CASTAWAYS

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3438, 16 September 1913, Page 7

CASTAWAYS

iv lVm ,: <rKT •.i r l>i ■' 4 SEA CAPTAIN’S EXPERIENCES. IN SOUTHERN SEAS. OLD SHIPWRECKS RECALLED. Captain John Rollons, master ci tfio Hinenioa, is probably the most widelyknown man ploughing New Zealand waters, and his knowledge of the coast of New Zealand and the outlying islands is as profound: as it is peculiarly individual. No other shipmaster knows a tithe of what John Rollons knows, not only about each rock, bay, inlet, and cape that fringes New Zealand, but about the tidal-sets,,prevail-ing winds, anchorages, shelters, and the hundred' and one elemental feu. tures which make up knowledge of value to the sailor man (says the “Dominion”). Not only can he tell the curious passenger the name of every point and coastal feature, but he can tell why they are so named. When he says: “That is OhewTobacco Ray !” he adds, “Named after on old Maori, ■jybo used to be called ‘Chew Tobacco,' and when white settlers came to Stewart Island, old ‘Chew Tobacco’ went hack ay cl back, and settled by himself in that bay.” ‘ “That point there is ‘Chasland’s Mistake,’ ” indicating a point off the southern coast of Otago. “It was named after Tommy Chasland, an old whaler, who used to fish these waters. Olio day they were after a whale, with Tommy as the headsman, when he saw the whale pass right under the boat. He made fast at .once, and down went the- whale. It was a hump-back ! The boat was upset, and two or three of the crew were drowned before the pick-up boat could get upl Some hours later they were sitting round a. fire on .the beach, when Tommy walked out of the water —lie had been swimming for 2} hours. His mistake was in fastening on to a hump-back in mistake for a right. Whalers generally left the liump-backs alone—they were too active 1” Captain Bollons can spin yarns about nearly every point on the New Zealand coast from the Three Kings'away down to Stewart Islands. And when sensation is wanted he can tell true stories of castaways found on the grim islands of the wintry Southern Seas—tales ot hardship and suffering that bring the lump to the throat, and open one’s eyes to the real peril of the seas “down under.”

“THE SPIRIT OF THE DAWN.” “The first lot of castaways I ever had anything to do with were the crew of the barque Spirit of Dawn, bound from Rangoon to Callao, and wrecked at the Antipodes in 1893. I was then second mate of the Hinemoa, under the late Captain John Fairchild. The vessel had struck on a sunken rock about a quarter of a mile off the south side in thick weather. There was little wind and a moderate sea. The master and three of the crew were drowned. The rest got into one of the boats, which was never even launched. She floated off as the vessel sunk—they had to cut away the rigging to get clear. The captain and. three others had takon to the mizssen rigging. Those in the boat sang out to them to jump, buthey would not, and so were lost, lne rest pulled round to a little harbor, where all hands jumped ashore. In their excitement at getting asnore they simply trailed the painter ovei the rocks, without making it fast', and, when they came to get it again the boat hacl drifted well out to sea. Can you imagine such folly in sailormen.

“NO ENTERPRISE.”

“They found three caves along the beach, which they made fairly comfortable by walling up the entiance with sods, and laving down a fioonpg of dry grass. They were on the island' for three months altogether. For the first month they lived solely on penguin flesh, wind dried, and then the laying season started, and for the other two months ttyey lived on raw penguin eggs, eating 30 to 40 a day each. The caves had rocky ledges, and before lying down at night it used to be their habit to knock the tops off a number of eggs ; and stand them on the ledges handiest to reach, so that they .would not be thirsty during the night. They also made a lug cache of eggs —a hole ,6ft deep and four feet long and wide, and in it they laid a layer of eggs, and a layer of grass alternately .as a stand-by’ against the end of the season. “As we approached the island in the llinemoa we saw,the little flag flying from the hill, but we steamedUii round to the food depot, but on going ashore wo.were surprised to find that it had not been touched nor were there any signs of people having visited the place. Captain Fairchild said to me—-‘-Mr Bollons, go over, and' see what those men are doing over there!’ It took mo three hours to walk across the island, the first mate, after giving mo a tight liug—they always hug you firs L—welcomed me. -I asked them what they were doing there, and the mate replied tnat- they had been wrecked. -I said I knew that, l>ut why were they, not at.the depot? They didn’t know—they had never searched. So I told them that there were on the island three head of cattle,.fi're sheep, a lot of goats, and a food depot, yet they had never moved away from their one -little liill-slopo near the place where they were wrecked. It seemed incredible that there should have been so little enterprise. When I asked the mate and second mate to c-ome with me wind see, I’m blessed if they would come. They must have been thoroughly ashamed of themselves. I told them straight, that a pack of women would have shown more curiosity about the island. There is one of the men of the Spirit of Dawn working on the wharf at Onehunga still, Ho has never been so fat as he Was on a diet-of raw penguin -eggs on the Antipfodcs.”

