SKIRMISH WITH RIFFS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 183, 24 October 1927, Page 1

SKIRMISH WITH RIFFS

CASTAWAYS ASSAILED

FRUITY AMMUNITION By Co Me. — Pres. Association. — Copyriaht LONDON, Saturday. The American crew of the fteamer Nile, which was wrecked on the coast of Tunis on the night of October 16, arrived at Southampton to-day on board the Moreton Bay. The men relate how they repelled a party of hostile Riff tribesmen with apples and oranges. THE ship pounded heavily on the rocky coast. She sent out an g.O.S. call and the Moreton Buy rushed to her assistance. In the meanwhile the crew landed. They noticed the RifSans hanging about and the captain ordered them to return to their ship. The Riffs rushed them, but the castaways repelled them by using fruit as missiles. Later the Moreton Bay took off the majority of the crew, but the captain and a few others remained. A British warship is now standing by the wrecked vessel. A message from Paris says Moroccan tribesmen in the neighbourhood of the Atlas Mountains kidnapped a shooting party consisting of the nephew and stepson of a French resident, General Steeg, and their wives. They are probably being held for ransom. General Steeg himself is at

present en route to Morocco. A later message from Paris says that the members of General Steeg’s family, who were kidnapped in Morocco, are reported to be alive. Their captors have taken them to a native village. —A. and N.Z.