A MIRACLE OF THE SEA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2206, 23 November 1920, Page 4

A MIRACLE OF THE SEA.

This is a story of what might well be termed “a miracle of the *ea (savs the Auckland Star). There are many tales of wonderful escapes, of rescues when hope seemed dead, of almost incredible happen-

ings by reef and ocean depth, but the story of how Father tSouboyran, of the Marisl Mission, escaped a lingering death is grimly fascinating. The padre set off in the mission cutter St, Michael, of about seven tons, from the island of Cicia, in the eastern part of Fiji, to reach the large island of Kadanu, the scene of the amusing but wholly untrue and fanciful adventures of the “Pea Cireen Pirates.” On the. night of Wednesday, 13th October, the engine refused to work. The little vessel drifted on to the reef of Malawai, and turned right over, smashing the mast and deck fittings into nmtdnvood. Some of the crew swam to the dinghy, which had been swept clear, but Father Soubeyran and four natives were imprisoned inside the hull. Thinking these hopelessly dead, the dinghy tenants set out to save themselves, and (hey succeeded. .There were only one or two boulders on the reef, hut happily on to one of them the SI. Michael bad partially turned. This left a hole like the cave in the “Coral Island” slory, and one by one the priest and his four natives managed to squeeze through, and by diving managed to come out into the ocean again. The men got out only with the greatest difficulty. The engineer, Josefn, proved a veritable hero.