WRECKED ON DESOLATE COAST.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3786, 1 May 1928, Page 3

WRECKED ON DESOLATE COAST.

EIGHT DAYS’ WALK TO CIVILISATION. Nelson, April 28. Tardy news of the wreck of the fishing launch Konini, of Port Nelson, brings with it an account of the sufferings of the owner, Thomas Alee Boult, of Nelson, who was wrecked on the coast at Torrent Bay, fourteen miles from the nearest habitation. , Boult left Nelson a little more than a fortnight ago, on a fishing expedition off the coast. Near Torrent Bay he struck very heavy weather and was forced to anchor his boat. She lay tossed by heavy seas for eighteen hours, after which time the anchor line parted, having been worn through by the constant chafing. ‘The launch immediately broke up. Boult managed to struggle clear, but suffered many severe cuts by being dashed against rocks before he gained the beach. His boats went down with the launch, and he was left with cut feet and no food. For some days he lived on shellfish and roots, occasionally finding a little fruit, as he made slow progress along the coast, which is extremely rough in parts. He waited in 'an empty house for a day or two, hoping some boat would come along, but he was disappointed and forced to continue. Rain fell most of the time, and he sheltered as best he could under the overhanging rocks. The sufferer’s chief trouble was that he had nothing with which to dress the hurts, which had by now become painful sores. He eventually reached Mr. E. G. Hadifieild’s place at (Awaiti, (fourteen miles from the wreck, on the eighth day after setting out. Boult was considerably weakened by the absence of nutrition, the food he had been eating, and the strenuous time he had passed through. He is still at Awaiti, but is now doing well.