SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP WRECKED CREW.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 281, 20 September 1889, Page 3

SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP WRECKED CREW.

■A Graphic Aocouxt. \ tleseription of the sufferings of the nine castaways from the wrock of the ship Ga.'stow, /wh j. have fti>xived in Auckland, has jiwfc been supplied to the Herald' by Julian Th..mas, "The Vagabond," He state*.- — After rowing for twentysix Viours Captain Pyke determined to make southward in the hope of striking the if ervey or Cook Islands, oc falling- in^witt #ouxe, vessels bound to Sail Francisco. '■ ,As' : :a' matter of fact they crossed the track of the mail steamers to Sydney, and so the litle boat commenced; to sail-aouth-wardj.aa.. oai" for a: mist, a bet! I quilt or counterpane (put in the gig hy the steward) for a sail, a white i shirt on split stretchers for a topsail, • Watches were set and re ieved every I two hours, one man at the lo k out forward and one man at the helm. Bruco and "^unesley, second and third mates r took their turn with tho-jaeu. Captain Pyke navigated the boat and issued rations. A tin I of meat -was to last three days — I about lloza day amongst nine raou, or 1£ oz per mau. 'i he biscuit, which soon got wet and mouldy, was served out in small poi'tions by ■ nice twice a day. Half a gill of water was given to each man. All shared alike. The captain shared his tobacco with the rest. 'Very uncomplainingly did the men endure their lot for many days. .They stood their alternate two hours of duty, and four hours of sleep or of rast, always Tvet through by the seas which often swamped the boat. Always a hungered, always a thirst, they bore their lot like men They had no space to . lie down ; they were cramped in every movement. The tropical sun beat on them during the day, afc night their bones were often racked by coH, yet the warm of the southern seas saved them. In higher latitutes, under similar conditions, they must have perished. the ninth, day came. Nearly half the provisions were gone, they had run Captain Pyke reckoned ever 500 miles, but could not make n southerly course ; each day they were, going westward, nor* could they make headway, so he changed hie course to west, hoping to strike Tonga or Samoa. On the fourteenth day the mouldy 'bißCuit was all gone, there was nothing but the meat left. On the second day that a tin was

opened the meat would b rotten, but it "was oaten with avidity. The rain luckily enabled thorn to fill their bi'eaker, and the sma 1 allowance of water was never laoking. The men did not suffer so muoh from thirst as from hunger, although some drank small quantities of salt water without an evil effect. They got weaker an weaker, and the devil of despair entered into them. Who can wonder at it ! Day after day, no sail, no land, no hopes, nothing to view but the seabirds on their track, no change, no variat on, a mouthfnl of rotten meat today, the same tomorrow ; alL^t up ,jwad lay down hurijsrv. *jjfho cheiwed tike i -leather fronl^their cap inings, the leeds and pith from the captain's sun helmet. They tried to eat their : sea-boots, these were liar too tough. Waking orjsl epiiig they thought of but one ,thuig-— food. Twenty days from the wreck the men became des perajie. Only two tins of beef left. "Give it us all and let us have a meal," they said. " No," said Cap • tain Pyke. v AVTiatif we come and take it," said one ; "there are but two of you . ' ' Annesley lay too weak to move at the bottom of the boat, and the captain would only have the second mate, Bruce to help him, but Captain Pyke .looks a strong . powerful determined man "I will thiw it overboard first," said he. " You fools, our only chance is in making this food last as long as possible. If you eat this today what will you do tomorrow ?" Then said one of the foreigner, letting out th« devil that was in him and others " There are p'enty of two legged anima's in the boat." All pity was eh iked within them by their sufferings, lots must be drawn, and one after the othor must become a sacrifice to support the lives > f the res*. We all laugh when Mr "W. S. Gilbert's ballad of " The Nancy Brig" is sung, little reckoning that such experiences have been real ones on the ocean* Captain, Pyke now says he woti'd have overturned the boat, and sent all hands to Davy Jones' loi-ker before he would agree to such a thing. " I had sti'l my wits about me, and we should have all died together,'' but. he wou'd not cast 'otsThe skipper might he a sacrifice. On the twenty second day there was only a pound and a half of meat 'eft, but when near sundown Wallis Island was pig ted, the saUmnker calling out " land." Another hour and they would h ye changed their course and missed this, pa?sing it in the night, as they did the Samoan IslesThey stood off for a time to avoid the reef, but, guided by tbe full lijht of the moon, the castaways landed on Wallis Is'and »t 4 a in. on the morning of August the 9th, the twentythird day after the wreck of 'lie Garston, after sailing over 1600 miles in an open boat.