“SOUVENIR, FOR YOU!” ‘‘The next- lot of castaways I had to do with was the crew of the French ship Anjou, of . Nantes (Brittany), bound from Melbourne to Marseilles with wheat, and wrecked on the southwest coast of " the Auckland Islands. No hands were lost. -Wo found the first traces of the castaways at the lood depot in Norman’s Inlet. They had taken away the biscuits, and had chalked up on the depot the fact that the Anjou was wrecked, and that the crew were at. Camp Cove, in Carnley Harbor. So round we went to Carnley Harbor, and found them there, living quite comfortably. Captain Le Tallec said it was the cook who first saw the Hinemoa. ‘The cook,’ said the French captain, ‘came-in mit ees byes and ees mout'open, but ’o could not spik. I went out, and saw you coming up very fast indeed!’ _ The Anjou had come right up to the island in thick weather, but no wind. Fancy the wonderful luck —west coast of the Aucklands and no wind. • 'They took to the boats, and at daylight pulled -round to Norman’s Inlet. From tliero they made to Carnloy . Harbor, and from the depot at ‘Fairchild’s Carden,’ they saw the boathouse on Adams’ Island (just across the harbor), and the finger posts guided them on to Camp Cove. They had undergone no -hardships, and were a mostagreeable lot of fellows. Just before we reached Dunedin Captain Le Tallec came to my cabin to wish me goodbye. He brought with him a French revolver of beautiful workmanship, which he handed to me. ‘What’s this for?’ I asked. ‘lt’s no use to me!’ ‘•Ola.,’ he said, ‘it is a souvenir for ybtil* And os he said it big tears rolled from his eyes, so I accepted the revolver in the kindly spirit in wTrich it was offered me. Since then I have heard several times from Captain Le Tallec. • '

THE ILL-FATED DUNDONALD. “Perhaps the most 'tragic occurrence of all wasthe wreck of the fourmasted Bon ship Dundonald, wheatladen, from Melbourne to Great Britain, which drove on to the western end of Disappointment Island, four miles of very dirty water away from the west coast of the Auckland Islands. When she struck the masts fell over against the high cliffs, and some got ashore that way. others got off on to the rocks, and several were washed off. Ten, in all, were drowned, including the master and his son. When the survivors assembled on shore the mate told them that they were all right as there was a depot on the island, but after they had' bad a look round, and discovered that they were on a small island with no depot, anti reported it to the mate, he died—probably of heart failure. He thought they were on the mainland of the Auckland Islands. The rest lived on Disappointment Island for seven and a half months, •subsisting oil/ mollyhawks and seals —nothing else whatever —and yet were in good condition. During that time they managed to build a small coracle out of scrub, making the keel, stem, and stern-posts and ribs all out of small pieces of scrub (koromiko), and then covering it with canvas, wnich was dabbed over with seal oil. In that frail little craft three of them paddled across to the main island, ever so anxiously watched' by those on Disappointment They made the passage m safety, found the finger-posts leading to the depot and boathouse at Erebus Cove (Port Ross). Having got the boat they pulled round to Disappointment Island (about ten miles), and brought off their fellow castaways. When the latter saw the boat they never dreamt it was their mates, as the boat came down from the north. They came to the conclusion that it was a boat belonging to some vessel, and did not know anything to the contrary until the boat came within a few hundred yards of the lantuoig-place. Afterwards they made a trip to Enderby Island (off the north end of the Aucklands), and there shot two of the cattle with a rifle they had found at the depot. We picked them up in November, over eight months after the Dundonald had been wrecked. The body of the mate (who died on Disappointment Island) was subsequently exhumed, and is now in the little cemetery at Erebus Pm-e.”

THE DEPOTS AND THEIR CONTENTS. It is interesting to know that since the Dundonald tragedy the Government has maintained a depot on Disappointment Island. Hie southern islands are all well stocked with depots and bait-houses. Off the Auckland there are no fewer than three main depots and seven boathouses (which are also sub-depots); there is a depot and a boathouse'' at the Campbells, and depots at the Antipodes, Snares, and Bounties. Each depot has a supply of the following articles: Biscuits, tinned meats, sugar, tea, cocoa, chocolate, matches, fishing lines and hooks, nails, tools, blankets, clothing, and boots, Snyder rifles and ammunition, books, Esperanto liteiature, and boats (in most places). On the recent trip of the Tutanckm notices were tacked up at each depot respecting the sealing season.