A CREW'S TRIALS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 111, 7 November 1930, Page 5

A CREW'S TRIALS

.-*OCEAN -ISLAND TRIP

THKBE MONTHS' 'ABSENCE

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") , ' AUCKLAND, This Day. Short of provisions and with sickness on board, the steamer Barradale drifted forty days round Ocean Island waiting to load phosphates for Auckland and New Plymouth. The crew of the vessel, which reached Auckland yesterday, asserted that they had bo«n "just about starved to death." It is ovei- three months since the Bnrradale. bunkered at. Newcastle and sailed for Ocean Island. Stormy south, erly and south-westerly weather provailed, and when the vessel arrived at the island she could not commence loading. Continued bad weather kept her drifting about for week after week while her provisions were being steadily depleted. Even the stock of tobacco and matches was exhausted. Blame could not be attached to the ship's cook, who bluntly informed the crew that he was trying to provide an edible meal. He took to fishing, but the crew did not relish .steaks of hammer-head shark, and macaroni had to be resorted to for breakfast, dinner, and tea. .Fever was raging on Ocean Island, and some of the crew of the vessel contracted it. Others developed sores, and pessimists started '• to talk about scurvy. When the Norwegian steamer June arrived at the island the crew of the Barradale went aboard to barter for tobacco and food, but did not get much. Bound for New Zealand with her cargo loaded, the Barradale was a happier ship. When she tied up at the King's Wharf this morning the crew did not wait to put on shore-going clothes before they < headed up Queen street to satisfy the inner man.