CAPTAIN’S STORY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4558, 10 April 1942, Page 6

CAPTAIN’S STORY

ORDEAL IN LIFEBOAT TWO BISCUITS A DAY The Prusa, which was recently sunk by a Japanese submarine, was en route from Davao, in the Philippine Islands, to Baltimore when Japan entered the. war, wrote the Suva correspondent of the New Zealand Herald on March 18. She was then some 200 miles off Honolulu, where it was intended to call. Orders were received to keep Off until further - orders or to make for the Pacific coast. The Prusa, however, did not have sufficient fuel to make the coast, and so waited until she received orders that all was clear and she could enter Honolulu. After, fuelling she remained for some days and then sailed, continuing her voyage until early on the morning of December 19, when she was sunk. Captain Boyd said that she was torpedoed without warning, tlie torpedo striking the after-end of the ship, which settled rapidly by the stern and sank in nine minutes, giving the survivors only time enough to clear in what they stood up in. EIGHT MEN KILLED OUTRIGHT Eight men in the crew’s after quarters were killed outright by the explosion, and apparently the radio officer went down with the ship. Captain Boyd said that someone called out: “Come on Sparks. It’s time to go,” the officer then being in the radio cabin. The captain jumped overboard and was hauled into one of the two boats. It was then thought that the radio officer had gone over the other side of the ship and into the mate’s boat. When the boats met, however, it was found that he was not on board, and there was no sign of -him among the' deck load timber which was floating nearby. AEROPLANE SIGHTED The submarine chme to the surface just before the Prusa sank and flashed a searchlight on the ship to get her name and then inspected the boats. There was no attempt to machine-gun the boats. The two boats kept • together for about three days, and during that time a plane circled high overhead, but the castaways were unable to identify her. Although Honolulu was the nearest port, the boats were unable to set a course for Hawaii, as they .were too far south, and would have had to combat strong north-easterly winds. After keeping in sight of the mate’s boat for three days, the captain found that his craft was leaking badly, so decided to set sail on the 22nd, heading southwest, intending first to try to make the Marshall Islands, but with the

weather prevailing the Gilberts were found to be a better objective. SHORT RATIONS Supplies in the captain’s boat consisted of 801 b of biscuits, two breakerjsi of water (about 30 gallons), a case of evaporated milk, and a case of cherries! There were 12 men in the boat, so the daily ration was fixed at two biscuits and a cup of water each, a tin of the evaporated milk also being used each day. Although this was not very much, it was sufficient to keep them going, said the captain. Even so, one man, a 59-year old seaman, succumbed to the effects of exposure and the short rations. Strong winds and heavy seas were experienced for the first days of the boat’s voyage until they sailed below latitude 14 north, where more northerly moderate winds and seas were • experienced. When they had been 15 days at sea the castaways experienced their first heavy rain and caught all they could in canvas to supplement their diminishing water supply, the second breaker having been broached by that timei From then on they had rain practically every second day, which considerably alleviated the water position. “The biggest hardship of the first 15 or 20 days was that we were constantly wet,” said Captain Boyd. “There was heavy spray and continuous rain, squally although not enough ran to catch water. We only had the clothes we stood up in and were pretty uncomfortable. SCHOOL OF KILLER WHALES “The biggest scare of the whole trip was experienced on December 31, when a large school of killer whales played around the boat for upward of an hour and threatened tq upset it at any moment.” Calm weather with light winds was experienced in the latter part of the trip right up to the time the boat made Nukunau, in the Gilbert Islands. Here they had to land through heavy surf, and the boat was capsized, fortunately without anyone being seriously injured. Captain Boyd paid a trifidte’to the natives of Nukunau for the manner in which they received the shipwrecked crew. “They did not have much in the way of food, apart from cocoanuts and fish, but what they had we were welcome to,” he said. “They supplied us with some clothing and fed ub for several days.” From Nukunau the fourth officer went by canoe to another island and there saw an administrative officer, who did all the could, putting a whaleboat at the fourth officer’s disposal, and in this he returned to Nukunau and brought the captain to the The other members of the crew picked up later. There Captain Boyd learned with relief that the 13 men in the mate’s boat had been picked up at sea, all being well.