A Pioneer Ship That Never Arrived

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

A Pioneer Ship That Never Arrived

(Continued from page 175.) The boats first lowered capsized and all tlie people who crowded them were drowned. Discipline could not he maintained by the officers and old sailors—a handful ■against a maddened multitude.

Tho captain ami his wife and child were drowned. Between the flames and the set all perished, ail but one boatload, whose wretched crew dwindled until when on the ninth day after the tire the ship Sceptre, of Liverpool, picked up the boat. The Last Resort. The most dreadful tragedy of all was then revealed. Out of 30 men in tho boat only live were living, and two of these died in tho rescuing ship. When finally the survivors were landed on St. Helena, the second mate, Mr. MacDonald, and two others were only just alive. Gradually they recovered and were able to tell of .their sufferings. They had been so maddened by hunger and thirst that thev had to live on the flesh and blood of -their dead shipmates. That terrible last resort is narrated in many stories of the old sea-life. It was an act of sheer necessity, the last extreme of poor tortured humanity. That great sea tragedy, the worst in tho history of our immigrant traffic, taught at least one needed lesson in the mercantile marine. Tho necessity for proper inspection of ships carrying passengers and especially of their boat accommodation was forced upon the Board of Trade authorities in London. Yet it was many years before nil ships were compelled to carry proper fire-fighting apparatus, and to carry sufficient boats to savo all those on board in tho event of fire or wreck.