ADRIFT ON THE ATLANTIC.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13499, 14 August 1907, Page 8

ADRIFT ON THE ATLANTIC.

The passengers of- the Cunard liner Carmania witnessed a thrilling incident on a recent voyage across from Liverpool to New York. When two days from New York the liner came up with a small open boat, with a man seated in the stern. There was a hurricane blowing, with blinding snow showers, • and the nature of the little boat could not well be distinguished. It was too rough for a boat to be lowered, and the Carmania's captain called for a volunteer to swim out to' the dinghy. A seaman named Breen promptly stepped forward, had a life line fastened round his waist and dived overboard. He slowly fought his way to tho little boat and there hesitated, evidently unable to clamber aboard. The boat's passenger gave him no help. In a moment, however, a.* great wave lifted him, threw him against the boat's side, and the lurch practically carried him aboard. The man in tho stern was clearly unconscious, and Breen took an oar from between his knees and sculled the dinghy slowly to the side of the Carmani, while the passengers crowded .'on the decks to cheer them. It was twen-ty-four hours before the rescued man revived sufficiently to tell his story. He was a fisherman named Vallet, belonging to St. Malo, France. Nearly two months previously he had sailed from his home on a barquentine for a fishing expedition off the coast of Newfoundland. On May 26, with another fisherman, ho left the barquentine in the dory to bring in the nets. They were caught in a hurricane, and quickly lost sight of their ship. Vallet's companion was swept overboard by one of the heavy seas which struck their little craft, and Vallet was left alone adrift in the Atlantic. He had provisions for two days in the boat, and these were consumed by the end of the fifth day. From then until his rescue, on June 10, he had been without food or water. He became unconscious, and of course remembered nothing of his rescue. Breen's heroic conduct was suitably recognised.