WRECKED BARQUE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8611, 23 December 1913, Page 5

WRECKED BARQUE

FURTHER PARTICULARS

By Telegraph—Pre*3 Association—Copyright

SYDNEY, December 22. Further details of the wreck of the Labour d’Auvergne show that the captain boarded the Anitiope off Palmerston Island on November 13th, and reported that the vessel struck a reef on the night of October 23rd. Next day in the morning the crew of twenty-three and a lady passenger, Mrs Pick, of Sydney, landed with the assistance of natives from adjoining islands. Tents were pitched and a store made. Plenty of food was available from the ship’s stores.

All were well when the Antiope left excepting the lady, whose mind was stated to be temporarily deranged owing to tho troubles attending the wreck.

The captain of the wrecked barque asked the Antiope to take all the marooned people to Sydney. This was impossible, and the Antiope’s captain offered to take fifteen.

This offer was declined, the captain deciding to keep the crew together in anticipation of an early visit of a schooner to the island which would carry them to Tonga. The captain asked tho Antiope to report to the owners in Havre that the Latour d’Auvergne was broken, amidships and was full of water, and that tho wreck had been sold to a trader for £OO. DESPATCH OF GUNBOAT. (Received December 23, 0.10 a.m.) SYDNEY, December 22. Preparations are being made to despatch tho French gunboat Zoelee to Palmerston Island to rescue the castaways. The French Consul also communicated with New Caledonia with a view to the despatch of a relief vessel from there.