THE PITCAIRN ISLAND.

NZ Truth, Issue 78, 15 December 1906, Page 8

THE PITCAIRN ISLAND.

— k +—. i A Survivor's Pitiful Story. Wellington Man Among the Lost. Brave, Bitter, but Futile Fight with the Fire Fiend. The terrible fate that over-took- the New Zealand trader Pitcaim Island and many of her crew has tbeen partly told of before, but as it possesses great local interest, through there having been four New Zealanders aboard, the' following thrilling story from the ; lips of a survivor, told to a reporter of the "Wicklow People" will be read with unabated interest. • The one of the four Maorilanders, -who was lost was Roderick a strapping young fellow . of 22, who, haying served his four years at sea, intended remaining m -England and .going un for his certificate as second mate. He was a' son ,Of Mr Roderick Melt enzie, of Moir-street, Wellington, and his father feels his terrible loss -keenly, even! vet. The "People's" | account is as follows .— In all the' dark and weird annals of the deep, there is scarcely a chapter which illustrates more vividly or with a more awe-inspiring sense of reali-tv the daneeE- to which those'] of the burning of ''tihe Pitcairn Island, j The sad stpry of marine catastrophes ! contains. no:record/of hum^h suffering to exceed;, in, gruesm^e detail '^e^'tale of misery unfoldea,' by the few sur- ; vivors who escapjed^bm the^^ieck of this fine Glasgow' vessel, which met its doom m far southern latitudes last May. '',-•■ Thom-as Heron, William-street, Wexford, was practically ,the only man of a crew of twenty-two who escaped quite scatheless from the disaster, and after untold sufferings he arrived m Wexford on Friday nipht looking apparently little the worse, physically, for his awful experience, and still the hardy, intrepid sailor that he always had been. "Ah indeed," said Mr Heron to a representative of ours to whom he (rave an account of the disaster, "one experience of that sort is ENOUGH IN A LONG LIFETIME, and 1 hope that no sailor will ever have to go through suoh an ordeal again." ... . The "Pitcairn' Island," Mr Heron explained, was a fine Glasgow threemasted ship of .1,400 tons v register, carrying a crew of over 20 hands. She left Liverpool for Wellington, New Zealand, on the 12th of September last, and reached her destination beneath the Southern Cross after, #*», somewhat prolonged voyage oi'll2 days. Having shipped a cargo of scrap iron, wool, and tow at Wellington and* bunedin, I^he Pitcairn Island started on the homeward voyaga on the 19 th March with a crew of 22 hands, under the command, of Captain Fletcher, an Englishman. The weather from tHe start was bad till the vessel got into the neighborhood, of latitude 52 degress S, long-: itude 90 degrees W. f when the elements moderated. It was only with a painful effort that Mr Heron became reminiscent of the awful, events- of the 3rd of May and after. "At about three o'clock that morning," the brave fellow said, "the third mate discovered the ship on fire m the hold, aft, and m a few seconds every hand was at work m the endeavor to combat the outbreak. Half i naked men worked like Trojans at the pumps, and with buckets to stem the progress of the awful, fire. But gradually we were beaten back. The pitch boiled from the wooden decks under our feet, so fierce was , the heat m. the hold, the entrances to which j had to be closed down to save the j crew from suffocation by the blind-- j inn; volumes of hot smoke that issued j from the j RAGING INFERNO BELOW." ; After the first inspection revealed i the seriousness of the outbreak, two i small boats were lowered, provided •, ! with such scanty provisions' as it was j possible to obtain from the burning j hold. The fire, however, continued to make stead y lieadwav against even the exertion; of th>.poor fellows, who stnifded' with almost superhuman m?rp:v. find, at about, nnon. eiirhl !;oj]^ after th'_> ouUirra' v v a dl^-ov-rr-?v< : he I -rave f'Uo^s a ; :nmV,trd all to:"' ■nd 'on' 'o < v ■ ;o'; i.0.n.!---er, il co •• eie • 11 .1 ' I- 1 . h~ >

