SHIP’S TERRIBLE TRIP.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 August 1927, Page 9

SHIP’S TERRIBLE TRIP.

CREW ALMOST STARVED

YOUNG BABY UNCONCERNED

Strange tales of practical starvation at sea and desperate fignt to prevent water rising in the holds were told by the crew ol the American sailing ship Chillieothe. of 18G2 tons, which arrived at sydney early this month from Astoria (Oregon), after a voyage of 114 days. The crew alleged that short rations were put aboard the vessel and tuat prior to being taken in tow by a tug off the New South Wales coast their rations had been only three biscuits daily, writes the “Auckland Herald’s” correspondent.

There was conflict in the stories concerning the amount of provisions taken aboard at the American port. The crew asserted that only enough food for three months, and much of it bad, was put aboard the ship. The master, Captain Borgman, declared that he shipped supplies for four months, but the undenied fact remains that despite the protracted voyage there should have been a margin to spare if the captain’s figure was correct. CHEW WITHOUT DRY CLOTHES. The passage started well. Good triads, good food, the 62-years-old snipper’s pretty young wife and hexbaby —three weeks old when the Chillieothe lei t port—made the decks a delightful place. Despite the discovery of a slight leak, everything went well until alter the tropics had been crossed In 72 days the Chillicothe was abreast of Norfolk Island. That was about six weeks ago. All her miseries had crowded on her since.

Headwinds beset the ship in a colossal gale from the west and the baby and its mother were forced to spend the remainder of the voyage faeiow decks, though the infant was never ill and never terrified. The seas came over m great, drenching green arches, which burst down into the forecastle and galley. The crew lived in wet clothes and for every 30 miles the ship gained she was tossed back 60, A discovery that angered the crew was that there were no stores of clothing aboard which they could purchase to replace sea-sodden garments and —worse still —there was no tobacco. But the cook, Jack Ayrer, a genius and a hero to the men, came to the rescue by drying tea-leaves on his stove, and this the men greedily smoked in place of their fragrant weed. ALL HANDS TO THE PUMP. Matters became worse when the captain discovered that tnere were loin, of water in the hold. All hands were ordered to the pumps and for three weeks the men worked at the exhausting task of fighting back the sea, in day and night shifts. Hut the worst ordeal was tiieir lack of food. On July 1 the cook scraped up the last of his butter. Four days later he brewed the last grains of coffee. On the same morning he saw the last ol his oatmeal He kept the crew on short, but not inconvenient rations, until Julv 12, when lie cooked the last of the l ice. Then he made a sweeping reduction and cut down their al.owance of bread bv substituting biscuits. On July 27* lie attacked even that menu and kept them alive with three biscuits per day each man. He contrived a soup made of l'lour and grease and had tinned mutton, which the crew would not eat otherwise. They swallowed this three times a day and owed their lives to it. YNt all the time these men were oil the verge of starvation, several barrels of fish rested in the pantry, unfit for consumption. 11F.1.1’ COMES AT LAST.

Several steamers passed without heeding the Chillicothe’s signa.s of need of assistance, probably because lack of signalling knowledge among the crew led to the wrong signals being displayed At length one vessel, the Hai palvce, stood about on July 30 and came to the Chillicothe, just when everyone was fairly desperate except the * baby—never 'perturbed by the fears and pain of the 19 people about him. The Harpalyce sent a wireless message to Sydney and the tug Champion was despatched with fresh provisions. The tug picked up the Chillier,the 310 miles from ' Sydney, and after placing provisions aboard, took the sailing ship in tow and brought her to this port.