LEFT BEHIND.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 8, 4 October 1907, Page 5

LEFT BEHIND.

TEN DAYS ON A BURNING SHIP.

NO FOOD OR WATIjJR, THE STEAMER FORTUNATUS. - > By Telegraph—Association—Copyright. Melbourne, October 3. A letter recoivcd from the captain of tho steamer lona, at l'ort Said, reports tho rescuing of. a coolie lireman from tho Currio liner Fortunatus (3425 tons) ten days after the Fortmiatus was abandoned afire. During that timo the man was without food or water, and it is a mystery how he escaped from perishing, as the whole vessel was a mass of fire. Ho had two or three small burns, but' otherwise was all right. Wheii last seen tho Fortunatus was a blazing shell, with a list to port. Her sides were red hot. ; The Fortunatus caught fire in tho Indian Ocean on July 30, and was abandoned on July 31. Tlio steamer Forth rescued the'crew and passengers in ,the vicinity of the \yrcck—except one native fireman, recorded as' missing—evidently the nian now referred to—and lauded thom at Mauritius. The above intimation of the escape of the fireman, which comes to. hand by the' belated process of mail fiora Suez, indicates that he was taken'off on August 10. On August 11 tho steamer Seydlitz sighted the Fortunatus, which steamer, was in a state of blaze, with her sizes bulged. The Seydlidz wps unable to board. The captain expressed ■ tho opinion that the Fortunatus'wiU bo a great danger to traffic, being in the direct track from Colombo to Fremantle; also that she would probably float a long time, as she is in a region of calms. I-loiv the fireman came to be left behind, at the time, of the abandonment is not clear.