THE CANNIBALISM ON THE MIGNONETTE. Horrible Details. Sympathy With the Prisoners. BY THE AUCKLAND " STAR'S LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 75, 8 November 1884, Page 3

THE CANNIBALISM ON THE MIGNONETTE. Horrible Details. Sympathy With the Prisoners. BY THE AUCKLAND " STAR'S LONDON CORRESPONDEN T.

Ouit London correspondent, writing via Brindisi on September 19th, says :— The survivors of tho unfortunate yacht Mignonette ai*e the heroes — or perhaps one ought to say " the notorieties" — of the hour. For the past ten days the papers have teemed with revolting details of their ghastly cannibalism, and long leblers liom sympathisers protesting against their prosecution. A subscription is being raised in Anglo - Colonial circles to send the men out of the country as &oon as the law allows. Sir Saul Samuel is interesting himself in the case, and I believe Mr Want, of Sydney (tho purchaser of tho Mignonette), is also to be appealed to. There can be no doubt it will be a kind thing to give Dudley and his men an opportunity of recommencing life where they are unknown, but I have grave doubts whether all of them will caro to accept it. Tho sailor Brooks seems far from disliking tho terrible singularity of his position. He desciibes the meals which he and Dudley made off their murdered messmate's body with a ghoulish reli.sh and awful minuteness that makes one's blood run cold. Whether his action in saving his own life at the expense of another's was justified I don't know, but I do know that neither he nor Dudley look to me the sorf of men at whose mercy I should care to find myself. Ono interesting outcome of tho affair has been tho revelation that Australian and New Zealand traders arc in the habit of buying worn-out yachts for use on the coast, and amongst the Pacific Islands. Captain Dykes, of the steamer Columbia, wuting j from Ardriskongtothe "Daily Telegraph," says : — Just now there are thousands ot old pleasure vessels lying lotting on British shores, which yacht agenth try haid to sell, and, if possible, get sailed out to New Zealand and Australia, where they arc used for various purposes. Of some of these I have had expeiicnce under tho hire syfctem, and have icsolved never to have any more. Boats which have leaky deck seams, and through tho sides ot which the water pours, no matter on which tack, are advertised as "safe, comfortable, and weatherly,"' and tho lessee only finds out the truth when tho broken gaff is swinging about above, and ho ha? tho pleasure of handing bucket after bucket of water from the cabin floor to the man at the head of the companion. I know nothing and say nothing about the state of the Mignonette, but all yachts about to make a long voyage like tho ono to Sydney should be officially inspected and certified as safe by the Board of Trade.

The Statement of Edmund Brooks. A long and very interesting account of tho wreck of the Mignonette, and subsequent sufferings of tho crew, -was communicated to the Ccntial Pi ess by the sailor Brooks on Saturday last, and published in all the London papers*. As you are already familiar with the outline of the history, I merely append ono or two extracts from it : — Brooks had been accustomed to yachts and other small craft, and shipped on board the Mignonette without feeling the faintest apprehensions. She proved a capital sea boat. " Prior," he says, l( to July Bth, the day she was lost, the wind had. been hard and shifty, but she rode out tho gale admirably. At four o'clock in the afternoon of that clay, Captain Dudley called tho watch — myself and Mr Stcphons — the boy Parker sharing the watch with tho skipper. We two had been below about tour hours, but the weather was so rough that A\e had no sleep, as the vessel was chucking us about anyhow. We had been l)ing down in our oilskins, and when Aye got on deck, Captain Dudley askel Mr Stephens to take the helm while ho, myself, and Parker got in the squaresail and secured it, his object being, he said, to heave the yacht to till tho weather moderated. We got the sail in and lashed it, and then Captain Dudley took some tacks to nail dow n the skylight covers, I meantime being below getting some lashing to secure the boat and tackle on deck. Parker had gone doAvn to wet the tea, of which we were all to partake when we hove to. He had just come up, when Mr Stephens called, "Lookout!" and I saw a tremendous sea, reaching, I should think, quite half-way up to our mast-head, coming down upon us. Seeing the danger, I immediately took two round turns on each arm of tho rope fastened to the dingy, and almost directly the sea came right aboard, swamping us all. The captain and Parker, 1 believe, had held on to the main boom to leeward, and the mainsail being furled, had broken tho force of the sea upon them. Mr Stephens held on by tho tiller rope?, but I can't understand how it was nono of us were washed overboard ; in fact, I thought we should all have gone. When the sea had passerl Stephens almost directly said, "Oh, my (iod, her sides are stove in !" The captain looked over, and seeing it was too true, he ordered the boat out. I Avas just then putting on tho sail room hatch ; it had been washed off ; but I left that, and helped get the boat out. In fact, I Avas able "nearly to throw her out myself. We got in —Stephens, I, and Parker— and called out severaltimes to the captain to como on boaid, and he presently did so, the Mignonette sinking in about five minutes after she Avas struck. Wo then found our boat had been stove in on the port side, and she leaked a lot ; but I stopped it as well as I could with a piece of Avaste I found on the bottom boards, and this kept the water out till the morning, when Captain Dudley made it more secure. We little anticipated at that time, I can assure you, tbe troubles that were to come upon us. I did not know that Aye Avere so far from the track of the big steamers, for Mr Stephens had encouraged us from day to day by saying we should be sure to meet a vessel soon, and this gave us every conlidence that our voyage would be a successful ono. Parker took the shipwreck very kindly, his expectation after avo were in the boat being that avo should soon sco land ; but of course the rest of us knew better than that. He Avas a nice, steady, and good boy— as good a boy, in fact, as I ever sailed Avith in my lifo. I regularly took to him, and tried to teach him all I kneAV myself. We at first kept the boat's head to wind with the sea anchor avo had made with what we had saved from the wreck, and though Aye had two oars we could not row, as the weather was so bad. I and the captain stayed in the stern sheets, and Stephens and Parker were amidships and forward. I think I had the best spirits of all, for I had been used to small boats in rough weather all my life, and I fully expected we should meet a ship in four or five days at tho most. Dickey, the boy, seemed to make himself quite at home, and would always do everything he was asked to do with alacrity. We did not open onr first tin of turnips till three days after the wreck, having ate nothing at all in the meantime, We knew the tins con-

