In the act of sinking, a most extraordinary
and unheard-of thing happened. A lascar on board was violently shot up
from below through one of the air ventilators of the steamer, and was
found floating in the sea some 36 hours afterwards by a P. & O.
steamer coming up the Bay to Calcutta. He was the one and only
survivor left to tell the sad tale. Of course it could never be
ascertained what actually occurred, but I recollect one of the
theories propounded at the time was to the effect that the steamer had
been drawn into the vortex of the cyclone, and she must then have been
encompassed round about by a towering mass of pyramidical seas,
tumbling in the wildest confusion from all points of the compass,
which gradually led to the culmination of the final catastrophe by
crashing down on to the deck with irresistible and overwhelming force,
literally smothering and engulfing her without a shadow of chance of
recovery. Mrs. Keith Sim and her little boy were in Calcutta at the
time, and great sympathy was expressed for them in their sad
bereavement.
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