DRAMA AT SEA

Chronicle (Levin), 26 October 1946, Page 5

DRAMA AT SEA

Press Assn,

Baj Telegrcwh

,-Capyright

Beceived Friday, 9.15 p.rn. SYDNEY, Oct. 25. "Witli three oi! the erew dead and the single survivor in a dos])(M-ato plight, Ihe 15-ton* auxiliary ketch Nova which vanished Crom the New South Wales coast nearly five months ago, was wrecked on the Jslc oi' Pines near New Caledonia. The survivor, Jaines L. Fush, onee a 19-, stone ma'n, is now weighing less than 9 i -stone. Ile told a story oi disease, hunger and death as the ketch drifted aimlessly in the Pacifie. Two oi the erew died oi starvat-ion atid the other oi nialaria, al'ter one had been mad ior several days. The Xova, which was used as a military transport in the islands and was an old vessel well known on the Australian coast, was sold I) v the Disposals Fommission. Bound f i-oiii Brisbane i'or Sydney she left Jersevville, Kew South Wales, on Jnne 10 and was not seen again. Cush said the sails were hlown away and petrol exhausted, alter which the vessel drifted 1100 miles. Oue man died on August 28 and another on August 30. ' The two survivors saw the liner Morinda pass within three(jiiarters oi a mile oi the dereliet and waved irantically but were not seen. The third man died six days later when the vessel went ■ ashore on an islet ofl the Isleaof Pines. Cush tried to attract the attention oi the people on the island and hnally built a raft oi planks and oil drums on which he made tlu* three Vnile joiirney to the island. Ile said he owed his life to a diet oi raw lish and rain water caught in eanvas sheets. A gendarme gave him food and help and he was tak'en to Noumea for treatment.