Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 976, 24 March 1871, Page 3

This is how ravens saved a man's life :—There was a wrecker called Kinsman, who, when no wreck was onward, got his wages by raising stone in a quarry by the sea shore. Well, he was to work one day over yonder, half-way ilown Towercliif, and all at once he heard a buzz above him in the air and he looked up and there were two old ravens flying round and round very near his head. They kept whirling and corning so nigh, and they seemed so knowing, that the old man verily believed they were striving to speak, as they made a strange croak; but after some time they went away, and Kins man went on with his work. By andby both came back again, flying above and around as before, and then at last the birds dropped right down into the quarry two bits of wreck candle (Neapolitan wax candles from Mediterranean ships lost in the Channel) just at the old man's feet. Seeing thi«, Kinsman thought " there is surely a wreck coming in upon the beach;" so he packed his tools together, left them just where he stood, and went his way wrecking. He could And no jetsam, howe\er, though he searched far and wide, and he used to say he verily believed that the ravens had the candles at hand in their hold, so as to be ready with them as they were. Next day he went back to the quarry to his wotk, and he al ways used to say it was as true as a proverb ; there the tools were all buried out of sight; the crag had given way and fallen down, and if he had tarried one hour longer he must have been crushed to death ! So you see, sir, said Uncle Tony, whose words we have given almost verbatim, what knowledge those ravens must have had ; how well they knew the old- man, and how fond he was* of wreck; how crafty they were to hit upon the only plan that would ever have kept him

away; and the birds, moreover, must have l>een kind creature and willing to save a poor fellow's life.—HawkinY Footsteps in Far Cornwall. The following extraordinary proceeding on the part of the barque Tavistock is furnished by the Sydney Herald's Newcastle correspondent:—On Monday night the barque Tavistock, from Melbourne, was off the port shortly before midnight. The master, Capt Moody, told the chief officer to go forward and burn a blue light, as a signal for a pilot, the vessel being ten miles off the land at the time. The mate had scarcely gone when the captain threw a life buoy into the sea, and immediately jumped overboard after it. An alarm was in> atari rly made and a boat lowered, but after searching fruitlessly for three hours the boat returned and was hauled up, the captain being given up for lost. Soon after .daybreak one of the tugs made the barque, and. when close up, Cnptain Moody was observed not H)0 yards off. The boat was again lowered, and the master brought safely on board, apparently but little the worse for his immersion of six hours in the sea. It is stated that Captain Moody and his officers are not on the best of terms; that some quarrelling had taken place, and the captain had some fear of his life, and preferred jumping overboard to swimming, as there appeared a chance of swimming ashore. How he escaped the sharks is a wonder, as the sea swarms with them at this season of the year; remarkable also that he should have been picked up so close to his ship, seeing the time he was in the water and the strong southerly current that now prevails. Dr. Pearse, associate of Dr. Bowker, wenr on board, and had an interview with Captain Moody, and prescribed some medical comforts, recommending the captain a few days on shore for a change.