THE PITCAIRN ISLAND FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13273, 4 September 1906, Page 6

THE PITCAIRN ISLAND FIRE.

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE

DISASTER.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES OF THE .;■; ■ CREW. „ The Normanby correspondent of the Ha/wera Star supplies the following account of the destruction at sea by fire of the barque Piteairn Island, bound from Wellington to London, as supplied by Mr. F. Hay ward, son of Mr. James Hay ward, of Normanby, who joined the barque at Wellington as an A.B. : — ■' ■'. '; Writing from Valparaiso on June 6, Mr. Hay ward says: "Of course you have heard ere this of the ship taking fire, and as the cargo consisted of wool and tow, there was no putting the fire out, for the only means we had of getting water was drawing it up over the side in buckets. ; The fire started, or was reported at, half-past three on the morning of May 2 by the chief officer, whose watch it was. I belonged to the starboard watch, and was ■turned in' at the time, as it was our watch below. We were all out in a hurry, and kept pouring water on the fire until half-past eleven (eight hours), when the captain decided to leave the ship. I was at the wheel when the order came to leave her; so we lashed the helm down, and left the ship in two boats. Seven, men left in one boat m charge of the chief mate, and 13 of us left in another boat in charge of the skipper. We were then in latitude 52 sonth, and 90 degrees west ;• so you see we were very close to Cape Horn, and it was most bitterly cold. We were.then'only 500 miles off the coast of Patagonia, but, as the Patagoniaus are all savages, and as we did not care to be eaten, we did not make for there, but steered for the coast of Chili, taking a north-east course. ; Fortunately we had a small sail in the boat, which saved us a good deal from using the oars, and most fortunately we had a fair wind all the way. The boats were badly provisioned, as the fire broke out aft, and prevented us getting any biscuits from below. All we had was eight gallons of waiter, half a bag of biscuits, and -a few tins of meat and soup. The biscuits got wet, and went mouldy, so we could not eat them after the first few days. When we left the ship she was ablaze fore and aft, the sails ail) on fire, and the topsail yards dowi) and the after deck all fallen in. About four hours after leaving the ship we sighted the other boat, but have heard nothing of them since. On the 13th day after leaving the ship we sighted the coast of Chili, and as we had had nothing to . eat or drink for the two .previous days we thought we would try and beach the boat, and look for water, but we found out after that it was just as well we did not, as none of us could wailk, all being frostbitten. However, a Chilian whaleboat came along and picked us tip and towed us into a small place called Maullin. One poor fellow died the day before we landed, and if we had been ai day or two more in the boat nearly all of us would have gone. We stopped at Maullin about nine days, and then left for Valparaiso in the Cachapool, a Chilian mail steamer. We left one man behind in hospital at Ancua; he will have to get both his legs amputated, as they are frostbitten. There are seven of us in hospital here one young fellow has got to have all his toes amputated, another six, and myself only one of my big toes. "'The toes turn quite black, and rot away, and the smell of the rotten flesh is awful. We expect to be sent to Liverpool by the next Pacific Steam Navigation's boat, if we are fit to leave hospital. My wardrobe is a pair of dungarees and a guernsey, but we are to get a suit of clothes from the consul here before we leave. The official inquiry will be held when we get to Liverpool as regards the burning of the ship. The doctor says it will be three or four months before we feel all right. I will try and get a ship from London to New Zealand." V i