MAROONED ON PITCAIRN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 988, 3 June 1930, Page 11

MAROONED ON PITCAIRN

WELLINGTONIANS’ VISIT TO ISLAND LIFE IN LONELY COLONY Marooned on one of the loneliest spots of the Pacific, Pitcairn Island. \ for 33 da3 r s, two Wellingtonians who were the first visitors who had landed in 13 years, were feted like kings by the descendants of the Bounty mutineers. Some of the strange glamour that surrounds this quaint, lonely little colony was brought back to Auckland today by Messrs. C. Denman and B. Murray, who returned today by the Tainui, after ah enforced stay of more than six weeks. It began in an unorthodox way. The pair, employed by the Public Works Department on the Tawa Flat deviation works, boarded the Corinthic at ; Wellington to bid farewell to a workmate homeward bound. The sailing of the ship was postponed from five o’clock until later in the evening. Waiting below in company with a number of naval men being invalided Home, and in the midst of a boisterous sing-song, the pair failed to notice the gentle throb of the engines after the lines had been cast- off at 8.15 p.m. The vessel was -well outside Wellington before the men realised their predicament. Rushing to the captain they explained their dilemma, and the wireless flashed until their identity was established from Wellington. Mrs. Denman, in the meantime, with i her baby, had beep left standing on the wharf. Likewise Mr. Murray’s car, in which they had driven down to the wharf, was left standing there. The involuntary voyagers’ plight was little better. They had only a few shillings in their pockets, and only the clothes in which they stood. nevertheless, once their identity was established, the captain placed a cabin at their disposal, and they were well | treated until they were landed at Pit- 1 cairn. Radio messages flashed to the company’s steamers approaching Xew Zealand, asking them to pick up the marooned men. COULD NOT STOP That was on April 20, and the Matatua was due the following day, but their hopes were blighted when a wireless message intimated that the steamer could not stop, as she was out for a record. The smoko of the Rangitata was seen on the horizon on April 28, but she, too, passed. Three days later a freighter hove in sight and the visitors were rushed into the island launch and for three miles off the coast chased the fast disappearing vessel, which failed to notice their excited signals. Each time a steamer appeared on the horizon the great bell off the Bounty, rigged on a rough trellis on Look-out Ridge, where watch is kept day and night for passing ships, rang out its signal, and the island echoed with the look-out’s familiar “Sail-ho.” But nothing but disappointment greeted the marooned visitors. “Oh, for a fag,” the visitors gasped, after about a day on the island. For a couple or more weeks they endured the torture of cigarette smokers without “smokes.” They endeavoured to satisfy their craving by smoking green tobacco leaves, baked on coals, but it was a poor substitute for “tailormades.” Then came the lonic, homeward bound. A rush trip out in the launch, and the visitors returned to the island, happy, with 1,000 cigarettes. HOSPITABLE ISLANDERS

The hospitality of the islanders was wonderful. So that the burden would not fall too heavily on one family, the pair had meals in all homes on the island, breakfast in one, dinner in another and tea in a third. The is- | landers had not heard stories of the j war first hand before, and as both were ! returned soldiers, having served in ! Egypt and France, they had a fund ; of experiences to relate. The principal meal comprised ; cricken, wild fotvl and wild goats, oi which there is an abundance on the j island, besides ample fruit. This delightful island existence j closed on May 22, when the Tainui stopped and took aboard the marooned men.

It was an affecting farewell. The ship’s whistle resounded shrilly, and the islanders joined in singing “Sweet Bye-and-Bye.” Four families comprise the colony, the Christians, Warrens, Youngs <% <i Coffins. Mr. Arthur Herbert Young is chief magistrate, and there is a council which is elected annually. One can obtain a permit from the Governor of Fiji to land at Pitcairn, but it is useless if, by vote of the council of Pitcairn, they decide against allowing one to lainl cm_the island.