A DUNEDIN PASSENGER'S EXPERIENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2541, 26 November 1902, Page 28

A DUNEDIN PASSENGER'S EXPERIENCE.

Mr James M'George, whose parents reside , in MaHland street, Dunedin, and who {with the exception of one other) wae the only passenger for Dunedin by the ill-fated Elingamite, arrived from Auckland by tho Waikare on Sunday, and recounted his experiences to & representative of this paper yesterday. Wo give the narrative in the words of Mr M'George, who is himself a seafaring man. I The firEt episode of the voyage after leav- • ing Sydney wharf, said the narrator, was the discovery of a stowaway and the landing of him at Farm Cove. " Good-bye," he cried; "I'll 6ee you no more.'' Right across the eea was calm as a mill pond. We left Sidney on the Wednesday, and at 8 o'clock on the Sunday morning the fog was i on us thick as a wail, and the engines were stopped. The skipper came along the deck, i and a passenger asked where we were.^ In reply he remarked that we bad passed *' the Kings." Twenty minutes after that we struck. The vessel seemed to slide on, lift- ! ing on the swell, and the forward batch ' blew right out. We at once tried to lower 1 the port boats, but after one was smashed iwe sawit was useless, and desisted. The 1 third cook—" Tom " we called him—jumped over the side with a Kfe line, when & huge ' sea lifted him high into the air, and crash he came down on a ledge of rock, and ire saw no more of him. We then started to - lower the, starboard boats. We got No. 1 out all right, and she picked up the occupants of No. 2, having then 53 in all on board. This was the boat that reached the mainland, and sent first" word of the wreck. Boat No. 3 got away raider charge of the third mate, and she had, I believe, 43 on board. This is the boat still missing. I know Bhe had provisions for about a fortnight on board, but cannot say as to water. She had a great hole knocked in her upper bows by the davits in being lowered. Boat No. 4, which, with Captain Attwbod and a full complement on board, afterwards reached the rocks, also got clear. The dingey was next lowered, and she -was the last boat to leave the wreck, and we threw the shin's papers into her. The purser and carpenter got into her, and picked up eight others. They finally landed on the Little King with the captain's boat. There wcTe now only the two life afts left, and we threw them over. One was picked up by ' a sailor, and 19 got on board of her. The email raft was nicked up by Dr. Goldie, of Auckland, and myself, and we got eight others on to it. We came across three boats, who told us to wart till they came back to pick us up. Then we all parted at about , 11.30 on Sunday morning. At 4.30 that day we csme acroeß the other raft, and took ' three of her crew. The stewnrdess said she < was as safe there ac on board our raft; and Iso indeed ehe was. So Bhe stayed where ' she was. They had what was supposed to be a keg of water on board, and we had not even that. On both rafts we were sitting up to our waists in water. We parted company again at 6.50. and the fog came • down again. It just lifted to disclose to-us . the snn sinking in the west. No land was . in sight, and we began to pull due east, as , we took it, from the sun. Land was soon afterwards sighted by a passenger, and we got in near a reef by 8 o'clock. We pul}ed . alongside the reef for a mil© till we entered 1 the bight, where we landed, and here it , took uh two solid hours to move 150 yards • to the landing place, so strong wore the tide and wind against us. And as it happened we landed on the only available spot there is to be found on the Great King. There were breakers tc the right aod to the left. One of ub jumped ashoTe with a line, and held tbe raft for the rest, and then we f moored her and slept on the rocks till ' dawn. We then cast off the raft with a j written account of our plight and • list j of names. She drifted due east till out of ! eight, and wa« nicked up later 98 miles J away by the Countess of Raofurly. Dr , Goldie awoke us at 4 3.m , and climbed a cliff pome 60ft hieh. A rope was passed i to him, and all hands were hauled up. .Once we got on the top, Dr Goldie started Vractice and amputated no less than seven fingers with his pocket-knife. One of our number lost four, jammed between the life- , boat and the ship. We next scaled a hill for about 200 ft, and having found a resting j place turned to and built a hut out of titri. j Then we sent four men t- look for a "depot . supposed to be on the island, but none was found—only plenty' of goats, and we had I nothing to shoot them with. Lighting a „ fire ' was an anxious time. One of the /passengers had a box containing threej matches, which he gave Inc. I got the.

gloss from tho doctor's watch and that from another watch, and, laying the matches on the one glasa. foeussed with the sun through the other.. Two of the matches went out, but the third ignited, and, &*>. doctor being reedy with a dry tussork. the thing was done. Before we had finMiod with fh;it fire thp.asbm were sft high. We were 6.hiverine with cold, end very grateful the warmth and •drying we got were. After that sleep again.and n*xt morning those with boote wpre Ibid off to hunt again for the depot. r<»triroinar fnsr hours latrr viiiiioi-t "it-t. T^cv.-ti thp cliff \v<* went again. n-"l brniijrlit batk and. fOiitcd cmU^t £>'. loilowiua. ooaA-

tracks we came upon a spring of water faa to the quality of which Mr M'George was absolutely enthusiastic). But the doctor would not let us drink except as he dealt water out to us. On Wednesday three sailing ships came into view, but they did not respond to our signals. That morning; we picked up Captain Reid, who had previously landed with Captain Attwood and had put off again to pick up tbe forecabini steward, who bad been left all night on a rock. Captain Reid saw our signal and made for it, and we thought it was a relief party coming for us, and rushed down ta meet them. They had set out at 4 thatl morning, and we picked them, up at 7 that: night; and just in time, for they were quite exhausted, and we had to carry them up the kill on our shoulders. Thia enlarged our family by 11 men, making 22 of us in all, and we dried tkem at our firs and fed them on crabs. Two bottles of gin they brought were divided among the loft of us. In the morning a watch was set on two parts of the island, and the Zealand** was sighted. She saw our signals (tha doctor's white shirt on the end of an oar)* and sent off a boat, bringing plenty of whisky and sandwiches. We had to swim 20 yards to the boat. The Zealandia, then bore down and picked up the- other 72 men, women, and children on the othext island; and not too soon —«, heary - se« could have washed them off 'their resting place. The greatest kindness possible wad shown -us on board tho ZeaJantKa, axtct tb» passengers for Sydney threw open theuS | chests and passed out clothing to the ship* wrecked sufferers. And that is about all, said Mr M'George, except what S would like to say about Captain Attwood and the chief steward, Mr Vine. WhUe that ship was sinking the latter passed me oa the deck and said, "Jump for your life;; I'm going to see lihe captain," and he shook' hands and went on to the bridge with tha captain, while I jumped; and when Dr Goldie and I were sitting on tbe raft watching the ship settle both of them were washed off the bridge together. The nexft thing seen was the chief steward, the captain, and the second officer floating aboutt among the wreckage, and the two -latter were even then blowing their -whistles and giving orders. All three were picked up. Mr M'George could be, naturally, got to say little of his own privations, whioh he wm inclined to pass over; but he exhibited at memento of bis -trying experiences in the shape of a cap made of the canvas taken from a lifebelt, which be had worn on the island. "Shoes were made of similar material." he added. Mr M'George leaves for Auckland again! shortly to attend the inquiry.