A HERO OF THE SEA.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 64, 25 March 1902, Page 4

A HERO OF THE SEA.

[Post Correspondent.] : LONDON; 30th January... . An extraordinary story of -maritime . heroism was told before Mr Justice Barnes last Tuesday. A German barque, the Planet, on her voyage 1 from Mexico to loaded with dye wood, had been Ihecalmed several times, all fresh provisions were exhausted; the men were suffering from scurvy;captain was dying 1 ;'the’first'mate 1 ' was dead ; and the second mate very ill. An English steamer, the Crown Point, fell in . with • the Planet, about 200 miles from Queenstown. Mr J. Bryant, second officer of the. Grown Point, heroically offered to go on boat d the Planet and navigate her. Accordingly, he went on board, and the Grown Point started t-owing the "Planet toward her Unfortunately, however, the hawser broke and could not be repaired. Consequently the Planet was left in midocean with Mr Bryant the only sound man on- board the stricken ship. „ t , 1 Mr Bryant, who seems to possess an irrepressible sense, of humour, made the following first entry in his diary bn 14th May : “Crew disheartened. Some tried heave in the broken chain. I could see the men .were not in a jstate.to do it, so T let- it go.' Captain Unconscious since jMonday;;and, (injfact, fiying...... I could not force apy stimulants injo his body. I shall not ; aV itempt to describe the smell of the ship, fi fed the mate with port wipe, through ;a pipe. A man came to me and told me that the hold was full of’ “schmall' schnakes mit foots.”. He said they had only killed twenty on deck yet, -but advised me to be careful. Found he meant scorpions. Glad I had my ;sea boots on. The ship’s mate had a dog. which left marks of his teeth on my boots'. He was mad, and had been for. some days. Again glad I had my boots .bn. This is a, ,place where a Mark Tapley would shine.”'

A few days later Mr Bryant entered “ Here we are - captain dead, mate dying, steward sickening, and all the crew still more or less affected. Fresh' "fodd for only another . two: days. ...A’.ghiji with a barnacle-covered bottom, in a flat calm: ' Ndthing in>> sight. .% But there’s something to the Credit side of the ledger, after all I have seefi no ’schmall scknakes mit foots’on deck at present, and furthermore, the dog isn’t mad any more, and is sitting bp. my lap as I write this.” 1

In the end the gallant fellow succeeded in bringing the vessel into Queenstown Harbour, after a terrible fortnight in the pest-ridden and scorpion haunted craft. lam glad to say he was awarded .£642 as salvage—well earned, too ! He is a man England may well be proud of. The Judge, in making the award, said: “ The unexaggerated story, as told in his own words, reminded me of some of* the old tales of the sea. Mr Bryant has done work which is worthy of the highest encomiums, and his abilities and strong sense of humour undoubtedly saved the ship’s company from despair. , I hope that the award will give this gallant young officer a fine start in life.” A wish that all my New Zealand readers will, I am sure, heartily endorse.