AUSTRALIAN WRECK.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN WRECK.

PRIVATIONS OF THE CREW. STRUGGLE THROUGH THE 3BUSH. Sydney, Sept. 'l2. The crew of a small steamer named the Rostrevor, which was totally wrecked on the coast of Victoria while on a voyage from Hobart to Sydney, suffered terrible privations while fighting their way from the lonely beach where they ■were wrecked to civilisation. The vessel went ashore at Z a.m. in thick darkness and with a biting southerly blowing, and immediately began to break up. The captain Bent volunteers 50yds through the surf with a rope. They landed, but lost the rope. So the crew Went ashore anyhow, one by : one, and the captain, a man of only 20, was the last to leave. He loaded. himself with tins of biscuit and meat. ■The whole crew, wet and only partially clad, crouched among the sparse bushes and •waited for daylight. Cold rain fell at (intervals. The captain, who had been fully clad, shared his clothes with the others.

At daylight the party set off for a place called Mario. After struggling for hours through Tough country, they found further progress barred by a wide deep lagoon. They returned reluctantly to their camp on the beach, which they reached at 5 p.m. Only a part of the ship Was still in sight, but it contained the captain's cabin, where food had been stored. The party was starving, so some of the men managed to get out to the wreck and get some tinned fruit and beef. Further cold rain fell heavily during the night and the half-clad men had a miserable time' of it.

At daylight the following morning (Thursday) they set off again through thick 'bush, at an angle calculated to take them round the lagoon. All day they fought their way through swamps and scrub, and at dusk they found their path blocked by another lagoon. They camped there that night, and on Friday they managed to cross the second lagoon, up to their necks in water most of the way. Then they swung round again to the coast which they reached at dusk, and they camped there. By this "time evposure, hard walking, and lack of food waß telling severely upon the men. Next morning they came upon a track which led them to isolated settlers, who helped them and took them to Mario.