THE FRENCH CASTAWAYS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13131, 2 June 1908, Page 7

THE FRENCH CASTAWAYS.

« TO THB ZPITOB OF "TB_ PRESS." Sir, —In justice to my countrymen, and to the honour of Erauce, I ask you to insert the following. In reading your paper this morning I came across an article entitled "Th© wT©ck of the Pres-idenifc Felix Farure," in which a certain Alex Lowxi© made the most shameful -and imaginary statement I have ever read, which I wish, emphatically to refute. First. Captain Noel did not state that a supply of provisions was landed from the ship. They had no time to remove anything from, the wreck. Second. If, as stated by the sarnie individual, .there were three suits of clothing in the depot, would not those poor, unfortunate men halve mad© use of them, instead of going about for sixty days in such rao_ as they -were wearing when rescued, and would the sailors amd officers on rxxard H.M.S. Pega*-tis have considered it necessary to lend th© captain and his men clothim.? Third. The boat was not knocked to pieces by the crew, which proceeding would effectively have imprisoned them on the island, but was s-nashed on the rocks before the-v could lajird; and one could hardly blame -them for using the debris to build shelters- as best they could with the materials at their disposal. Fourth. Captain Noel, realising that he was accoptinr? the hospitality of tiie Dominion, would never have mentioned the condition of tho stores, had not some of the sailors inad-vert©T_t_y supplied a certain amount of miseomprcnended information to -the reporters, thereby co-using this unfortunate bickering. He clear l *- explarned that a quantity of tins of preserved meat had been damaged, and woe unfit for eating. These aro most likely tho provisions seen by the above-mentaotned journalist. Fifth. With regard to the unsanitary condition of the denot as mentioned in the statement. Captain Noel is not the gcu.Momaii to allow his crew to live in the condition implied. There being no soap at the depot, and comsr'dering that out of the sixty days that the men were on tho island, there were onAv twenty-four hours when it did not rain, hail, or sleet, it was impossible for them to wash and dry the blankets. The first request of tho men on board-i-a_r H.M.S. Pegasus was for a bath before anything else, having been deprived so long of that luxury- Also the men were two days on the island before the-' discovered the depot. At th© place where tho ship struck ther*was -no beach, but a cliff rising 800 feet sheer out of the sea, and at the place of landing the men had to scramble up tho rocks and tussocks, h.i.nd over hand, for about a hundred f©et or more.—Yours, etc., W. S. MALAQUIN.