AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAMS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3521, 10 March 1897, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAMS.

The missing l explorers.

Adelaide, this day.—A telegram has been received from the leader of the relief party searching for Wells and Jones, the missing members of the Calvert exploring expedition.

They discovered tha skeletons of two white men who had been murdered by natives, The bodies were too much decomposed to be clearly identified but h is believed from information gathered from captured natives who took part in the murder that tho remains are those of the missing men. The indications were that the men were speared to death after a desperate resistance.

A Yorkshire gentleman who has jus* died, nearly ninety years old, said the recipe for vigorous old age was plenty of fresh air and slow eating.

FOUR DAYS ENDS. **

A Second Mate's Yarjj.

Mr Hodges, second mate of th* Clan Buchanan theßritish barque which was on her beam end. • the Pacific Ocean for four has sent his relatives in London ' thrilling narrative of the exeiti„l voyage of the vessel, from'wuf it appears that the barque «n countered a typhoon on its JT ■ from Nagasaki to Port Townsenl There were four masts, and S* royal masts and yards were sent into the hold, the veesel remain ing under a storm and a <roo«T wing topsail. He ♦The weather topsail sheet wan soon carried away, and that aide had to be made fast, leavW Z lee spread by itself. The wind > however, kept knocking her off and the barque soon became uni manageable. At four hells of the middle watch the barque gave I heavy roll to port, and very soon two feet of the rail was undw while the crossjack yard dipnoi eight feet into the sea. Captain Rankire thought it was all IT and so did we all. Linch, y,j& was at the wheel, stood firm to his post, though, of course the boat would not answer to her helm. Linch shut his eyes, and thought every moment was'to be his last. All of us thought the ship was going to turn turtle as it sailed along on its side. It '. possible to walk on the starboaaj side of the hull quite easily, audi everything in the boat was turned upside down. The ballast and everything rolled over to port and we worked like niggers to get the ship straight. We had over thirty-one people on board, and I cantell you there was great excitement, and many prayer* were said. The stays slackened, and the rigging hung down to. wards the sea. Every man that could be spared from the deck— which was then like the roof of t house—was ordered below, soar to pile the earth and stone ballast from the port to the starboard side. The topsail soon went away, and I called a couple of men to go out with mc on the jibboom to secure some ribbons. We were crawling out on the bowsprit when the barque gave alurch. Thecrossjack then pointed towards the bottom of the sea, and we could see the green copper of the ship. Both of the men crawled back to the fo'oastle head, leaving mo to go out alone. Well, the vessel kept like this for four days, and I can assure you we had an awful time, being the whole while practically between life and death. The men in the hold kept shovelling the ballast day and night, and some, times all the ballast which had been transferred would slide back again to the port side, and all the work had to be done again. Of course, no one could get any sleep and during the turmoil it was impossible to get any food. I cannot tell you very much about these four days, because they now seem a blank to mc, but it was a sight to see the dilatory ones work when they knew that if they didn't they would go down with the boat. The watches were, of course, abandoned, the energies of the whole crew being devoted to the shovelling of the ballast. We had no sleep, no hot meals, and no pipes for four days and nights. As we worked we nibbled biscuits or ate canned provisions. We soon began to get used to it, and some of the men even began to joke. At last we got a bit of the list out of the vessel, and with a heavy, fair wind, she began to run along well, and things looked more hopeful. We got three lower topsails set, and were just congratulating ourselves that the worst was over, when our host broached to in a heavy sea. T_e . only thing then to be dore was to heave her to, but frightened and exhausted by their four days' peril and labor, only four or five men would go aloft. 'Is there not one of you who will jump with mc intothe shrouds ?' I shouted. In an instant the little apprentice, Phil Lebrun, the smallest person on board, stepped forward, and said, he would, and up he went. We got the boat safe at last, but it was a fearful experience that I never wish to have again.'