AVIATORS’ ORDEAL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1935, Page 22 (Supplement)

AVIATORS’ ORDEAL

STRANDED IN ROUGH AREA. UNLUCKY SEARCH FOR OYSTERS. Pilot T. McDonald and his assistant, Jack Atkinson, who landed a Gipsy Moth aeroplane in an area bounded by mangrove swamps between Port Douglas and Cooktown, Queensland, had a trying experience. “On Saturday afternoon,” said Pilot McDonald, relating his experience, “Atkinson and I, fully equipped with spears, rifles, cameras and knives, set out to explore a portion of the reef, and, if possible, to land and inspect a bed of oysters that I had located during my flights to Cooktown. The landing among coral, mud and rock was a great success, but it became apparent immediately that the take off was going to be troublesome. We waded out in water up to our armpits, but could not reach the oyster bed, the tide being too high. With the early morning low tide on Sunday, a further attempt was made, but the exact location of the bed ’ had evidently been lost. “Several attempts to get off were made, but the soft nature and roughness of the ground did not allow the machine to gain sufficient speed to rise. On the last attempt the machine tipped her nose violently on striking a lump of coral and split her propeller. “From 3 o’clock on Saturday and 9 o’clock on Sunday morning neither of us had a drink of water, and we were fairly spent. Armed with our spears and rifles, we undertook a. 16 miles scramble round the rocky cliffs, crawling in mangroves and swimming creeks until finally, later in the afternoon, we reached the lighthouse at Cape Archer. The lighthouse keeper gave us food and tea. We were tom and cut by coral and trees,”