PERILOUS VOYAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1942, Page 7

PERILOUS VOYAGE

PARTY ON MISSION SCHOONER

FLIGHT FROM THE SOLOMONS

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, February 24

An amateur crew of 11, including a clei'gyman, a doctor, a cripple who had been a seaman 30 years ago. and six women, fleeing for their- lives in the path of the advancing Japanese, sailed a 19-ton mission schooner 1000 miles from the Solomon Islands to Mackay, a settlement on the Australian coast between Townsville and Rockhampton. Four members of the party. Misses E. Harkness and V. Cannon, the Rev. E. C. Leadley. and Dr. G. Rutter, have reached Auckland and told a thrilling story of sea adventure.

• All residents of the Ciso district, in the Solomons, the party, which included several New Zealanders, learned of the advance of the Japanese and decided to do their best to escape with the facilities at their disposal. Accumulated stores of copra and oil were destroyed to prevent the Japanese making use of them, and the party left in the schooner Fauro Chief, bound for Brisbane, two days before the Giso area was bombed.

"We were a pretty amateur lot," Mr. Leadley said. "Nobody was actually in charge, but the schooner was well provisioned with tinned food, and the party included a crippled man who acted as engineer, having been a second officer some thirty years ago. There was no interference from enemy aircraft, the'sky being overcast for the first two days, and thus possibly hiding the schooner from reconnaissance aircraft." STORMY DAYS AMONG REEFS. The cloud that probably prevented the Japanese' from sighting the schooner also made sun sights impossible, and Mr. Leadley . frankly admitted that, in the absence of this essential aid to navigation, the party did not know exactly where it was going. "We woke one morning and found ourselves surrounded by reefs," he continued. "We did not think they could be part of the Barrier Reef, as they actually were, so we changed course* and continued, but this time we hit a reef once again. We got off, but about an hour later we were on yet another, reef, fortunately managing to bump our way into deeper water, where we anchored "It then started to blow, and it\blew for four days, reaching hurricane force on the fifth.. We had our anchor out and the engine running full ahead, but we were slowly driven backwards. The wind dropped after four hours and we were still afloat, though everything was soaking wet. When we went to lift the anchor we found that it had gone. We managed to get the ship round and made direct for Australia, reaching Mackay, many miles from Brisbane." Additional excitement was provided when a woman passenger who could not swim fell overboard. Her husband, the only man on board who could run the engine, promptly jumped in after her, and another of the men, a poor swimmer, also decided to help and jumped overboard in his turn. This series of sudden actions left Mr. Leadley . faced with a difficult situation, but he managed to control the engine and pick up all three of the party. WELL TREATED IN AUSTRALIA. Mr. Leadley, who is a son of-the Rev. F. E. Leadley, Onehunga, said that on their arrival at Mackay the Red Cross and Church people there treated the painty extremely well. The members arrived dirty and dishevelled, but were well cared for and sent by train to Sydney, where Mr. Leadley found his wife and three young children awaiting him. The members of the party dispersed in Australia, some coming to the Dominion and others remaining permanently or temporarily in the Commonwealth. Mr. Leadley and his family are temporarily in Auckland. Some of the others who have reached New Zealand intend to live in the south.