MAROONED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18237, 27 October 1919, Page 9

MAROONED.

THREE MEN ON CHRISTMAS

ISLAND,

RESCUED BY CRUISER NEW

ZEALAND

.9- Azscdation-CapyricM ( Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. " FANNING ISLAND, October 24. Tlirpe marooued mon picked up by EA 1 S New Zealand on Christmas IsVind are at present the gueste of the Island cable staff, and aro recuperating after their terrible privations curing the past year. on the island by the lessee, Rougier, in the middle of 1913, with i, scanty stock of provisions, and a promise was given that a relieving ship would arrive within forty days- Ihe&o moil the manager of Rougier s station, ti-mied English, a French youth, and a SL-were’ the only inlmWs and were almost desperate when the K< which Included lor JolHco- was hold up by English, wficf was clacl only in a tattered pair of shorts, patched with nce hay. Wd Jellicoe was amused at the comical spectacle presented by a man boldm„ IT* wnrlp will' » I«ol*«. vi took a personal interest m the hardships suffered by the J.iid a long talk with English. Lady Jellicoe read his diary, °. nd A® d r'under of the New Zealand bad his cheers working all night coping charts, which bad been executed wuh remarkable exactitude by English, cj.d meteorological reports made during his enforced stay on the island. - . The map showed the positions of vari mis wrecks on Christmas Isbnd, which is a veritable death trap or the Pacific. There was evidence of eight wrec.cs, while millions of feet of lumber, mostly in good condition, is strewn along the 61 The "irony of the marooned men’s situation was their possession of three automobiles needed for traversing the long distances between the scattered cocoanut groves. The unfortunates thus had the means of travelling de luxe, yet * .were without clothes, food or comforts, i Rats swarmed everywhere at first, tend had devoured the pillows and blankets while the men slept. English said he would have gladly exchanged the automobiles for a clean shirt and trousers and the means of. shaving to enable him to welcome liis distinguished visitor and life-saver in some semblance of oleanliness instead of in Robinson Crusoe-like attire and at the revolver / P °English kept a faithful diary during jthe whole time he was on the island. This contained some entries pathetic li a their hopelessness. Day by day the jnen were looking, longing and praying for a ship to arrive. Distress and illhealth from exposure and the wretched '-food nearly drove the men crazy, and they would not have been able to exist many more weeks. . When English left the worship Lord 'Jellicoe presented him with his photograph, saying: “Yoiir’s is the hardest [time I’ve ever heard of. You must 'have some little souvenir.” It was endorsed : “To Joseph, from Jellicoe, Adl rafyah of the Fleet.’