MIRACULOUS ESCAPE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 377, 11 June 1928, Page 1

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE

CREW CLAMBER ON TO REEF (Special to THE SUN) A graphic story of the wreck, and the miraculous escape of the crew, was told to a SUN reoresen* tative by one of the survivors this afternoon. PORT CHARLES. To-day. It was at about 11 o’clock when the vessel struck, he stated. It was raining and blowing hard at the time, and in the pitch darkness they had no idea where they were. From the rigging a rope was made fast to a rock on the reef which they had struck, and down this the crew of 10 scrambled to safety, attired in whatever clothes they were wearing at the time. The spot where they landed is at the foot of some high cliffs some five or six miles from Port Charles in an uninhabited part of the country*. In parts the cliffs are 400 ft high, and in the darkness the wet and exhausted men had no alternative but to spend a rough and stormy night on the cliffs until daylight, when they set off to seek shelter. The first sign of habitation was not seen until they were within a mile or so of Port Charles, when they came across a house. Tired and wet through, and almost exhausted with the cold, the men were disappointed to find that it was empty They continued on to Port Charles, where they were hospitably cared for. The trawler is now on her beam ends, and it is stated that prospects of salvaging her are remote.