VOYAGE OF THE MARORO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 31 May 1930, Page 10

VOYAGE OF THE MARORO

AMAZING STORY

(By Telegraph—Spocial to "The Mail"!

AUCKLAND, 30th May

People who say that romance is dead have not heard the story of the Fischer family's amazing voyage across the Pacific from Auckland until they were .shipwrecked on the reef-bound coast of Tutiiila, in the Saiiumn Group.

The four children ami the mothei wore more like Italian famine victims when they were taken ashore from tho wreck and an unforgettable scene war. when the children, immediately they got ashore, dropped on their knees and prayed.

Four hundred natives who had seen the boat come ashore flocked down to the beach, and all knelt and prayed in company with the little children.

It was a dramatic end to a remarkable voyage in a little bit of an auxiliary yacht only ."ISft long, navigated practically single-handed over 1000 miles of ocean, often storm-tossed, by a man who had lost his sextant overboard the day after leaving Auckland, and who had only a sixpenny schoolhoy's atlas for a chart. He had to find his way over the trackless ovean by the stars and dead reckoning.

Fischer, who was the hero of this astonishing feat, told the story to fi "Star" reporter this morning, and it was the first time a true account of the voyage was heard. it will be recalled that when Mr Fischer, arrived at Apia he was arrested for allegedly wrongfully taking the yacht Maroro from Auckland, and only yesterday at Auckland Police Court was he discharged, the prosecution offering no evidence.