WRECKED BARQUE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 200, 18 May 1908, Page 7

WRECKED BARQUE.

STORY OP THE DISASTER. LIFE ON ANTIPODES ISLANDS. INTERESTING RELICS. [BT TELEGBATII. —PEESS ASSOCIATION.] Christchurch, May 17. . Mr. G. Hutaphroys, French Consular Agent in Christchurch, went to Lyttelton this morning and had an .interview on board H.M.S. Pegasus witli Captain A. Noel, lato master of tho President Felix Fauio. Utt night Mr. Humphreys' dispatched telegram, to tho French Consul for New Zealand at Auckland and a cablegram to tho ship's owners, Messrs; Ed. : Carblett , and Co., of Havre, advising them of the wreck of tl;o barque and of tho arrival in Lyttelton of tho castaways. : Commander Quayle and the officers of the Pegasus invited Captain Noel and' his rffi-; corsto stay on board the 'warship until ar-' rangemcnts'are definitely completed bi their return to France, and this /kind lifer has boon gratefully accepted by -Captain Noel. Tho craw, will bp various places in Lyttelton. -' Mr. Humphreys, who wks accompanied by. 'M. Malaquin, of Christchurch, as interpreter, :had a ■ conversation with Captain Noel, Who oppressed tho desire that ho and his crow should'proreed tb Sydney as soon as' possible in \order tq connect with tho French mail boat thcro for France. Mr. Humphreys. is \ awaiting a reply from the, French Auckland, but it'is nrob- | ablo that Captain Noel and his men'will leavo 'Lyttelton by the Maitai on Thursday next for! Sydney. • ■ ■

THE CAPTAIN'S STATEMENT. / Captain Noel informed a reporter that ho had_ made eight voyages.-'>from New Caledonia to Franco with nickel ore, and had also made several, visits to Newcastle. ' Last year he loaded nickel ore: at Now Caledonia in' the -President Felix ; Faure, and made a fapt, passage pf 93 days homo to Havre on ■that occasion,! and on previous passages lio stated that after leaving New Caledonia, ho passed. to the northward'of Now Zbaland on his 1 way to Cape Horn: ■ After leaving in February last ho attempted to make tho same CQUrso, but was,unable to doUo owing to adVorso winds,. and finally had to steer a course to pass toftho southward of New Zealand. .Ho attributes tho disaster to tho thick; foggy weather and to tho fact that his chart 'of the Southern ; Ocean only showed oiio Island'at the Antipodes, and to the incorrect surveys of that Island. . CaptaiiTNocl has sustained heavy personal loss, including a sum of £200 which he' had on him at the timo of tho wreck. ' ...

It is understood that an inquiry into tha circumstances attending the wreck of the vessel, WiU be held by the Frenclii Consul-Gono-ral at Sydney. ■ - ■ ' - V:

Tl!£ STORY OF THE WRECK.;; •: ;;Witlr. 'considerable;: tho story oi the' wreck • and. tho' v subsequent happening was extracted from tho,crow, ..whoso, lack of knowledgo.bf.. English prevented free conversation. ;.v \- • , -

They. ; said tliat the clothes of somo of, the' castaways had been, worn out, and their .wants in-regard to apparel were-promptly supplied when they went on board the man-of-war. Others again were supplied'.with boots. Hero it' may. bo'noted;iive pairs of, ; boots were found ,the • relief depot,'on the Island, Slid one or two of the ship-wrecked mariners ' were. shod with-.: shoes ingohiously: mado of albatross skin., .!'They/. had,■ howover, skin to work with, for. 'thoy. found running on the Island a cow.V 'A cow, together with a: bull, had, been,' it-would appear, placed on tbo 'Island by the Now Zealand ' Government; whether tlio animal dis-covered-by tbo castaways' was -tile olio that landed or her' offspring ip not' quite clear. .Tho 'bull had of all--, flesh, for tho Frenchmen. djscovored his skeleton. _ Tho bones of the cow are all that ■future visitors, to the Islands will bo .ablo to .find, for oil'.Gcod.Friday she, was.killed. Olio of;tho sailors prpdncjid';a';Kiiiife.>hcath very neatly mado from a-portion of'-tbo unfortunato animal's black-kaircd hide.

. 'Ahother v man ~ spoke in terms lof - dis-' appointment'.of : certain notices - which he ' 'affirmed exist oh ' the 'Island stating that sheep aro to. bevfound thereon. A diligent search, ho said, had failed to discover either sheep'or" coats. APLENTY OF ANIMAL FOOD. , However, the involuntary-, settlers had plenty of, animal food,, albatross and jieuguin, -.with fifteen tins- '.'of preserved meat found at the depot and kept as a treat for Sunday.- , Tho' biscuits obtained therjs were so, carefully..' liusbanded that each .man's'; ration was, it Was said, but a, biscuit and a half,a day. Another source of'disappoint-, menfc'was-tho fact that: certain books >pi o-/ vidod at /the .depot were; all in English; i'er-V haps some' philanthropist will kindly add a few samples of, tho! literature of other nations to this far southern! library. Tho want of , . tobacco' seems, to. have been. greatly felt by somo at all events of the men, but they felt that'amends were made in this respect .when: they reached tho hospitablo Pegasus. .