tamed only turnips, for I had acted as a sort of cook on board the Mignonette. On the fifth day out I was steering, and saw a turtle swimming almost to windward of us ; in fact, we had almost passed it when I saw it. Its head was some distance out of the water, and I pointed it out to the others. I and the captain pulled the boat's head to sea, and Mr Stephens got hold of the creature by the fins and turned it over. I let go the fore oar, and although it was a pretty goodsized fish, it camo on board as light as a fly, I can toll you, we were so pleased at the prospect of having something to eat, and we can have nothing better at sea in the shape of fish than turtle. We all now felt as if we were sure to be 3aved. This feeling was strong up to the time poor little Parker was killed, but after then my heart was cold. Captain Dudley killed the turtlo, but the weather was so rough we lost the blood through the salt water coming on board. But for this we should have had quite a quart or more, which would have lasted several days. The water got into the chronometer box, in which we were getting the blood. The turtle lasted us till, I think, the tw If th day. We ato every thing, skin and all, throwing the shell overboard. If wo saw a little bit of the turtle fat lying about that had been loft we picked it up and ato it. Parker, the boy, had several times expressed a desire to drink the sea water, and I and the other two strongly warned him against such a course, saying that if he did so it would kill him, but his reply always was, " I must drink something." I told him he should not if I saw him. We had a sort of watch by taking turns to steer the boat, getting a doze in the best way we could, but, of course, we were not very comfortable. Parker was only asked to assist in navigating the boat in fine weather. He then would take an oar occasionally at night time when either of us felt as if we wanted to lay down, which we used to do in the bottom of the boat as well as wo could. One morning— l think we must then have been fiitcen or sixteen days out, but I cui't remember exactly — about five o'clock, Dickey told us he had drank the bailer, which would hold quite a quart, empty, and half full again. I told him he was a very silly young iellow, and he again replied that he must diinL something. He had been gradually getting weaker, and uas, in fact, the weakest of us all. The salt water put his inside out of order, and he suffered very much from diarrhma, being at times in an agony of pain from this cause, and we all thought he would die. He appeared at times to be delirious ; he would lay in the bottom of the boat and try to sleep, and if he went off, when he woke up he v ould say he wanted a ship. To get on board a ship was all 1 ever heard him express a wish to do. I said to him several times, " Cheer up, Dickey ; it will all come right," and the captain and Mr Stephens did all they could in the same way. We had several times spoken botwecn the three of us about casting lots as to who should be killed, and Parker had heard this, but I and Mr Stephens would not hear of it, and said that if we were to die we would all die together. Excepting Parker, Mr Stephens suffered more than any of us. He was seized with pains internally, and his legs were so much swollen that he could hardly move. One night he was so bad that I thought ho was going to die, and took hold of his hand, and we prayed together to the Almighty to save us. July 20th, *\hen Parker's life was taken, was a very fine day. Excepting a little picco of the skin of the turtle, with a little drop of water we had caught in a storm which passed over our heads, we had nothing for eight days. Dick was lying in the bottom of the boat, groaning with pain ; but he had never said anything to lead us to suppose that his life was a burden to him. I believe the captain and Stephens had spoken about it in the night, though nothing had been said to me directly or indirectly of any intention to kill the boy, and Mr Stephens, I believe, would never have consented to it. I had been at the helm three or four hours, and was lying in the bows of the boat ; and Stephens made signs to me which I understood to mean that the captain intended to take the boy's life, as ho was dying. I believe he was dying, and if he had not been killed, I have not the slightest doubt we should all have died. 1 have seen his brother at Falmouth, and told him the same thing, and he seemed more satisfied after he had seen me. If the boy had died we should not have had any blood from him, and, of course, it Mas something to drink that we wanted. Thirst, more than hunger, was our trouble, and what that trouble really was no one can tell. I did not see the deed done. I had my oilskin coat over my head trying to get to sleep, and I was not aw are when it was to happen. All I heard was the captain say to Mr Stephens, " Hold his feet," and I uncovered my head, and then saw the boy was dead. I fainted away for a minute or two, and when I came to I saw the captain and Mr Stephens drinking the blood which wa& running from his neck. I said, "Give mo a drop," but it was very nearly all gone, and what I had was quite congealed. I felt quite strong after that — in fact, wo all made use of ihe expression that we were quite different men. I went aft and steered for two or three hours. I don'fc know exactly how long. Captain Dudley and Stephens cut off the boy's clothes and throw them overboard. It was a horrible sight, and no mistake ; but I did not think so much of it except just at the moment, though when I am by myself I think about it a good deal, and my thoughts then of what I have seen and what we went through are very dreadful. There was every excuse for what was done, for the poor boy, of whom, as I have said, I was very fond, could not have lived many d a y S _i n deed, I may say many hours ; and it is beyond question that if he had not been sacrificed none of us could have lived to tell the tale. I and the captain fed on the body, and so did Mr Stephens occasionally, but he had very little. We lived on it for four days and we ate a good deal — I should think, quite half the body— before we wero picked up, and I can say that we partook of it with as much relish as ordinary food. We were picked up on the twentyninth day out. I was steering the boat, about half-past six in the morning, as near as I can guess, but we had no watch. I saw a sail, but did not at first know what it was, for I had been sitting down talking to myself and praying to the Almighty to rescue us from death, as our sufferings from thirst were so horrible. When Mr Stephens and the captain "got up," I said, "0, my God, here's a ship coming straight" for us. We all prayed together out loud that she would not miss us, each promising to lead a different life to what we had done if the Almighty would only give us the strength to reach tho vessel. We put our sail, which was made out of Stephens's shirt, down, as the barque was a little to windward, and pulled as well as we could a little way. I should think she was four or fivo miles off when we sighted hor, and, as she came down upon us, Mr Stephens hoisted tho shirts and signalled as well as he was able, for he had not much strength to hold it up. Quite an hour and a-half was passed in this dreadful suspense, for we wore afraid, being still to leeward, that the barque would not see us. We at last saw her keep away from the wind, and then we felt she had seen us, and were

