A THRILLING NARRATIVE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2052, 2 December 1907, Page 2

A THRILLING NARRATIVE.

OF SHIPAVIItEGK AND RESCUE. SIXTEEN OF TWENTY-EIGHT BAYED. LIFE ON DISAPPOINTMENT ISLAND. SAILORS’ INGENUITY AND HEROISM. EIGHT AIONTH'S ON ALMOST BARMEN liSLAN D.

Press Association. .INVERCARGILL, Dec. 1. A sensation was ea-nsod hor 0 when tlie news spread tliut the Hi nemo a had returned witli castaways from the Auckland islands, and as fragments of information reached town from tlie Bluff during tlie evening tho tragedy and rescue were tho sole topics oi conversation. The following story was obtained IrOin Mi* Crosfby bin it 1l on his arrival at Invercargill on Saturday, and winch was taken from notes written by Mr. Smith during the voyage:— tOn the arrival of the expedition in iort Boss at Auckland islands early oil tlm morning of Saturday, November I(sth; great excitement was caused when on sighting tho Government depot it was noted that A AVHUTE FLAG was living at half-mast in token ol the presence of a shipwrecked crew, qho captain lost no time in launching a boat and effecting a landing, ail'd as lie approached the depot a cheer went up from at least a dozen men who were congregated there. It was recognised as a true British cheer, and was answered three times three from the Hinemoa. After a very short delay Captain Bollons returned, followed by five of the stranded crew, in the depot boat. The boat contained the second mate (Air. McLaughlin), third mate (Air. lvnudsen), Harry AA alters, Charles Eyre, and another. Tho second mate was wearing a skull cap, made of sealskin, and one or two wore a kind of slipper made out of untanned cowhide, while all were wearing clothes from the depot supplies. From the crew it was learned that the four-masted BARQUE DUNDONALD, 2000 tons, left Sydney on February 11th, bound for Falmouth, laden with wheat. .She carried a crew ot 27 all told, in addition to whom was the captain’s son, a- lad of 16. who was not in good health. Contrary winds were met with all the way, and a great disturbance of the compass had been noticed. Halt-way between Sydney and the Aucklands at 12.30 on the morning ol Aiarcli • 7th the ship STRUCK ON A REEF on the west side of Disappointment Island, an outlying island of • the Auckland group. - The night was thick, with half a gale blowing. Land was not seen until immediately before the ship struck. An effort was made to wear ship, but it was too late, and the ship was driven stern nrst right into a crevice in tilt cliff, which towered up 300tt high, in a few minutes the fore part oi the ship dropped into the sea, ana causer! ’a huge wave to wash along the deck, sweeping the crow belort it and carrying away IN ONE SWEEP HLEA’EN AIEM, who were never seen again. Amongst these were the captain and his son. The rest of the crew hung to tiie various fixtures, and when flit wave had gone by rushed up the rigging. Three men got ashore from the jigger mast, but one of them slipped back over the cliff and met his death. . AA limit followed is described in the narrative of Charles, Eyre, which is given below. Captain Bollons supplied tilt men with some additional stores, and told them he would call for them on his return from Bounty and Campbell Islands in 10 or 12 days. The survivors all appeared well, and it was evident that tlie food they had . subsisted .on had agreed with them. AATiile the men were on the island TWO SHIPS PASSED THEM, the first in July and tlie other later on. but the castaways could not attract their attention, as the vessels were a considerable distance off tilt shore.”

