THE BARQUE SELADON.
WRECKED ON STARBUOK ISLAND.
TEN MONTHS ON SOPHIA ISLAND
AUCKLAND, August 21.'' The Taviuni brings news of the wreck of the Norwegian barque Seladon, 1,060 tons, on Starbuok Island on August 7 of last year on a voyage from Newcastle to Honolulu. The captain and drew had been on Sophia Island for ten months and ten days.
THE MATE DROWNED.
THE PROVISIONS RUN OUT.
ONE MEAL IN THREE DAYS.
[Special to the Star.]
The Seladon left Newcastle on July 13, 1896, with a full cargo of coal for Honolulu. On the night of August 7 the vessel, when going seven knots an hour, struck on Starbuok Island. In fifteen minutes four feet of water was in the hold, and two boats were launched. These contained eight men each. They had some food, a chart, and compass, but no sextant. They tried to make Malden Island, but failed. The same bad fortune resulted in an attempt to find Christmas Island.
On the eleventh day out one of the .boats capsized, but all the occupants were rescued except Chief Mate Kristian Neliaen. When seventeen days out Captain Actolf Jeger died. He had been ill since they left Newcastle.
On the twenty-third day out the provisions were finished, except the last five pounds of meat, which were shared between fourteen men. One meal lasted three days. Occasional rain supplied water. All the survivors were reduced to skeletons, and they continued more dead than alive. Six days later they sighted Sophia Island, and drove straight on to a reef, where the cast-ashore boat was smashed to' pieces. The occupants lay on the beach, unable to stand till assisted by the Natives, who showed them great kindness. They lived on the island on cocoanuts, sea-birds, and turtles. On the seventh day on the island, the carpenter, Tollah Olsen, died from the effects of exposure in the boat. They remained on the island for ten months and ten days, till the arrival of the steamer Clyde, when they were taken to Suva and transferred to the barque Eileen, bound for Sydney.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18970821.2.23
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 10399, 21 August 1897, Page 2
Word Count
348THE BARQUE SELADON. Evening Star, Issue 10399, 21 August 1897, Page 2
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