i very much rejoiced, and all thanked God for His mercy. As we got close alongside I took both oars, being the strongest. The captain caught the rope and made a turn as well as he was able round the fore thwart, Mr Stephens being aft. The latter sung out, " Oh, captain, for God's sake help us. We have been twenty-four days, and have had nothing to eat or drink. Help us on board. " The captain of the barque made a reply in German, which I could not understand. Captain Dudley also hailed him. Two of the crew came down and made the boat fast, and got ropes- round and lifted us on board, for we were so weak we could not climb the ship's side. I took hold of of the chain plates and scrambled up as well as I could, and the carpenter then carried me across the deck to the place where Mr Stephens was lying. The captain of the Montezuma had taken charge of Captain Dudley. They all treated us very kindly indeed. The first thing was to give us water, but only half a glass each, and I well remember how delicious it was. They would not let us have any more at first, but in half an hour or so we had come brandy and tea, and plenty of food. The very best the ship would afford was placed at our disposal. The captain's name, I think, was Siemens. He had his wife on board, aod this lady joined the crew in their kindness to us. At Falmouth yesterday Captain Dudley and his men were committed for trial, the local magistrates being very properly of opinion that the case was too serious for them to deal finally with. All the accused were, however, admitted to bail, and there seems to be little doubt that at the Assizes they will be formally acquitted of murder, and allowed to go their respective ways in peace. Last Saturday's "Spectator'* contains a very able article on the case. The writer completely quashed the justification plea, and urges that insanity alone should have been put forward. The men were mad with hunger and thirst, and in their madness committed a crime. For this reason, and for this reason alone, they should be acquitted at law. All the arguments re taking one life to save three are nonsense, and would lead to endless complications if recognised.