SOLE SURVIVOR'S STORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 38

SOLE SURVIVOR' S STORY.

A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. AUCKLAND. July 26. Harry Jackson, the sole survivor of tho wreck of the scow Surprise, relating hu> ex- | perience.% eaid : "When crff Sflipper Island ' on Friday night the scow started to drag, , with three anchors out. The captain ordered the crew to set the staysail, but immediately afterwards she struck the south end of Watchman Rocks. The captain sang out ' Good-bye.' That was tho last I saw of him and of the boy Frank Kelly. The ' scow was bumping very hard ;vhen Alf 1 Stewart, Edward Johneen, and I took to | the fore rigging. We stayed there for a little time, and then came down and went aft. The ship came stern first off the rocks 1 and capsized, and I lost sight of Stewart, never seeing him again. John&en and I stuck to the main rigging, after which the , scow drifted midway between the Watch- ' man and the coast. I swam ashore, but j 1 never saw Johnsen again. I am a good i swimmer, but the breakers were very large i t and rough, and one breaker -took me j ashore. Others came immediately after, < and binashed me on the rocks. That i» how I ' I was so much cut and bfuised. I had ' ' been in the water for five or six hours. I • • climbed about halfway up the jliffn, and ; j then collapsed from exhaustion, and stayed ' '• there the whole of Sunday. That night I ' felt ill -and unable to go further ; but next j morning, feeling better, I crawled up over ( tho cliffs, and eventually reached Mr J. M'Gregor's house, where I received every ] kiactnees. I was put to bed and carefully. (

nureed. My position oh Sunday was terrible. It was a wild, stormy day. I was stuck halfway -up the cliffs with only a small singlet on, reaching to my thighs, and unable to -move further The cliffs were below me and ihe high, perpendicular hills above. I thought I was done for, and I lay there in the storm all Sunday. During- the night the pain was sa severe and unbearable that I wished I was dead. The weather appeared better on Monday morning, and, having gained a little extra strength, I started to crawl along, not knowing exactly where I was." A Tairua message states that the steamer Onslow visited the scene of the -wreck of the scow -Surprise again yesterday. Constable Brown and a party searched the beaches, but could -find no "bodies. They secured a flag, come broken lifebuoys, and the name board of -the steamer. Then "they called at Ohui, and brought Harry Jackson, the *ole survivor, to Tairua. He is still weak. As showing the *iry of the storm, dozens of crayfish and dead! fish were thrown up on the beach, also tons of seaweed. The ship's dog was found lying on Eapanui Beach.