THE EKROL WRECK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14146, 23 August 1909, Page 5

THE EKROL WRECK.

AN OFFICIAL INQUIRY. EVIDENCE OF SURVIVORS. THE DEAD CAPTAIN'S RING. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. (Received August 22, 5.5 p.m.) London, August 21. The Norwegian Consul-General in London has held an inquiry into the loss of the Norwegian barque Errol, which was wrecked .on Middleton Reef, between Norfolk Island and Australia, on June 18 last, resulting in the loss of 17 lives and terrible sufferings to the survivors. Johanscn, one of the survivors, stated that Captain. Andreason (who was drowned when the vessel struck the reef) told him just before the disaster that he estimated the ship's position at one degree south of the Middleton Reef. No observation was obtainable for two days, owing to the overcast weather. No intoxicants were used either before or after the wreck. Captain Andreason was a good disciplinarian. Several witnesses stated that Palmer, one of the survivors, had the captain's ring. Palmer in evidence at first denied this, but afterwards stated that Lawrence (another survivor) gave him the ring. In further evidence Palmer said the. disaster occurred during the mate's watch. Lawrence stated that he found the ring near the captain's body, and he might have given it to Palmer This witness recounted the deaths, and stated that he put the bodies overboard when life was extinct, with the exception of the bodies of two of the captain's children. They were missing in the morning. Some other member of the crew must have thrown them overboard during the night, as he left the youngest tied to a dead-eye with a strand of rope. He thought the mother was crazy. It was stated at the time of the wreck that some of the starving survivors wanted to drink the blood of the children, but that they were stopped and the bodies thrown overboard.