LOSS OF THE CARNAVON CASTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81918, 26 February 1907, Page 3

LOSS OF THE CARNAVON CASTLE.

ABAXJJOXKD WHEN SWEPT CY FLUE. s UAKDiSIIIIVS OF THE BOATS' t'KKWy.

A GRAPHIC NARRATIVE. I'lonian tie, February 25. Tiie Carnarvon Civile was'bound from Liverpool to Melbourne wit'.! ii fml cargo. She was in lat.tude 4J south, longitude 104 last, when the Ini* was discovered in the aniidsh us hold. !

Andcr-oii, the cool;, who'lir.-t di.sci.vI ered the fire, states that the capta n oidcied tile covering to be taken oil' I Ihe main Latch and all the. cargo jettisoned. The deck between I 1. 8 main hatch and the gallery was ton, up in tvtu places and water pouved in by nie.ins of buckets and pump-. The lire ■-cviued to come troni tite lower 'tween decks. All hands fought the llames until ten o'clock that, night, but Ihev gn.ned so rapidly that the whole 'twee'n decks l.etween toe bows and the mainmast was one mass uf llame, and the heat was so terrible that ail Lands were driven to tiie after deck, all move or less severely burned. Tile captain then told them it was hopeless to try and save the vessel, and ordered them j to man the lifeboats and get readv /or sea.

The cook continued:—"ln each boat were placed jars of water totalling 25 gallons for ours, and 30 for the captain's boats. We stood by the ship all night. The vessel was wrapped in llames from stem to stern, from deck to truck. About midnight the mainmast fell against the lnizzon and earlied the mizzen top-gallant overboard. By daylight the ship was smouldering, clouds of Bteain rising from her redhot sides. When it was impossible to board her again, the captain gave I orders to shape a course east by nortii I by half north, and make the best spesd I for Lcuwin, about 1100 miles ofT. Each boat was 22ft long and of oft- beam and lugger rigged. Our boat made considerably more headway than the cap- ' tain's for the first six days, and wo lull to put back several times to keep him company. The weather was moderate. There was a still' blow from the north-east on tile night of the seventh day out. A strong breleze sprang up from the northward aud in the morning we could see nothing of the captain's boat.

"We woti!," eonftiriued Anderson! "put on rations—'nvo pounds of moat meal among eleven men, and two coU' uensed milk tins of water per man per day. After separating from the captain, we encountered a strong southwest gale, and hove to for 40 hours. With "igreat sflieulty the boat was, kept from swamping. The wind continued for the next two days from the s*ame quarter, but it did not blow so hard, and so we were able to make a fairly good run. On tile night of the eleventh day, the south-west wind strengthened to a gale, anil ail the bread was spoiled by the seas 1 . We had to heave to. Starvation was then facing us, the water running short, each man having a half milk-tin per day. We had now only meat to eat and biscuits sodden with salt water. Berin was taken ill, but. recovered. 1 used to drink eight or ten mouthfuls of salt water eveiv 24 hours, and, owing to taking :onJy small quantities was none the worse. The weather was moderate until three days before we reached Fromantle, when there was a stiff south-west wind. Just before we got this breeze we were becalmed for a day, a shark swimming around the bjat for three hours. We sighted the smoke of two steamers, but they did not see us. At four o'clock on Sunday morning we rounded Rottnest Island, and started to run across to Freinaptle. We were entirely exhausted then, and as we climbed on the wharf fell down. We suffered terrible privations through hunger and "Jm-t ard Jtoss of sleep, and being continually wet through. None otf us closed our eyes for the last three days or nights. In the gale on the eleventh day we several times thought we were lost and almost gave up hope." The bn.it which leached Cape Xalnralist contained sixteen men and the captain, who experienced terrible sufferings. Owen lliggs died from exposure. The captain and one boy are very ill.

ANOTHER APPRENTICE DEAD

A TEYING VOYAGE Eeceived 26, 1 12 a.m.

Perth, February

A Government steamer proceed!, to Cape Naturaliste to bring > the captain and crew of the Carnarvon Castle to Fremantle, the men being too weak to travel by road. A message from tlie Cape states that another apprentice died to-day as the result of exposure. A member of the mate's boat states

that all worked splendidly and coolly in the trying voyage to Australia. Occasionally one of their number would lose heart, and the rest would do their besft to cheer him up. They had their last sup of water a few hours before they sighted land.