SAVED WHEN HOPE ALMOST GONE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 51, 24 November 1926, Page 10

SAVED WHEN HOPE ALMOST GONE

SHIPWRECKED MARINERS PICKED UP

WITHOUT FOOD AND DRINK FOR OVER TWO DAYS

Dominion Special, Auckland, November 23. A ship’s boat containing four men was picked up by the steamer Colac the day before she arrived at Colon on her voyage from Montreal'to Auckland. They were the captain and three able seamen of the small schooner Joseph Whitaker, which had capsized in a hurricane when bound from Colon to Bluefields. The men reported that the mate and cook of the schooner had been drowned when she capsized. “I was on duty on the bridge on the night of October 20,” said Mr. T. M. Jarvis, third officer of the Colac. “The night was fairly dark and there was a heavy sea running. The ship was one day’s steam from Colon, and was making about 10 knots. Suddenly, about a quarter past 10 o’clock, I heard a cry on the port bow, but at first thought it was the sound of a sea bird. Again the cry came, however, and this time the man on look-out in the bow also heard it. I then noticed a dark object on the port bow.. We heard an answering hail, and I then called the captain. “As soon as those on the Colac sighted the ship’s boat the steamer’s engines were stopped, and when she was again put under way she circled back to where the cries had been heard. No difficulty was experienced in locating the small boat and the steamer was again stopped. The lifeboat then came alongside. When the small boat came within the glare of lights from the steamer it was seen Hiat it contained four men. Once on board the Colac the survivors were given hot tea and food, for they were badly in need of nourishment.

The rescued men were natives of Panama, but were able to speak English fairly well. According to their story, their ship, a 50-ton senooner, had left Colon several days previously, bound for Bluefields with general cargo, including machinery and farming implements. Stormy weather had been encountered, and on October 18 wind had blown with almost hurricane force. Fearing the worst, the captain had the schooner’s boat provisioned and warned the mate and other members of the crew to remain on deck. During the afternoon of October 20 the men’s worst fears had been realised, the schooner having capsized. The mate and cook, who had disregarded the master’s warning and had turned in, were drowned before they could gain the deck. Fortunately for the other members of the crew, the lifeboat, which had been got ready, floated off when the schooner capsized, and although all the provisions and drinking water were lost, the men succeeded in righting Hie boat and scrambling aboard. From the afternoon of October 18 until they were picked up by the Colac during the night of October 20, the survivors had had neither food nor water and were almost exhausted. Their efforts to make a sail with the captain’s tunic and a tarpaulin rigged on two oars had been almost useless, and the men had about given up hope when the steamer’s lights were sighted. The men quickly revived, and when the Colac arrived at Colon on the following day they had almost recovered. They were landed at Colon. The Colac reached Auckland this afternoon.