Barque Wrecked on Antipodes Island

Southland Times, Issue 12773, 5 December 1893, Page 2

Barque Wrecked on Antipodes Island

FIVE MEN DROWNED. EIGHTY-EIGHT DAYS WITHOUT FIRE. ' (By Telegraph.) Yesterday morning Captain Fairchild, of the G.s. Hinemoa, returning from her periodical ctuise round the Southern Islands, wired from Nugget Point lighthouse to the Marine Department, Wellington, as follows :— “ Barque Spirit of the Dawn wrecked on Antipodes Island on the 4th September. Captain and four men drowned. We found eleven of the crew on the island in a desperate state. One man will have to be sent to the hospital. His toes have dropped off through exposure and cold.” The Spirit of the Dawn was an iron barque of 692 tons net register, commanded by Capt. R. T. Millington. She was built in 1869 at Sunderland, and was owned by Messrs J. Bell and Sons, Liverpool. The crew were 88 days on Antipodes Island, and within a couple of miles of the depot with provisions, but were unacquainted with its existence, and so had to subsist on what they could pick up. Dunedin, Dec. 4.

The Hinemoa, with the survivors of the crew of the wrecked barque Spirit of ths Dawn, arrived at the wharf this afternoon. Mr Horner, the first officer, has made the following statement: — The Spirit of the Dawn, Captain Millington, left Rangoon on 17th June, bound for Talcahuano, Cliiii, with a cargo of rice. Squally weather was experienced down the Bay of Bengal, and afterwards variable winds and moderate weather to the meridian of New Zealand. On the morning of the 4th September, about 4 30, the man on the look out reported breakers ahead. lat once ran forward, but could see nothing. Finding ’the fog dense, I called the captain and all ! hands. The captain, on reaching the deck ordered the helm to be put hard up, but owing to the small amount of sail the vessel had on her, she did not pay off sufficiently ' quickly and it was then discovered that she was close to a reef of rocks, upon which she immediately struck. Life belts were served out and the starboard life-boat was ordered to be cleared away, but as she was settling down the men were ordered into the mizzen rigging. Myself and the second mate remained on deck and got into the boat as she lay on the skids, and as the vessel went down the boat floated off with us. The men jumped from the mizzen rigging into the water and thus ciawled into the boat with us. The captain was in the rigging at the |time, but did not jump with the rest. The ship then sank bodily and Captain Millington went down with her, The carpenter and an able-seaman were also in the rigging with him. The fog again became dense and the boat drifted out to sea, but we managed to reach the island and get into an entrance between the rocks completely exhausted. The gear was passed out of the boat, which could not be beached, and she broke away during the first night. Water was found in abundance and we lived on mutton birds, penguins’ eggs, and roots. We had no'fire, and everything had to be eaten raw. A sort of a hut was erected and roofed with the boat’s sails, and a flagstaff was erected. All kept in good health except the boy Hewbert, whose feet became bad. The Hinemoa came in sight on November the 30th, and all hands were taken on board.

The men'are grateful to Captain Fairchild and his crew. The steward is supposed to have gone down while getting out stores. The cook was last seen in the galley. The names of those who were lost are as follows:—Captain R. T. Millington (a married man belonging to Liverpool), J. Petersen, carpenter (a Swede), Peter Dawson, cook (belonging to Liverpool), Cetti, the steward (a native of Copenhagen), the men do not know his Christian name, Frank Vautier, A.B. (of Jersey). The names of the survivors are as followß. H. Horner (chief officer), J. Morrissey (second officer), H. L. Davies (third officer), T. E. Pollard, J. W. Peers, C. D. Mason, and F. McLaughlin, A.B.’s, B. V. Anderson and F. Hewbert, 0.5., W. B. Clementson and E. B. Bergthiem, apprentices. Hewbert, who is a native of Rangoon, has been taken to the hospital. He has lost two toes from his right foot, and a joint is gone from each of the two other toes on the same foot. All the other survivors are in capital health. The place where the men from the Spirit of the Dawn landed on the Antipodes Island was on the south-west end, while the depot is on the north-east. They knew nothing of the depot, and say they were too exhausted to search, only picking up strength after they got penguins’ eggs.. Though there are go its, sheep, and cattle on the island they saw none. Four vessels were seen to pass fhe island, but their flag was not observed. Their condition was piteous when the Hinemoa’s boat went for them, as they were standing on the rocks with little or no clothing, and some with pieces of pengains’ flesh, which th-.y had been eating, in their hands.

; The Antipodes Island) are situated in 49 deg?. 30 min. South, 179 clegs. East, about 500 miles ES.E. of New Zealmd. Mr Dougall, at one time photographer, here visited 1 he islands in 1888, in the G.s.s. Stella, and from his account of the voyage, published in our columns, we extract the following information :—The main island rises abruptly to a height of 1200 feet and is .girt about by cliffs varying from 200 to GOO feet- high. The sea all round is very deep and only a steamer, with steam up, can venture to anchor, as the wind frequently shifts and..blows very strong. The island proper is about three miles long, egg eh-ped and surrounded by precipitous outlying black rooks. There was abundance of pasture and water for the stock (seven sheep and three goats) put ashore. There was no bush or scrub and trees from Mr Cleave’s nursery were planted and some grass seed sown. On the summit of Mount Galloway is a fine lake of about 14 acres. The fish caught were all infested with maggots. On

a sloping ledge was found ft totara board setting forth that one Foster, mate of the schooner Prince of Denmark, was drowned while attempting to enter Boat Harbour on 14th December, 1825. Rarely is it possible to effect a landing ; men must jump into or out of a boat as it rises on the waves rolling in, and stores, etc., have.to be thrown to .or from the rocks. During the Stella’s stay (the first week in February) the weather was bad and the vessel was kept continually dodging the strong and variable winds all round the island.