STORY OF WRECK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 178, 29 June 1937, Page 7

STORY OF WRECK.

SWIM TO THE SHORE. INTERVIEW AT AUCKLAND. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, June 28. The story of the wreck of the auxiliary schooner Makoa on a reef off Hull Island in the Phoenix Group, the hazardous swim of the crew to land, and their subsequent privations until they were picked up by the Niagara on her voyage south and taken to Suva, were related by passengers on the liner when it arrived at Auckland.

The Makoa, which was owned l>y Burns, Rhiip and Company, was a total wreck, hut no lives were lost. Captain Doughty, the first mate, and 14 native members ot the crew of the schooner, spent 26 days on Hull Island belore the arrival of the Niagara, which had been acquainted of their plight by the Burns, Philp Company. The liner came to within a few hundred yards of the reef, and the survivors were rowed out from the shore in a small boat.

An account of the wreck was given by Mr William Kadison, a Los Angeles journalist who, as a passenger in the Niagara, was associated with the crew of the Makoa before tlicv were disembarked at Suva. Mr Kadison explained that the schooner ba.d been anchored outside the reef near the native settlement on Hull Island when it was caught by a cross-wind and blown on to the reef. In a very short time the battering the vessel received from heavy waves broke her up. and the crew had no option but to swim for shore, although the presence of sharks was feared. All were successful in reaching the beach. Mr Kadison stated that the survivors were assisted by 40 natives who were employed in a copra plantation at the settlement, but until the Niagara arrived some weeks later they were obliged to endure many hardships. Coconut milk was used for drink, as no water wa.s available, arid for food the crew were largely dependent upon fish and birds. Some variety m the menu was afforded by the captuie of several large turtles.