TRIP IN OPEN BOAT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 107, 19 April 1933, Page 9

TRIP IN OPEN BOAT

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE WATERLILY’S SURVIVORS. STRUGGLE IN SMALL DINGHY. AUCKLAND, April 18. The story of their miraculous escape from drowning in the Pacific Ocean was brought to .Auckland by Messrs John Harris and F. St. J. i’arson, of Christchurch, survivors of the wreck of the New Zealand ketch Waterlily, which was caught in a squall off the island of Vaitupu, in the Ellice group, early last month and abandoned in a sinking conditiou. The crew of four, which included the master (Mr 8. Gerard) and an Ellice Islander, entered the yacht’s dinghy and reached the shore after a terrific struggle against mountainous seas. “We were lucky to get out of It alive,” was the comment of one of the shipwrecked men when they stepped ashore from the Danish motor ship Victoria on her arrival from Nauru Island. “1 don’t think any of us will ever forget that trip in an open boat. We had to contend with a strong adverse current, high seas and a hot tropical sun. We had no clothes other than shirt and shorts with which to protect our skins from the scorching sun. “Getting through the reef was a ticklish business, but we were used to that sort of thing after our experiences in the islands, and before long three or four native canoes came out to meet us. The natives evidently knew we would be suffering from thirst, for they had a plentiful supply of coeoanuts, which we broached with joy. Our arms and. legs, which were severely blistered by the sun, swelled next day to huge proportions. I cannot say too much for the hospitality of those natives.” The rescued men owe their lives to the persistency of a Government department. When the Waterlily lay at. Wellington last year she was detained by the Marine Department, which refused to allow her to go to sea without a lifeboat. A 16-foot boat was eventually donated to the crew by Mr H. E. Card, of Eastbourne. That boat, named the Banker, after a famous racehorse owned by the donor which won the New Zealand Cup some years ago. saved the lives of the four men.