THE CREW'S PLIGHT.

Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13316, 17 January 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CREW'S PLIGHT.

TRYING EXPERIENCE IN THE JJOAT. The plight of the nine men in ike boat was no -happy 0110. Almost all were haJf clad—some without boots, others shirtless and coatiess. A course was at once sot for Port Hardy. The sea was not the host t'oi an open boat, and relays of rowers were soon tired, although the provisions on board served as a welcome stimulus during the bleak four hours' struggle to the bay where they were to land. Here the tide was against them, but at 5 a.m. a very weary party of sailors landed and started on a tramp, which brought hurt; at every step to the shoeless ones, over the hills to the homestead of" Mr Lord. The men cannot speak too highly of the treatment they received at the hands of these hospitable people, and to use tho men's words, "the house was ours from the time we reached it." Mrs Lord ant] the manager and his wife did all they could for the men, providing them with hot food and garments where required. _ Captain Vendore, whose health for the past two years has not been ol the best, now that the danger wa» over, began to feel, the effects of his submersion, and until 3 p.m. yesterday he was compelled to remain in bed. The sailors recuperated during the day, and were taken aboard the Pateena last evening, and brought along to Nelson, where a number ot anxious relatives awaited their arrival at the wharf, but enquiries showed thatmost fortunately nobody on board had come to any serious harm by their trying experiences. The Jane -Douglas was an iron screw steamer of 75 tons net, and !);; tons gross, and wns built at Dimedin by Sparrow m:<i Co. in 187-5. The following ware her dimensions: Length 103 ft; breadth, 10.2 i t; depth, 7.lft. T\yo years ago .she was fitted with triple-expansion engines and boiler by the Anchor Foundry Company. Th'p Jane Douglas was due hen. in n few days for her annual overhaul. Shf was a well kno«;n coasting vessel, and had visited Nelson occasionally.' A magisterial;.enquiry, will be hold into the circumstances of the wreck by Mr J. S. Evans, S.M., at Nelson, probably on Saturday..