A TERRIBLE STORY OF SHIPWRECK.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3676, 28 February 1899, Page 2

A TERRIBLE STORY OF SHIPWRECK.

Off the coast of . South America, not far north the Straits of Magellan, is the Nassau Rock, a magnetic island on which Her Majesty’s ship Nassau struck . and was lost about 30 years ago, while making soundings in the neighbourhood. This island (says'the “Staudard”J 'was also the scene of the more recent wreck of the ship Golden Hind, which got too close to the land, and was drawn on to the rocks'! .The adventures of this vessel’s crew in the Straits of Magellan are among the most startling of all those which the annals of the sea have to tell. There were two boats full of castaways, and the idea was to reach Sandy Point, a Chilian convict settlement, about twothirds the way through the Straits of Magellan, but the course could only bo determined by the-sun and the stars. It was >th'en rmidfidhtef, the', mountains and ice, .and' merbury' must have been several degrees below zero. For about a monfh'thetwo boats pulled away But the. >v,eather (was always-cold, and this, (brought bn frostbite. - - i A. few roots, someberries’,, and, - strange -to say, a little celery!were,found there; , and not knowing -.whether the; vegetables were poisonous or not," each xnanate 1 ravenously of whatever he; could find. Thisy became ’seriously, ill. Their legs were • swollen to, frightful and those whb!.’ were able to walk jat 'all wandered about with their feet tied up in old cloth and pieces of' canvas. Some - unable to ■do even this, crawled about on their hands and knees. ’At length one man became delirious and died. The ground was frozen so hard that it was impossible to dig a grave, so the body was 'carried- a • short distance from the, tent and laid in .the .bushes. . Four more ; died within ten' days of each other, and all were laid 'side by side among the bushbs; ■ •'As 6abh one died, his. clothes were, taken_in_nrder keep the living ones warm'; but during all these days hot one had a mouthful of food. At ! length’ ’the' steward, taking one of the men with • him into the bush, returned with slices of meat, which were roasted over the fire and eagerly devoured. Every man knew he'was sustaining life oh the bodies of his dead companions, but no one asked a question. Sometimes they-had-it- -boiled; and someth 1 * 6 roasted. It tasted “something likv* beef,” according to one of those who partook cf it. When they had eaten almost all of the last body, the schooner Eagle, .of Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, out seal-fishing, hove in sight and rescued them. The o-ipta*. i, the mate, the steward, and five seamen were left of a crew of 21.