ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 21, 27 October 1919, Page 4

ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND

TERRIBLE PRIVATIONS OF MAROONED

TIMELY RESCUE BY H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND

Fanning Island, October 24 Tho three men who wero picked up oh Christmas Island by H. 11.5. New Zealand are at present tho guests of tho Fanning Island cable staff, and are recuperating from their terrible privations during tho past year. They were left on tho island by the lessee, Father Rougier, in tho middle of 1018, with a scanty stock of provisions, and the promise of a rolieving ship within forty days. Tho manager of Father Eougier's plantation, Mr. English, a French youth, and a Tahitian wero the only inhabitants. They wera almost desperate when the New Zealand appeared. The landing party', which included Ad-, miral Jellicoe, was held up by English, clad only in a tattered pair of shorts patched with a rice bag. Lord Jcllicoo was amused by tho comical spectacle he presented, holding up tho warship with a revolver. Ho personally ini crested himself in the hardships suffered by the party, and had a long talk with English, and Lady Jcllicoo read his diary, . The Commander of tho Now Zealand had his officers working all night copying charts, executed with remarkable exactitude, and meteorological reports made during tho enforced stay on the island. The map showed tho positions of the various! wrecks on Christmas Island, which is a veritable death-trap of tho Pacific. Evidence wns found of eight wrecks, while millions of feet of lumber, mostly in good condition, is strewn on the shores. The irony of the situation of the marooned party was their possession of three automobiles, which were needed for traversing tho long distances between the scattered coconut groves. The unfortunates had means for travelling "de luxe," yet had no clothes, no food, and no comforts. Eats swarmed everywhere, and at the first had devoured the pillows and blankets while tho men slept. English said he would have gladly exchanged the automobiles for a clean shirt and a pair of trousers, and meaivs with which to shave to enable him to welcome his distinguished visitor and life-saver with some 6emblanco of cleanliness, instead of his Robinson Crusoe attire and revolver. English's diary was faithfully kept all tho time he was on the island. It contained some entries pathetic in their hopelessness. Day by day, it stated, ho was looking, longing, and praying for a ship to arrive. Distress and ill-health from exposure, wretchedness, and poor food nearly drove tho men crazy, <vnd they would hnve been unable to exist many more weeks. When they left tho New Zealand, Lord Jellicoe presented English with bis photograph, saying "Yours was the hardest time I havo ever heard of. You, must have a little souvenir." It was endorsed, "To .Toseph English, from Jellicoe, Admiral of the Fleet. The natives at the cable, station presented Lord Jellicoe with a shark-tooth sword'-sjtictk. Lord Jellicoe wirelessed, "Thank the natives warmly for their kind gift, which I shall value exceed-ingly."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.