A TALE OF THE SEA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 66, 18 March 1905, Page 4

A TALE OF THE SEA.

A FRENCH VESSEL AT THE COOK ! ISLANDS. 4 v*" ' 2000 MILES OUT OF HER COURSE : '' (From Our Owu Correspondent) • RAB.OTONGA. February 28 - Early on Monday morning, the 20th February, a large vessel was &<J3 preaching Rarotonga from the nor?t ward, flying the French flag. She t,S to be the French £* Captain Boutmy, owned by Messrs T Ballande Fils Aine. of Noumea \- '" Caledonia. The last the ship was Aitutafci, and the foW mg statement was bade by the mc Z' bers of the crew as to how. the S came to be at the CoAk Island inste ad 5 at Noumea, which jwas her des"^. The Fanny, which i< a vessel nf -'i. 1 400 tons left Sydney, A e uSalt Noumea.. New Caledonia, on the X December last laden with 274 tL f coal and 37 cases of gunpowder %*' sides the captain there were 11 of a «£■ on board. As soon as the vessel' eleorlJ ' Sydney Heads she met with a fair S and proceeded on her course Then +v crew allege that the captain ££& freely n hquor, and was unabW • cordingly to make any proper obserra tions and the mate of the ve«3 Sj" unable to navigate her. ■ s men the captain came ashore nr Rarotonga he hardly seemed to realise that he was so far away from his nr P« desUnatipn, and fact of his being where he was to havX been blown here by stron* winds wJ S ' pressed his intention of g °ongo n mea after taking 7A\ la 9 f gainst thi3 th ° cwS 3 n^uShS e e^roZg^ n^ were thus at. a standstill WherfP were officially brought under the\n of the Resident CoSmiw^^g* missioner, -Colonel Gudgeon b y -To the Governor of the Cook Islands' —We were engaged to tnk-o ♦». ■ umUs - Fanny f rom sfdney t*o° de Sigur, before the Consul-GeneS SFrance, acting on behalf nf tT « L. Ballande fL Ai^Sel^s^f Janua 17) when the wine gave oul 24t,. After ten days at sea the captain pretended to us that he was near New Caledonia,/and that we ought to see the land at any moment. Days passed wMiout sighting any land, in spite 'of its being only seventy miles away according to the captain. At the end of 9{j days after, having run a number of miles, we sighted high land, which the captain said was the island of Beless We veered off the land at night, and for the next five or six days- we saw other high land, which the captain eatieil jby various names. Then the land disappeared. After running for some tifflV N.E. by N. the provisions began to give out, and we asked the captain our position. He replied that after- being 40 days at sea we were 70 miles frohi Yande; then two days after he said W were 17. miles from Xehoue, and that.land would be sighted at any' moffiefits' : One day towards midday we "sighted two flat islands, which the captain tUeii believed to be Huon At 0 p.iii: we saw a boat coming towards us matined by natives and a European; We fißked the name of the island, and the white man replied that it was ManiiaV distant ISOO miles from. New Caledonia. We were astonished, and iinmedlatoly refused to proceed further, addreftSiiig':: our complaint to the only white "nilui; Mr Gosset. He questionedUs, and) ad-" vised us to go 68 miles- further wert to a more important island called Aituteki, The Customs officer there informed us that he could do nothing in the matter, j. but that we should go to Earotonga, 140 miles, where we would 'find the Governor of the Cook Islands'. A pilot was provided for us, and fifty-three days after leaving Sydney ,we find ourselves. at .this island (Rarotonga). It is for these different reasons, that we make; this report, which we believe to -lie necessary in order that we should not , again risk our lives with the same cap-, tain. ' In default of a French Consul in, the Cook Islands, we ask you the Governor to give your attention to the crevr of the three-masted French schooner i Fanny, as we refuse to depart for Neyr Caledonia with the same captain of the. said ship for the following two reaspfcs: (Ist) Drunkenness. (2nd) Incapacity, and in order to safeguard bur lives.- Ayei can prove to you that we do not refuseto work or to depart in the ship, but Wtf,_ wish to show that we believe it to ra uncertain to place our lives in the of the captain." The statement bore' eight signatures. . ' ~.! - On receipt of these letters, and owing to the fact that two of the crew flert'. I British subjects, Col. Gudgeon decided • jto Hold an informal inquiry into, thecomplaints made by the crew. Captain; Boutmy was informed of the holding of; the inquiry, and he attended same, Cap' , tain yon Hoff acting as interpreter. Firemembers of the crew were aho P^" I "'' Before proceeding with the inquiry, Coj. } Gudgeon announced that, the vessel be-' ing under the French flag, he had no jurisdiction to interfere between' the captain and the crew, but that he Was holding the inquiry with a view of trying to arrange matters amicably. Thecrew made statements similar to those, in their letters, and suid that they, were ifraid to agnin trust their lives with the same captain. Captain Boutmy denied the allegations made against him. and blamed the crew for drinking moS'.; of the wine. Col. Gudgeon advised tbe men to proceed quietly back to t" 6 ", ship, and after some negotiation' the captain adopted the course of engaging' Captain Jonassen's services to pilot the vessel to Noumea. With this the me"were perfectly satisfied, and after _tlie. vessel had taken in further provisions and water, Captain Boutmy and Cajpt am Jonassen proceed on board, and tn Fanny left on her voyage to Noumea on the morning of the 24th February. The captain seems to have been in I", 8 rigfit latitude but wrong in hie; longitude, being when at Manuae..; ftoouj, 34deg or 2000 miles to the eastward-F where he ousht to have been. No douos by the time "this letter reaches Aucklana the ship will have been posted as . nu« ing," and the news of her arrival at «c Cook Islands will so far relieve ■■ we minds of those interested in the veis« and her crew. C. . . Col. Gudgeon has by this mail sent* report of the matter to the French sul at Auckland, and also by the ««;' a report to the British Consul at*F£, mea for the information of the-autoon* ties at that port. • '.--■■-^