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BLOWN OFF COURSE

WRECK OP THE COLUMBI A. PACCENOER’O VIVID AOCOUNT, AUCKLAND, October 18. “I didn’t know the ship was piled up on the rocks. I . didn’t even wake up. The first I knew of the wreck was a Chinese cabin- boy' tearing into my cabin and jabbering again and again oe word ‘rocks,’ but horror was to come afterwards. To be adrift in a raging sea in pyjamas in. a;-leaking lifeboat is bad enough,. but "to know that just over the side with a thin planking between, the sea was infested with sharks was worse than anything.” Thus Mr J. J. Faricy, New York lawyer, who, in the course of a world tour, arrived: in Auckland by the Ventura this morning,, summed up his experiences on the Columbia which was wrecked on the cliffs of Point Tosco, i nMexico, on September 12. All the 130 passengers and the crew of 100 were saved. The Columbia had left the Mexican port of Mazatlan and in a terrific hurri cane was blown far out of,her course. Trying to make up for lost time she went ashore just after, midnight. “J remember thinking what an infernal din the Chinese cabin boys were making,” Mr Faricy said. “Then a boy tore into my cabin yelling ;‘rocks,’ and ran like the Dickens.. I saw that my bath robe hanging on the door, was at a queer angle and heard what sounded like pulleys. It was lifeboats being lowered.” ; Mr Faricy grabbed his dressinggown and managed to get a place ip No. 5 boat. All his luggage was lost. “As we swung out over the side .nearest the water the lights gave out;” the passenger said. “The siren had ; been turned on some time previously, and we were just swinging there between the wind and the water when the siren gasped, wheezed painfully and faded out. There was sudden silence as although we had lost last touch , with the ship. Tiie night was utterly dark arid the sea licked hungrily. I got into, an unlucky . boat. It was undermanned, so that I had to grab an oar and keep her bow on to the breakers. “Waiting was the worst part, and then our boat was leaking and our feet were inches deep in seepage in the bottom of the boat.- 1 It was then I thought of sharks. However, after 31 hours we noticed an uncertain lightness cutting the skv over yonder. Then it pivoted and played on the water. After what seemed an age it picked us out of the heaving waste. We were saved. It was the searchlight of the San Mateo. 1 which lmd picked up our wireless. They took us in and fed us. Everyone was picked .up by the San Mateo, which wirelessed the La Peria., Their rescuers took theiri t 6 Magdalena Bay, where it was calm there. We were all transhipped to the La Peria, and after that it was a picnic to Los Angeles. " ' r '

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19311021.2.59

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1931, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
498

BLOWN OFF COURSE Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1931, Page 5

BLOWN OFF COURSE Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1931, Page 5

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