ALL-NIGHT SWIM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1934, Page 24

ALL-NIGHT SWIM.

COLOURED MEN'S PLUCK. AGED COMPANION SAVED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA,. January 18. Word has just come from Tave.uni of an amazing feat of endurance by two Indians and two Fijians. It sesms that three Indians and two Fijians set out in an open boat to cross the Son-.o Somo Straits, which are always dangerous and treacherous owing to tide ri,>s and cross currents. In the boat they had tome £30 worth of produce. When some distance across, the tide caught the boat and capsized it. The cargo was toppled into the sea, and the boat, though full of water, righted itself. One of the Indians was &i> old man who was unable to swim, so he was placed in the boat. The other four men started to push the boat by swimming towards the shore. The shore was a long way off, but the men kept swimming and pushing the boat in an endeavour to reach land. All night they kept at their task, although they were well nigh exhausted. Xext day, when the sun was well up, the natives were rescued. Providence, says a writer, wai very kind to the swimmers, as the Somo Somo Straits are notorious for the many man-eating sharks which abound there. They are the most dangerous sharks known around Fiji, and generally are not found elsewhere.