A STRENUOUS LIFE. . ... Other., inpii spoko of tho strenuous life they; had'led on the Isliind, of having to struggle through grass breast high, of having to'walk "threo kilometres" to get the-wood or rather sticks with which they boiled their albatrossv and penguin meat cooked in an oil can, they' obtained at tho "depot,; and.'of building » couplo of "cabins" of stick and turf or peat , thatched with (tussock. ■ Of all hardships, and labours, however,', they talked with tho pheerfulness of brave men. who have met and; ora'como their difficulties.. tionblos ..were over; why,worry about them anymore?.-. ' Soon a sailmaker's needle was produced, and exhibited ' as what .necessity, was cap- • able of producing.' The heedlo, which waa about 'two and a half inches.'long, nicely J 'tapered, and ..with; a .good but rather rough'edge, .was said '.to have been made by la-" borious rubbing on fctones from ah ordinary knifo, the eye also being punched with a knife. ... A' well-shaped- tishrhook was; also exhibited.'\ ;.It had*.been inade from the nail! ■'of a ,biscuit barrel. The lino consisted of, threads of canvas, woven into -a strong cord, which was ' evidently ' meant for business. Limpet shells had been used for, spoons, andi knivos had been fashioned ■ from tho hbops of barrels. The knivos were' shaped properly, about an inch and a half wide in th® blade; with .strong wooden handles fixed with ooppcr rivets. It was also stated thah tho thorns of bushos had been used as. combs. This set a man-o'-warsruan in a reminiscent 'mood, and he narratod with '.great-.'enjoyment how tho rescued crow had had ;two months' beard and hair on them, and how onjoVablo and novel it was, after tho operations of' the, barber, to collect the' .curly locks from tho moss-dock. ! "THE LAST MESSAGE."^ Several of tho. rolics wcro produced for inspection; The inost valuable, and ouo of the most strikingly realistic, was the "Last Messago" that, it' had been decided to send, from tho island in pursuance of tho practiceof sending every day an albatross adrift with .a messago tied in a hollow quill fixed round its neck. . Tho timo-had come for the last dispatch of tlio kind. ' This was a photograph of tho youngest boy's mother ou a slip or paper about .two • inches by thret mches. On the back of it had. been writtoii , in pencil, " President Felix Faurc, fourmasted barquo, wrccked oil Antipodes Islands." It was while endeavouring to trail an albatross as a forlorn hopo messenger that H.M.S. Pegasus was- sighted,. and tlia little relic,, all ready scaled,in a'stnall quilt plugged with cork, is now in the treasured possession of one of tho crew of tho Pegasus. ' Another relic was one" of the very small stocK : of biscuits-romainiug'when the survivors an rived. It-had boon .soaked in penguin oil! for preservation, and looked as unappetising as a picco of, wood: Its owner had : iiS scribod on it-in ink a brief history' of tlw wreck. .. " .

■ It was stated that when tho trailing smolco of tho Pogasus was described on the' crow ravonbusly. shared tho- roimunini stores; being at that timo-limitcd'to a dailj ratiou of half, a ■ biscuit',. and whatever pengum flesh: could bo sccnml ' One of-itho rolios .of - tho wreck /remains in the shape of' tho captaui s dog Sarah.. Tliroo or fourdoo-s, it 15 -understood, wore -taken - ashoro, liiit thqy died. ,

BOUGH TRIP l« THE WARSHIP. ' Everybody testified to the extremely rough . trip encountered' on the', three days' steam from tlio Islands. So sovero was tho strain ■ Dn the -vessel' that- thd .head wireless apr paratus aloft was wrcckod, and as sho rolled' her boats wore absolutely washing in the seas, tho guns also boing submerged. The . castaways, who had been on 'a weakening . diet of ; penguin flesh, not calculated to produce very groat stamina, wero v completely prostrated by seasickness, and some of thorn had not recovered from it on arrival in : - ■■ Lyttelton'-yesterday. /

" You see," said.: ono brawny- seaman, : "they .were not used to. tho better food they pot "Wo fed them up with meat /and jam-and that sort of thing, and altogether .tried to make them as comfortable as possible!" Tlio speaker added that the'ro had boon, no bread aboard, and ' flour had to bo gob from the galley, and made up into cakes and things. "They nearly wont - off their heads with delight," he added, "when ■ they saw f the fresh bread wo got -.aboard as soon as wo landed in Lyttelton."

It was ascertained;' although there was 'a pleasing modesty, exhibited, '■ that the fact r ; should not ho published that, a' subscription. ■ ■ Nad -been immediately mado aboard the Pegasus for the relief of tlio castaways, eachofficer, and member. of tho, ship's companyv contributing -something.:.- / *. THE GREW. The crow of the vessel was as follows:— Captain, C. Noel (Havre); second.mato, P.-, Fayol (Algiers); first boatswain, 'Le Gall; pr-cond boatswain, Bidau ; seamen') Quiritin, 1 Cailloco,' le Moal, Blayau,' Le Squel, Gadebois, - Romond, Renaud, Gnillan, Mcngiiy,, ■ Corbon, Louvard, Sicot, Joiianlt (cook), anrl Marty; .boys; Le Boigno, Grull, and Duval. Tlio first' mate. left tho : vtssql beforo she Bet. out on her fateful voyage, and went : homo' to France by a >'quioke'r routo owing . to; illness. \<-Most of the drew-belonged to North Normandy, but some camo-from Finis-, - terrer and Brittany. Le Gall sustained an i-.injury' to. his right hand by tho peck of a panguin, and Romond also had his; right hand bound up- as 1 tho result of an accident With a boat during rough weather. .The : .hands of the'.others bore tracei of exposure ' to bitter weather.' • AN OFFER OF ASSISTANCE. JJI XELZOEAX'II.— I'ItESS ' ASSOCIATION.j Duncdln, May 16. The Shipwreck Relief Society has telegraphed to the French Consular Agent at; ■ . Dhristchurch offering to: g'ivo, relief in tho' vay of clothes for the castaways from the President. Felix; Faure, and asking'for fur- . 'ier particulars;