RESCUED MARINERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 126, 19 May 1908, Page 3

RESCUED MARINERS.

ADVENTI'KES AT THE ANTIPODES. THE CHEW OF THE FELIX VALUE. Per Press Association. Christchurch, Saturday. 1 be «-rew oi the French barque Proident Felix Faure, who lauded lust night from 11. Al. 8. Pegasus, alter rescue itoui Antipodes Island, all curry traces lot I heir rough exjK'riences. They idate | i liiiL lljf eh it he* of some uf their number j were uoni out when the Pegasus in that direction were promptly supplied wlien thev went on hoard. Other*, again, were supplied with boots. |iet\: it may he noted that live pairs of boots were found at the relief depot oil tlm island. One or two of the shipwrecked mariners were .shod with .shoes ingeniously made of albatross skin. They hiid, however, other skin to work with, lor they found a eow running oil the island. A cow and a bull had been placed on the island by the New Zealand Government. Whether the animal discovered by the castaways was the one that was landed or her offspring is not quite clear. The bull had evidently gone the way of all ilesh, for the I'renchmen discovered his skeleton. A dili-

gent search failed to discover either sheep or goats.

However, the involuntary had plenty of animal food—albatross an<l penguin, with iitteen tins of preserved meat found at the depot, and kept, as a tr-eat for Sundays. The biscuits ob- | tained there were so carefully husbaud--1 ed that each man's ration was but a biscuit and a-hall a day. A source of disappointment was the fact that certain books provided at the depot were all in English. IVrhttjv; some philanthropist will kindly add a few samples , of the literature of other nations to this I

far southern library. The want of tobacco seems to have been greatly fell by some of the men, but. they felt that amende were made in this respect when they reached llie hospitable lVgasu*. Other men spoke of the strenuous life they had led on the island—of having to struggle through grass lireant high, and having to walk three kilometres to get the wood, or, nither. sticks, with which they boiled their albatross and I penguin meal, cooked in an oil-can they obtained at the depot: aud of building a couple of cabins of stiekg and turf or |>eat. thatched with tussocks. Of all iheir hardships and labors, however, they talked with, tho cheerfulness of brave men who had met and overcome difficulties. The troubles were over—why worry about them any move? :

Everybody testified to the extremely rough trip encountered on the throe | days' steam from the island. So severe was the strain on the vessel that the wireless apparatus aloft was wrecked. The waHiip rolled her boats under, the guns also being submerged. The castaways. who had been on the weakening diet of penguin flesh, not calculated to produve very great stamina. were completely prostrated by sickness. and some of them had not recovered from it on arrival in Lyttelton. The captain attributes the disaster to the thick foggy weather; to the fact "that his chart of the Southern Ocean only showed 0110 island at the Antipodes; and to the incorrect surveys of that island. Captain Xoel has suffered heavy personal lo*s, including a stun of C2OO which he had with him at the time of the wreck.