CASTAWAYS FOUND

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 19

CASTAWAYS FOUND

BY SCOTTISH STEAMER

The rescue of 68 castaways after two months on an almost unknown coral island in the Indian Ocean was described by Captain Arthur Cossar, of the British cargo liner Clan McPhee, on arrival at Tilbury Docks recently. Those rescued were the passengers and crew of the sailing barque Diego, of Mauritius, which went ashore ' off Eagle Island in a gale on June 20. They were thought to have perished, but 'as the course of the Clan MacPhee, bound for India, took her near the islands ot the Ch: gos Archipelago—where the Diego was last seen—the captain, was asked to search for them.

A woman of nearly 100 and a six months' old baby were among those shipwrecked. The Clan MacPhee took them off and landed them at Peros Banhos, a larger island in the groupCaptain'Cossar, who lives at King's Road, Highfr Bebington, near Liverpool, said: . •

"Our search through the islands had to be made in the daytime, because of the dangerous reefs. We effected the rescues in our ship's boats. : "When the Diego grounded one of the natives went to the ship in a,'dugout' and hauled ashore a lifeboat with the survivors. The ship's stores were all lost. The only articles saved were the captain's sextant and- chonometer, and the ship's safe and bell. ;

"When we arrived' : the castaways were living on bread made of : flour mixed with coconut «il.' The island is infested with rats, ants, and mosquitoes, which plagued the life of tht survivors." \- ■ ■.

■'■- The. Clan MacPhee is registered It Glasgow. :":\ -':