SCHOONER WRECKED

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10597, 24 May 1920, Page 3

SCHOONER WRECKED

CREWS ADVENTURES. IX FIJI GROUP. On the afternoon of May Sth the auxiliary schooner Greyhound, landed m Suva Captain Ericson and the reven members of the crew of the four-masted American schooner Defender, which uas wrecked on the Nukasuka Reef, .in me Lau, or Windward Group, at . midnight on April 10th. . .. . tj *cl The Defender is a veil known Hacific trader, of 416 tons, built-in -1886, and owned by Hind Eolf and Co., ot ban F s'he lS left Grey's Harbour. Wasliington on February Sth with a cargo of 450.W0 feet of timber for Levnka, under the command ot Captain Ericson, who has been trading in the.Pacifip, for ,the tops* i •10 rears, and has been in command ot the* Defender for 16 years. This ls*tis with fine weather the Defender had a ?ood run until on April 10th the captain found himself as he thought in deep water east of the southern part of tue Last Group, the most easterly and southern'portion of FijiHe says that there is.'a seven or eight knot current, and it appears to have, set the vessel a considerable distance to the west, and at midnight on April 10th she crashed on to Nukasuka beet. Happily the weather was fine. The pounding seas heaved the vessel well up on the reet, and within an hour three ot her mask were over the side, the foremast only remaining. Their lifeboat was torn oft and smashed. An anions night was spent, and dftvlight revealed the reef with, a sin All sandy atoll, while some miles away was a small island with others further n °Vfter a long cruise in the cutter, Daisy, they managed to reach Lakeba on'Tuesday. May 4th. Here the captain found the Greyhound, whose sails had been spill in pomi) rough weather, and he gave a hand in making everything shipshape. To his satisfaction his. crew arrived in a Japanese cutter from Motu, and all hands left Lakeba on Friday afternoon, Mav "tli, reaching Suva at 2 p.m. on captain cays that the lumber, iHiich is greatly needed in the colony, should all be salved, and he is m consultation with Lloyd’s agents as to saving 'The *crew have lost everything but what they stood up in. The vessel is a total wreck. The loss of the lumber is quite a serious matter tor Fiji. «her| much work is bomg held up for lack of timber.