SUFFERINGS OF A CREW

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 27, 26 July 1911, Page 5

SUFFERINGS OF A CREW

STARVATION AND EXPOSURE. By Coble.—Press Association.—Copyright. Received 26, 12.50 a.m. Sydney, July 2-'). The Whangaroa's crew have arrived here. They had a trying tune. They got within two hundred miles of the' New South Wales coast on June ]!), but gales swept and knocked them altout in an alarming manner. The deck load ot timber was cut adrift, but «till the ship was driven helplessly before the waves, which made a clean breach over her. The crew were working waist high in water and the pumps wore kept going. She gradually settled' down, however, and lifetime waterlogged, the timber cargo keeping her afloat. The only place of safety was the top of the deck cabin, where the crew crawled and hung on by ropes. i The galley was gutted, but the cook mannered to save a tin of biscuits, and a bag of potatoes, which constituted the only available food for nearly a week. i They hung on to their frail shelter, the gales still howling. The rain for throe days fell in torrents, and when it ceased the. water supply failed. This I added to the suffering. I The Whangaroa was still driftincr, and there was no chance to ascertain her po.stion. All her instruments had been lost At last the deck ca.hin was smashed, and the crow wore deprived of their onlv shelter. Just after Lord Howe Island was sighted, the men took a boat and reached the island in an exhausted condition.