A TALE OF SHIPWRECK.

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11862, 16 February 1907, Page 3

A TALE OF SHIPWRECK.

(Per United Press Association). Melbourne; Friday. In connection with the wreck of the Danish schooner Catherine at the Orozetsand the castaways who sought shelter- on the island, it transpires that the hut on the island afforded Sbpter to . the shipwrecked men. A portion oi the wreckage was used as firewood There being «° warning of the disaster, time did not permit of the vessel's stores being landed on the island. The only " tools washed ashore were an axe, a hammer, and a pair of tongs. With these a rudder was fashioned and fitted to the stern post of a twentvloof boaVand. the keel was strengthened. Early in January the little craft Wi\s ready to sail Capfairi Ree, who is married, decided to select tinly single men as his companions' aritftJrioSe Johansen and Anthonsen, iwo of the most reliable, and and experienced df the crew They willing' fy agreed io accompany him on the venturesome expedition to Australia in search of relief for the rest of , the castaways < For nine days the weather was , terrible .The voyagers hardly knew | whether they were in?ide or outside , the boat as the seas flew over them j They were kept drenched to the skin while the cold was intense When they had covered one [thousand miles, and were almost perished the first and only sail since they left the island was sighted. They were | seen* and in two hours were taken ] aboard the Dutch ship. They were j really brought back to life from a j nearly frozen state The boat is ( sf,Hl on the ship I Th 6 Ndrwegian Consul has cabled ] td have all arrangements made for j the rescue' of the men £fc ihe Crozets . j Mr Deakin, Federal Premier, has i ftired to the. Premier of the Cape £ Making him to .arrange for the j islands to be visited , t The Catherine intended to come x to Melbourne after her sealing < expedition at the Crozets. American t Bay, on the east side of Possession c Island, was made the headquarters of the expedition. The bay is completely sheltered when the wind is from the west, but the waters receive the full strength of the strong easterlies which occasionally spring up suddenly and with the force of a . . . O'ri December iih last tha Gather- , me lay at anchor with four hundred t soalskins in the holds. Without f warning the wind changed, and a j full bast came from the east The , anchors began to drag, and the caße j of the vessel was soon hopeless. She graduay drifted shorewards, and j eventually struck an uncharted rock. E A tremendous sea was running, and c the only chance the crew had of say- { ing their lives was to take to the f boats. Captain Rees sent away seven c men in the first boat and remained c with the' other six on board till the vessel was! about to break Tup; The j boats were neaily swamped, but as c they reached the beach they were 1 thrown up high and dry and almost undamaged. The vessel went to pieces as the crew watched her from the shore. As the wreckage was washed up it was secured, and subsequently it served useful purposes,