BATTERED IN STORM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 617, 20 March 1929, Page 1

BATTERED IN STORM

Crew Rescued by Trawler After Night on Alderman Island

TO AUCKLAND BY THE NGAPUHI

CAUGHT in a storm of cyclonic fury on Sunday, the 135-ton auxiliary schooner Elsie Mary, bound from Gisborne to Auckland, sprang a leak and filled so rapidly she had to be abandoned by her crew at mid-day on Monday. Taking to the lifeboat they landed on one of the Alderman Islands, being picked up by the trawler Humphrey 24 hours later and transhipped to the Ngapuhi, arriving in Auckland at 8 o’clock this morning.

The Elsie Mary, a coastal auxiliary schooner, of 135 tons, left Gisborne for Auckland at S o’clock last Saturday pvenins. She carried a crew of seven: Captain Owen (master). E. Carr (first engineer). J. Piggott (assistant-engineer). ■ J. Coleman (mate). A. Andersen (A. 8.). G. Currie (ordinary seaman). T. Way (cook). The vessel was loaded with maize, manure and general cargo for the Xorth. Fine weather was experienced all Saturday night, but on Sunday morning a wind sprang up. freshening to a gale and reaching cyclonic force by sundown. Under the fierce battering of the waves and the heavy pitching the vessel's timbers strained and she began to make water rapidly on Sunday night. All hands were ordered to the pumps, both deck and engine pumps being brought into action. The crew, wet and tired, toiled throughout the night. SHIP’S CONDITION HOPELESS On Monday morning the sea had {cue down considerably, but the vessel was taking water so fast that no headway was being made by the pumps. At mid-day, the water had reached within two feet of the after hatch and Captain Owen decided to abandoa the ship, as her condition was hopeless. They were then & little to the north of the Alderman Islands. A provisioned lifeboat was launched with some difficulty and the crew left the waterlogged Elsie Mary shortly after mid-day on Monday. The vessel was down by the atern and seemed sinking fast and was expected to sink in about 12 | hours. For over four hours they toiled at the oars, despite their physical weariness and about 5 p.m. they landed on the southernmost of the Alderman Islands, after pulling about seven miles. Great difficulty was experienced in dragging the lifeboat up the shingly beach. - The island is very steep and

rugged, running to 400 or 500 feet in height. The men ran up a distress signal on the steepest point, lit a roaring fire and made themselves as comfortable as possible after drying their clothes. Plenty of water was found in hollows in the rocks, and one danger was removed. The water in the lifeboat had been rationed in case of emergency. The island was practically treeless, with a short dense undergrowth, and very rocky, but driftwood supplied fuel for the great fire which roared all night. Biscuits and bully beef from the lifeboat and periwinkles from the island, formed the diet of the crew. “I didn’t think biscuits could taste so good,” saird one man. "I’ve never seen so many lizards in my life,” said another of the crew. "Great big tuataras, that were about two feet long. They walked round the place all night. They don’t see many people down there.” SLEPT ON HARD ROCKS

The men found it difficult to rest comfortably on the island that night, hard stones making sleep almost impossible. Blue lights were sent up as distress signals and about 2.30 o'clock yesterday morning they signalled the Auckland trawler Humphrey, which was on a fishing trip down the coast. The trawler stood by and at daybreak the shipwrecked men put out in their lifeboat and were taken aboard, after being about 24 hours on the island. “We cannot speak too highly of the treatment we received from the captain of the Humphrey,” said one of the shipwrecked men. All yesterday they remained aboard the trawler, but at 11 o’clock last evening the steamer Ngapuhi, bound from Tauranga to Auckland, was sighted, and signalled. The crew and lifeboat of the Elsie Mary were transhipped to the Ngapuhi and arrived in Auckland at 8 o’clock this morning. “All we have is what we stand up in,” said members of the Elsie Mary's crew this morning. “Practically all gear was lost.” The Auckland agents for the Elsie Mary are A. G. Prankham, Ltd., Hellaby’s Buildings, Queen Street.