SOUTH SEA VIKINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19050, 22 June 1925, Page 6

SOUTH SEA VIKINGS.

FOUR MEN IN A BOAT. TONGANS* VENTURESOME TRIP. [from our own correspondent.] SUVA, June 15. A few weeks ago it was stated that a Tongan cutter had been reported at Lakemba in the Lau Group without sails, and which had over 30 persons on board, all in a state of semi-starvation. They had been voyaging between two Tougan islands when their sails had been swept away and after running aground on a reef they had at last reached Lakemba. The news that all had reached shore safely was received with loud rejoicings in Tonga, as it was feared that all had been lost. Now an even greater wonder has happened, or at least it is so believed by competent judges. On March 5 a Tongan cutter, the Manu Kai Nui, left her home port for another island, but sho was not heard of again until June 5, when the Government received a wireless message from Tanna in the New Hebrides, stating that four Tongans had landed in a boat at Tanna. It is stated that they are the crew of the missing boat, but nothing definite has yet been reported. If it should prove to be the missing ship's company the experience will bo a modern miracle, and should make wonderful reading. Yet history shows that these people, without charts- or navigating skill of any kind, have made almost equally long voyages. .