A SURVIVOR’S STORY. The following is the statement given by Clias.. Eyre, A.B. (London), to .Mr. Crosby Smith, while lie was acting as cook to the expedition party on Campbell Islands: —“I signed on the Dundonald in Sydney, the vessel being bound for Falmouth for orders. iSfie was laden with wheat. AVe had contrary winds all the way from Sydney, and when off Aucklanu Islands it was blowing half a gale. Tho weather on the night of March 6th was very thick and heavy, and wo shortened down to upper topsail, and had set the lower topgallant. Suddenly at 12.30 a.an. on the 7th land was seen -right ahead. AA’e tried to wear the ship short round, but she would not stay-, and AA’IE-NT STERN Flill'ST into a crevice in the cliffs. Orders were given to clear the lifeboats, lmt it was found to be useless, as there was a big sea and rocks all round us. The captain ordered us to

PUT ON OUR LIFE-BELTS. The steward gave lip all hope of saving himself, and said, ‘Good-bye, boys! il am too old to get ashore.’ He went into his cabin, shut the door, and soon after the compressed air in the hold blew up the deck. The mate told ns to get under the forecastle head, as the ship might he dismasted. AA’e were there two or three minutes when she started shipping seas, just a-break of the forecastle. AA’iien we saw seas coming we went on the forecastle head, but were not there more than a couple of minutes when water began to come right over. One tremendous sea. washed clean over us, although we all managed to hang on. The next one

AA’ASH'ED US ALL AAA’AY. I don’t know what became of the others, hut I was swirled round and round. I caught hold of the foot of the forecastle, but was instantly torn away by' the sea. Then I caught hold of one of the shrouds and climbed up as I did so. I heard someone following me, and looking back saw it was an Irishman named John Judge. AA’e went on to the foretopgallant yards, as it was canted towards shore. AA’e thought it was touching the cliff, hut found it to be about 16ft way. AA’e were go--11,0 TRY TO SAVING ASHORE on the end of a rope, but found the rope was too short. Unfortunately wo had dropped the only knife we iiad, and could not cut another rope to lengthen it. AA’e spent tho night up there, and heard MANY DISTRESSING CRIES around us. About an hour before daylight we began to climb down to the foretop, and found about 12 men •there, including the first and second mates. Tho mate told us to prepare for tho worst, as the mast could not stand much longer. Ho thought we had better cut a few lines, as we might be able to help olio another ashore. I had lost my knife, so the mate gave me liis, and I went up again and cut away some of the running gear. Suddenly I heard a voice from tlie shore opposite, and found it to he Michael Poole, a Russian Finn. 1 cut one of the topsail hunt lines and threw it to him, and we made- fast at both ends. By tins means we all managed to get ashore. T 1,.. cliff was about 300 ft high, and at the point just above the mast was a very steep slope, which allowed us to climb up with comparative ease. • Out of 28 there were 16 OF US GOT ASHORE.

which left 12 to be accounted for as drowned. They were washed it A' a.i when the big sea- swept the snip. t now learned that th e first man ashore, Walter Low. called out to nass a rone, but before this could be done he slipped over the cliff into the sea and was never seen again . Wewei c ALL VERY MbOH h-VH'Atbi whei we eot ashore., being very hungry and cold. When in the topgal-

lant tho mate told us there was a •depot on tho island, and when we got aslioro wo went in search of it. Vpjie weather was so thick that we could not tell where we were going, so we turned back. Later on we discovered that there was no depot on that island. This was a great disappointment to tho mate, who, along with tho second mate, had been seriously ill from exposure. DEATH OF MATE. AVe never expected the second mate to recover, but lie gradually got better. .The mate, however, after finding he was not on the main Auckland Islands, was disheartened; ho sank rapidly and died on, the twelfth div after the wreck. Ho was over 50 years of age. By this time wo had discovered that we wore

ON DISAPPOINTMENT ISLAND. After the mate’s death we shifted over to the eastern side of tho island. Tlie water where wo struck was very bad, so we shifted to the other side. Tho first day after meeting ashore we •SUBSISTED UPON RAW’ MOLLYHA AA’KS.

Tlie few matches amongst us were wet, and it was three days before we could get them dry. When we once got a fire going we hanked it up and kept it alight for seven mouths. Until Alay we only covered ourselves up with canvas we got from the ship before she disappeared, but wo began to see that wo were going to have some cold weather, for SNOAA’ AND HAIL GAME ON.

