Wreck of a Barque.
** —■ THE CREW TEN MONTHS ON A:- ISLVNP. A TERRIBLE TALE OF SUFFERINGS. TWO MEN PERISH. AND THE REST REDUCED TO SKELETONS. * (By Telegraph.) I Per Press Assoc kit ion./ Auckland, This day. The Taviuni brings news of the •wreck of the Norwegian barque Saladin, 1000 tons, on Starbnck Island on August 7tb of last year, when running seven knots an hour 011 the voyage from Newcastle to Honolulu The captain and crew had been on Sophia Island ten months and ten days. Later. The Salad in left Newcastle on July 13, 1896, with a full cargo of coal for Honolulu. On the night of August 7th when the vessel was going seven knots she struck Starbuck Island. In 15 minutes there was 4 feet of water in the hold. Two boats were launched containing eight men each. They had some food but no chart or compass so a sextant was tried to make Maiden Island. In this they failed. The same bad fortune resulted in an attempt to find Christmas Island. Eleven days out one of the boats capsized. All the occupants were rescued except the chief mate, Kristian Neilsen. Seventeen days out Captain Astolf Jegerdied. He had been ill since they left Newcastle. Twenty-three days out the provisions finished except the last slbs of meat to share between 14 men. One meal a day lasted for three days and occasional rain supplied water. All were reduced to skeletons and continued more dead than alive. Six 'lays more and they sighted Sophia Island. They drove straight on the reef and were cast ashore. The boat was smashed to pieces. The occupants lay on the beach unable to stand till they were assisted by the natives with great kindness. They lived on the island on cocoanuts, sea birds and turtle. 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 10 months and 10 days till the arrival of the steamer Clyde, when they were taken to Suva and transferred to the barque Eileen Ward for Sydney.
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Bibliographic details
Hastings Standard, Issue 405, 21 August 1897, Page 3
Word Count
356Wreck of a Barque. Hastings Standard, Issue 405, 21 August 1897, Page 3
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