ISLAND ROMANCE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 186, 4 May 1933, Page 14

ISLAND ROMANCE

Search for Pirate Caves on St. Paul SEQUEL TO SHIPWRECK (Reuter— Special to “Dominion.") London, Feb. 23. It was forty-four years ago, in 1889, four-masted barque was idling througn the Indian Ocean, bound for the East Indies. Its skipper was a Liverpool man, who boasted that he never let a ship pass him. He was pacing the deck that afternoon when he sighted a big sailing ship, which was gradually overtaking him. Calling for every man to help, he ordered every sail to be set, and he held them there, even after the other boat was run out'of sight, even in the teeth of a gale, and the blackness of night. It was the nearest race he had ever run, and he was afraid to rest. Suddenly the rain lifted and the crew saw their ship tearing into nearby cliffs, at 14 knots. It crashed. One man was killed and forty-two sailors were washed ashore on'a volcano. Nothing was rescued and the ship was battered to pieces. They had only one match between them, so they started a fire and never lot it go out. They lived on penguins. To get water they had to climb 2000 feet and carry it back in their boots and oilskin pants. . 'lt is back to that bleak, dismal Island of St. Paul—a dot in the Indian Ocean, halfway between South Africa and Australia — that Commander Charles Lightoller wants to return, along with his wife and two daughters. He is the hero of half a dozen shipwrecks, and the only officer saved of those remaining in the Titanic when she went down with the loss of hundreds of lives. Commander Lightoller wants to leave his quiet English home in Hadley Wood and return to desolate St. Paul in order to search for the treasure pirates burled there when they raided the old East India merchant boats centuries ago. He believes he discovered the spot when he was shipwrecked there on the ill-fated barque in 1889. In relating his shipwreck experiences on St. Paul, Commander Lightoller said: “The eight days we spent there were a nightmare. The volcano was still in action, and there was hardly anything to eat. ’ We knew food was to be found on the island, but it was only after we had been rescued that we learned where it was hidden. “There was a cairn of stones on which was written, ‘Mrs. Smith and child, wife and daughter of Captain Smith.’ We often looked at that stone but would not remove it, as we thought it was sacred. But food was hiddeij under it all the time. “We found 42 uninhabited huts and a number of boats, so old that when we touched them our fingers went through the wood. They had been used by the pirates who raided the merchant ships on the East Indies route. “I saw a beautiful lagoon and a number of wrecks near it, but we could not get anywhere near. It is in a cave near the lagoon that I am certain there is rich treasure to be found. I was setting on the track of it when we were rescued.”