HUNGRY SAILORS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21208, 3 September 1940, Page 6

HUNGRY SAILORS

VOYAGE IN YAWL 23 DAYS FROM SUVA HAMILTON MAN ON BOARD (By Telegraph.—Press Association) AUCKLAND, Tuesday “We are so hungry that we could eat horses, and not Shetland ponies at that,” said the three members of of the crew of the American yawl Marie on their arrival at Auckland to-day after a voyage of 23 days from Suva. The 34-foot vessel is commanded by her builder and owner, Captain Frank Dona, a Hollander who has lived in America. With him are Mr C. S. Dent, of Hamilton, and Mr L. R. Ryan, of Epsom. It should have been a twelve days’ trip but for contrary winds and calms. The sailors ate the last of their provisions—dried apples—for breakfast to-day. The yawl left Auckland on May 17 for a cruise including the Tongan and Fiji Groups. An event which brightened the voyage was the appearance of a 10-foot shark which scraped the copper from the bottom of the vessel on to its back and was “streaked like a Red Indian.” The crew got the shark partly on deck by gaffing its tail, but it struggled clear, taking half the gaff with it. Mr Ryan recently returned from a trip round the world. He was a member of the Air Force in England, and was formerly a p„olice constable in Auckland.