralla, which all arrived from the south yesterday, failed
to observe the ship.
Before the Runic left she had special instructions to endeavour to locate
the Mersey. Her success, therefore, indicates the value of wireless at sea.
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MELBOURNE, Thursday
Captain Chapman, of the steamer Casino, reported at Port Fairy this evening
that yesterday morning he sighted what he thought was the White Star
training ship Mersey about eight miles of [sic] Lorne, standing to eastward,
with half a gale from south-south-west. The weather was thick and dirty.
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The Argus, Melbourne, 20 January 1911
Retrieved from the National Library of Australia web site,
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
MERSEY'S WHEREABOUTS
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NEWS BY "WIRELESS"
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SYDNEY, Thursday---The White Star training ship Mersey, which left Melbourne
nine days ago for Sydney, has not yet put in an appearance, nor was she met
with by the steamers which have arrived from Port Phillip. The agents of the
Mersey said they had not the least anxiety as to the safety of the vessel,
and seafaring men considered that Captain Corner had either kept the Mersey
hove-to or had run far out to sea.
That the Mersey has met with no mishap was made known to-night. One of the
war-vessels in Sydney Harbour intercepted a message passing between the
Mersey and the White Star liner Runic, which left this morning for London,
and which should to-night be in the vicinity of Green Cape. The message was
not very distinct, but it was sufficiently clear to establish the fact that
the Mersey is still afloat and making towards Sydney.
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The Times, 20 January 1911
THE TRAINING SHIP MERSEY
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Messages were received yesterday that the training ship Mersey, of the
British Mercantile Marine, has been delayed on her voyage from Melbourne to
Sydney.
According to the first message sent yesterday through Reuter's Agency from
Sydney, the Mersey, a sailing vessel, which left Melbourne on January 10,
had not arrived, and it was thought possible that she might have been
driven out of her course in the severe gales which have prevailed lately.
A later telegram from Sydney, dated January 19, midnight, says that a
wireless message has been received which shows that the Mersey is still
afloat and is making towards Sydney.
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Messrs. Ismay, of the White Star Line, the owners of the Mersey, state that
they feel no anxiety respecting the vessel.
We were informed, on inquiry late last night at the head offices of the
White Star Company in Liverpool, that "there is no cause for uneasiness or
apprehension." The company point out that, being a sailing ship, the Mersey
is entirely dependent for her progress on favourable winds, and that, that
being so, no date can be previously fixed for her arrival at Sydney or any
other port. They assert that the ship is not overdue, and that the Reuter
message, which had also been received in Liverpool, had caused unnecessary
alarm and anxiety to the parents of the boys in the ship. The company add
that there "is no foundation whatever for the rumour that there is anything
wrong with the Mersey."
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The Mersey is a steel vessel of 1,814 toss, and is fitted with Marconi
wireless telegraphy and submarine signalling apparatus. With Lieutenant F.
W. Corner, R.N.R., in command, she left Liverpool on July 28 last, with a
full complement of 63 cadets, on her third voyage to Australia.
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