A NEW HEBRIDES TRAGEDY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2363, 2 December 1908, Page 3

A NEW HEBRIDES TRAGEDY.

TWO MISSIONARIES LOSE THEIR LIVEtS.

Files which arrived from Noumea tho other day contain a sensational account of a drowning .tragedy in the New Hebrides. Advice which came to hand three weeks ago stated that, two Catholic missionaries on Ambrym Island, Father Perthuy and Sister Marie Clement-, had been drowned by the whaleboat in which they were travelling from Ambrym to Port Sandwich capsizing, though tlie crew of Kanakas were saved. The occupants of the boat, which left Sesivi (Ambrym) on. October 11th, consisted of tlie Kanaka in command (Joseph), a crew of four Kanakas, a young man (Gaston), and a little boy of the Sesivi .Mission, besides tlie two missionaries. On leaving the weather was line and tlie sea fairly calm, but a" wave larger than the others came over the stern of the boat and swamped, it. Gaston and Joseph went to the assistance of the two whites and kept them afloat till they were able to tie three oars together. The little mission boy, left to-himself, soon disappeared, while the four of the crew, helping one another, managed to get.' some oars together, to which they clung. Tlie strong currents separated the two parties) the second of whom were soon afterwards picked up by a small ketch, but little search was made for the others. Tliev were, however, still, alive, although they had been carried off by the current in si. different direction. The accident took place at seven o’clock in the morning. At two o’clock in the afternoon the Sister began to fail, and asked tlie Priest to- administer the last sacrament to- her. He did so, and soon afterwards she expired. Perhaps an hour afterwards Father Pertliuy said, “I am dying also.” Gaston asked for the last sacrament (extreme unction), which the priest administered to him and also to Joseph. Shortly afterwards lie died, and as night oaine on, Joseph, too, collapsed. Gast-on, who was now alone, fixed an oar under each arm and waited for -the current to cany him towards the land. Towards morning he was close in shore„ and called to some Kanakas he saw oh the beach; but his voice was not heard. It seemed as tlio ugh the currents were about to carry him out to sea again, when he was seen by a European, who reached him in a. boat just as he was on the point of losing consciousness. He had been in the water for 24 hours.