AA'e then decided to dig holes in the ■ground, which we did with our hands. Above the holes we built up sticks and put sods on top, FORMING HUTS,

about 6ft long and 4ft wide. AA’e m maged to scrape through the winter all right by living on sea-hawks, molly-hawks, and seals. AVhen we saw the seals first bobbing up oil water wo thought we had got the sea-serpent all right. AA’e did not know how to kill them at first, ivc used to whack them on the back with a sticlc, but one of the fellows happened to hit one of them on the nose and it rolled over, so after that we had no difficulty in

DESPATCHING SEALS. In the beginning we used to cook everything by putting it on the flames, but afterwards we made a mod oven and cooked food on a spit. AA’e knew the depot was on the other island, which was about six miles distant, but we did not know how to get across there. It was decided to build a canvas boat, hut we had cut up our clothes for sails and blankets, as we had scarcely any tfothes on when we got ashore from the ship In Ju-lv three men BUILT A BOAT

of canvas and sticks. To do this we had to put in pieces of our clothes and blankets and sew them together, and the task was all the harder, as the sailmaker and carpenter were both drowned when the ship went ashore.

SAILORS’ INGENUITY. AA r e did sewing by means of a small bone from one of the birds, with a hole bored in it. AA’e used a little bit of wire we had. On July 31st a start was made in the boat for THE MAIN ISLAND,

which was reached ail right, but as they could not find the depot they came back. On August 9th they had six matches with them, and used four while over there. Then a second boat was built in September. On one fine morning the party started for the main islands. The

BOAT WAS SMASHED by the sea before it could get away. AA'e built a third one in October, and stirted again with a party of four, namely. Knudsen, AA’alters, Grafton, and myself. AA’e got over to a large island. As we readied shore we struck a rock, and the boat was smashed, sending us all into the water.

A CATASTROPHE: AVETTING THE LAST MATCH.

AA’e scrambled ashore again, but the mishap nut out a fire which we had carried in the boat on a sod. AA’e had carried tlie fire in order to save matches, of which we had only two. These got wet, and even after drying them for three days we could not get a light from them. On the-fourth morning after landing we started in search of the depot, and after walking across the island and about 15 miles through the hush and scrub, we struck right on it. There was a good boat

AT THE DEPOT, but no sails, so we cut uti our clothes to mak 6 a sail, so that we could return to Disappointment Isa land for tlie rest of the crew. On the next day we tried to sail round for them, but the weather was too bad, and we had some difficulty' in returning to the depot. 1011 the following day wo mad'e another start, and got there about 3 o'clock. AA’e had

F'OUN’D clothes at the depot and exchanged them for what we were wearing, and we had also cut each other’s -hair and beards, which during seven months we were on the other island had grown so long that we looked LIIvE A LOT OF SPUING POETS. -As we;got near our old camp our mates did not know us in our ' now toggery, and they, thought we were seals. AY<? put half the men ashore when we first landed with the canvas boat, and left .them to make their way over to tlie depot. Then we took tlie second officer and others round to the denot. A LOIS'G STAY. AVe had been seven months on Disappointment Island. Wo. saw from a niece of paper in tlie depot that the Tutaneki had been there on February Ist, and that some'other Government boat would call in about six montlis, so we were on the lookout for a boat every day after we got to the depot. You can imagine our delight when THE HI NEMO A PUT IN. an appearance on Saturday morning, 16th inst., eight months after the day of our shipwreck. When we got to depot we found only Ship’s biscuits and tinned meat—-no tea, butter, sugar, or coffee. We found the door of the depot open, 'and it vas evident that some of the stores lnd been purloined. We found an old pattern gun in a hut, and after a bit got it to work. We used roots ot a plant (SMI Bocarra Polaris) for vegetables, and it was not bad when boiled. "y\ e. also uuide coffee from sea biscuits by roasting them. Wo -afterwards found a little tea at Ehderby Island depot.”