LUMBER SHIP'S VOYAGE

Southland Times, Issue 17305, 29 March 1913, Page 6

LUMBER SHIP'S VOYAGE

PROVISIONLESS ISLANDERS. On ‘Thursday morning, soon after daylight, the four-masted American schooner Kona, 643 tons, dropped anchor at Auckland, after a passage of 67 days from Puget Sound. The vessel is of .the fore and aft type, with a square sail forward, and her decks are covered to a height of about 7ft. with a cargo of 870,000 ft. of Astoria Oregon pine. Captain Hansen, who is in charge of the sailer, has aboard with him his wife and two children, and 11 men comprising the crew. After leaving Puget Sound on January 10 a succession of southerly gales delayed progress considerably, and for the remainder of the voyage calms and adverse winds were the general order. When the vessel was passing the Palmerston Islands some weeks ago three sailing boats containing a considerable portion of the 80 or 90 inhabitants which make up the total population put out to the Kona to ask for provisions. They stated that no boat had visited the group for nearly eight months, and that their sole diet was cocoanuts, a plentiful supply of which they took out to the Kona. Captain Hansen gave them a quantity of old clothes, potatoes, flour, and other necessaries. A vessel with provisions was expected at the islands daily. Although the inhabitants appeared to be very short of provisions their plight was not regarded as a particularly serious one. The islands are to the north of the Cook Group.