Liverpool, master ; Thomas Heron, Wexford, second, mate ; A. Anderson, Russia, a sail-niaker : J. Abloiri, Finland, A.B. ■; G. Tallion, Kingstown, A.B. ; T. Clarke, A.8., London ; C Madden, A.8., do ; »T.- Hay wood, A.8., New Zealand ; C. Waddiloye, O;S. ; A; Lambert, OS., New Zealand; and Wm. Lundon, Liverpool, steward -, and W^n. Kerns, Liverpool, a cabin boy, both of whom are since dead. /■_■•-■ , ( The following "took to the second boat and all are still missing and BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN '; DROWNED:-... „ , ;v J. Hogan, 24, A.B M Arklqw ; Patrick Kerns, 22, A.8., Arklow ; Daniel Dolon,. 20, A.8., Liverpool ; Patrick Carroll, 45, St.' John's, Newfoundland ; R. M'Kenzie, 21, A.8., New Zealand, P. Tallion, 23, A.8., Dro,£rheda ; A. Anderson, 34. Liverpool, carpenter ; and — Dryland, 22, mate, Chester. . After getting clear of the burning vessel the crews of the two hapless ; boats got out sails and made fair | headway m search of land, with a (■lons 1,200 miles of sea, m a bitter, (Antarctic atmosphere before them. It required stout hearts to face such a project, but the poor fellows, without food or water, except m meagre quantities, and practically without clothes, every belonging of" theirs: being lost m the doomed ."Pitcairn Isfand," bore up bravely m their misP»te^t I on, at four o'clock— in such latitudes | at that period of the year the day, is only. -about seven hours long— when theV' patted, and from that moment no trace has ever been found of the second .icraft. It has been rumored that the occupants of the boat have been picked up off Punta Arenas, but the atory, unfortunately, proved groundless, and it 'is feared that the fate of the poor fellows will remain SHROUDED IN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY till the Great Day when the sea shall give up its dead. The suffering endured by the survivors during the twelve days at sea m that polar temperature, practically without clothing or shelter, and without food or water, except m the quantities sufficient just 'to keep body and soul together, can never be realised except! by the poor fellows who endured it. Two days after commencing their long voyage m the 22-foot op.en boat the troubles of the ill-fait-ed crew began. The cold caused the poor fellows' feet to swell, and before many days had elapsed there were few on board who were not afflicted m this way. The bread on board became pulp, and got bad from contact with the sea water, which occasionally almost filled the little craft, keeping the men who were able to .move busy bailing out nearly a ll the time. The chart was almost destroyed by the water, and m order to save it the crew were obligtd t 0 tear it into pieces and keep it next their bodies. Even as the time wore on the misery of the crew became greater. The terrible cold and frost had incapacitated .nearly all on board. •The feet and exposed parts of their bodies became swollen from frostbite, .. and an , abominable SMELL AROSE PROM THE FESTERING LIMBS of the afflicted Sailors. By. the tenth day Heirori was the only man. who was capable of any exertion. On that day the cabin boy, Kearns, who had relatives m Wexford and county Wicklow, was released by death from his miseries, and he was buried at sea by his wretched comrade ; a nd on the twelfth day the unhappy crew were picked up off the Chilian coast by some native fishermen', who treated them with great kindness. By this time the unfortunate sea* men were m a state of collapse from disease, hunger and thirst, or expasure, and all had to be carried to hospital at Valparaiso, where the steward had both legs amputated. The lmor fejlow, however, did not lon o- survive the operation, dying a few hours 1 after the • limbs had' been taken off. Heron, the hardy Wexford ? . sailor, was practically the only man '■ who escaped the sumeon's knife after •' '• .the h^rors of that terrible voyage, almost the whole of Ihe others hay- ■ ' 'xi* lost toes or flnerers thrbupti being frostbitten. The survivors, of course;' lost all ! .h n ir property m hoard the ill-fated TMifflivn Istond, axm\ it was rather hn'"f< n-s th-'i '}it> poor fallows '■inukl b--vr" lost /rill '''anus to waeces ■ io'ti ''<'■■ .'••n-v.rni h 1 vrssel extir- :!•:!••■! . -'i" m 'I 1 *' ''lulling depths ■f flip S :<h .i'&ci.Ac ' \ |