OLD TIME SHIPPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 226, 24 September 1927, Page 26

OLD TIME SHIPPING.

WRECK OF THE STRATHMORE. CASTAWAYS DREAM OF FOOD.

(By the late Sir Henry Brett.)

r* Vrtil Imuitlc-n of the thrilling story of the wreck'of the ship Strathmore, which rmi nshore on the lonely Crozets, la the Southern Ocean, thirty- , bine people being drowned.],

There was only one lady on board the Strathmore, a Mra. Wordsworth, who was accompanied by her eon, both being dared. For these two a separate shelter wag made aome distance from the others. Mrs. Wordsworth when taken into the boat* had on only a nightdress and petticoat. She wae treated with special care and attention. Her eon gave a graphic account of their life on the island. "The first night, ,, he said, "my mother hod a few planks to lie upon, bat her legs were nearly broken by the number of people crowding in under the canvas. The twe following nights we slept in a sort of open cave, and. though covered with frost and -vith icicles hanging over our heads, we preferred it to our experience of the first night. After this we had a little shanty of our own. "The food we chiefly lived on was albatross, of which the young gave more eating than the old; being larger and heavier. Another bird wo used was one which we at first thought was a 'mollyhawk, , but we afterwards discovered they were what the sailbre call 'stink-pote. . They were very large birds with strong beaks. I remember getting a bite from one which hurt through a Wellington boot, trousers, and drawers. We caught these birds by chasing them into rough places, where they found it difficult to rise, and we then killed them with clubs. Our favourite vegetable was a sort of moss with long spreading roots, and we were often so hungry that we ate dirt and all. Owing to the season of the year the nights were very long, fifteen hours, which we tried to pass in sleep. Our dreams were generally of food in some shape, but there was always a feeling in the background that spoiled these, dream feasts. "When my mother got ashore »he was wet through, starving, and cold. One of the sailor* took the shirt off his back and gave it to her; and she also had a pair of men's trousers, a pair of men's drawers, a pair of stockings, an overcoat, and other odds and ends, all given her by the sailors. The coarse, rank flesh of the eeabirds disagreed with her, and she suffered much from low fever and a dreadful bowel complaint. She was reduced to a perfect skeleton, and was so weak that I had to turn her over' in the night when she wanted a change of position. Although she had been

very subject to rheumatism she/was never troubled with it while on the island, in spite of her great privations. Our clothes were eeldopi quite dry, and we often had to lie down in absolute slush, with the rain beating on our faces, but none of us took' cold, owing, I suppose, to the ammonia in the guano-covered soil. ; "Nearly all of us suffered from diarrhoea, and similar trouble, and the wine and spirit! were invaluable. A small'salt cellar of wine, or spirits and water, was served out nightly until finished, except a bottle of wine and a bottle of rum, Which were buried for the use of the sick, v" ,■ •:•■■;■• r'.. ; .';t:'.',V ; 1^..;-i%..-^ "Two dishes I prepared for m$ Mother were brains of birds, fried, the hesirt :and $r«r :&s%* had no r ealt, and flavoured our $fo^ u irim^ *W*en the except a few; we used for merely smouldered Stewrjii,V:?lituJ^ fire one day, and we; were surprised;3ynl-burned-readily.' our matcheivwe kept s sort ef lamp going, feeding it with oil made from the fat we wraped off the : I- "'■ '|We seldom could clean 6nrotihns^^ permit of cold taking it of. ; iei^.iiieti&^4' f e£-r'? cleaning our faces by rubb% theln rubbing them with the feathers.>> : £:? • %^£™ ; ': f - A :-.; y'':'*''' -"'f. t . "£i on i. time ***y h «# *p M^^tog^j**^ birds left. We were veryweak and loiNpJrieet. One day eon*e*>f> the party went to the other side of the island where we were tyreckeiJ, and there theyjaw a number of large ntoa-nests, with a $gilfot of beautiful white birds, they flocked down at our feet Irilled about a hundred, in&himsuch a feast off the tailsl.The epfeeidage Wascut c# clote feathers todlii«r tail being grSedifbrV hme in the considered ;delicacy. An<Me*Maf imitten Wrd. birds ofS -, Later on;w* ffffL some ™ •<• r snore live in Taranaki, and % son is in in at , ; the *; '}ss% 0$ 'iftpf^W^^'v!^