THE STORY OF A SURVIVOR.

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 126, 17 April 1890, Page 3

THE STORY OF A SURVIVOR.

. George Green, au A.B of the wrecked 'barque EmUie, says:— 'l stayedinthe sniezea rigging till dark, when 1 formed =a bag of the spanker, which I lashed to stump ot the mast,' and all got into it, the seas making a clean ' breach' over hulk, and' all would have perished %>ut for this device. We had nothing to •eat or drink, and our clothes were saturated. We lost the reckoning of the -days, and cannot say whether it was the •30th or3lat of March about sunset that •the wreck drove ashore ia Doughboy .Bay. Meek, who was delirious and -suffering greatly from thirst, lumped overboard and managed to swim ashore, < where he came across a creek, and after , drinking eagerly lay down and slept in a. I&ax bosh all night., The mate, Land <7umimng remained on the vessel until ■next morning. We were in a most miser •a We and desperate condition, and Cum' jumped overboard to swim asbore. He was too weak and sank. When he Tose I threw him a rope, and pulled him aboard again. We remained till daylight, when the ship broke up. The sea -was soon strewn with timber and other; . 'wreckage, upon which we floated ashore, .-and found Meek lying helpless on tne voeks^ none wore boo*s, because the second day after the vessel went over ■ •our feet began to swell, so we threw the 4>oot,s away. The mate had gum boots . =end did net try to remove them until - 4hree days after the gale. He tried to 4ake •oft' the boots, but .could not, the |>am being too great. He then cut the , boots away, and as he removed them his 4oe Jiails dropped off, and: his feet apigaared quite dead. After being six days without anything to eat or drink, we got \ -fresh water and a few limpets, which, to* gether with aeaweed, we subsisted on for a. whole week. We were roaming about on the rugged coast, sleeping sometimes . among the rocks. It rained nearly the * Whole tame. Our feet; were cut and fcruised. with travelling, onr clothes not ' •only soaked, but; torn to .rags clambering about, and «|s|fe fourth day ashore the ! mate's legs if)t *o bad and he became so weak that be lost heart, and would lie down to die. I left him, and Worked; my way found tbe bay, and on the fifth : ashore caught two wood hens, the ' £rst wholesome food we bad. The next; <day we found a dead seal, *»d only for that none -of us would have been alive" mow. We out a hole m him and drank ; the blood, and then ate tiie raw flesh ; for we had no matches. The -seventh <day ashore was tbe first dry day, and we : sat On the rock and dried ourselves' in ' the ran and sang hymns. We sighted a cutter which we thought had been sent an for us. Ihe cutter had been attracted ; by the wreckage, -and had •come into the bay. They fouad tike mate upon a steep -cliff hanging on to a branch of. a tree, unable eitter to get up or down. After getting bim aboard in a very emaciated state they same round and took us in. [ That was on Tuesday last, 12 days after , the wreck. The treatment we reoeived ; from Newton's party at Mutton Bird' Island was so kitd that I and the others are unable to express our gratitude. Our feet were in a dreadful state, and they < tore up every piece of linen and rag they > «outd find, and bound them up *nd dressed them with mutton bird oil. They •at up with the mate who was moi« dead than alive, day and night, and were continually putt ng warm sand to his feet to bring them to life. When questioned regarding the sea* wprthinessiof the barque, all three men say that she was quite unfit to proceed to sea, Green said. "She is one of the worst old traps that ever filled with salt water, end was soffit to be afloat. Any seaworthy boat would have stood the y/^eather »U right. I have been in much worse. Ail the canvas was taken off her before she went on her beam ends. The •ails, ropes, and rigging were rotton — in fact,, there was nothing but red paint holding net together " The mate, Brownrigg, died m the hos* jntai about fifteen minutes after his admission, Cumming, Green, aad Meek, the only members of the crew now alive, are doing as well as can be expected.