THE ANDERSONS ARE CAST AWAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 153, 29 June 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE ANDERSONS ARE CAST AWAY

Most of the cabins were smashed to < bits: the water poured in and out of the stern ones ami every tiling had been 'washed, out of them; but Mama's, luckily, had been close to the main deck, i and though nearly everything in it was broken, the little tin case she kept the : medicines in was still , where she had < put it. Mr. Grant and-Richard pulled : away a mass'of wet blankets that had < somehow got wedged into the corner, and there it was. I opened it and took out the precious drops; we each took i ' charge of one bottle of them in case of accidents and Mr. Grant tied the "« tin box on his back as wo had to have . both hands free to move about. While we were doing this a flock of canaries flew into the cabin. They were • all that was left of a big cage full the steward was taking to Sydney to sell. I suppose the others- were flying round with the gulls. Mr. Grant turned out to bo very good with birds; in no time he found a cage and caught six of them. Then he hunted round to find seed; there was nothing on the island, he said, that a canary could possibly eat. They were shouting to us to come ( back to the boat, so after that we had to go. I was glad because, in spite of the breeze and the sea air, there was a fearful smell and I was beginning to feel seasick. The voyage back was rather nasty, with four extra sailors who kept on drinking the whole time, though anyone could see they had had enough already. One had a gold locket oil a chain round his neck, another a pair of boots slung round his shoulders, another a couple of hats and his pockets bulging ■ with cigars. The locket belonged to one of the passengers, and that sailor gave it up when he was sober; the hats fell into the sea, and the cigars were soaked, but the gentleman who owned the boots had to buy them back, which didn't seem quite fair. But, as Mr. Grant said, what can you expect when the officers couldn't keep order, or stole things themselves. ... Mama was ' better after that, but as time went on other people began to he ill, and the "doctor looked grimmer and 'grimmer. He spent hours looking over •his medicine chest, and when he had to leave it he put a sailor with a revolver , to keep guard. Everyone, in fact, became quiet and gloomy. The committee of management met, and. talked, and gazed at the Duncan Dunbar through glasses. Her loose half was swinging about more than x ever: it wasn't safe enough to visit her any more. Another windy day, in fact, would see the end of her. That was what everyone said. It was still weather, with a bright moon at night, Lots of people walked about in the dark, chatting with the store guard, and look' ' ing where a line of white foam shone' milky on the re?f where our poor ship , lay dying. It was just like hearing of a sick . person; every day she seemed 1 worse; every time a boat went the men said they'd never be aboard her again, ■ Edward said that, when they were re- ,

covering from being particularly drunk and were fooling specially low they all said they knew tile captain had'gone to the bottom. Who could ever make Pernambuco in that scrap of a boat -. . . The next thing was they fell to patching up the last boat we had left. ' The' captain's gig had been smashed on the rocks, so there, w,is only the lifeboat, and the sailors started on fitting her with a mast and sails with the vague idea of going-off after the captain. He seemed to have been gone a very long time. We had eaten half our food and drunk most of our water. We saw a sailing ship and a steamer miles and miles away, but they disappeared over the horizon, and tliere seemed no reason .why anyone should ever find us, (To be continued next week.)