CASTAWAYS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13457, 2 December 1907, Page 6

CASTAWAYS.

WRECKED ON THE AUCKLANDS. TWELVE LIVES LOST. SURVIVORS RESCUED AFTER EIGHT MONTHS. Per Press Association. INVERCARGILL, Dec. 1 The Government steamt-r Hinemoa returned from the Southern Islands yesterday, bringing fifteen survivors of the ckw of the ship Dundonald, which was wrecked on Disappointment Island in March last. Twelve of the crew, including the master, • "were drowned, and the chief mate died on the island. FINDING THE CASTAWAYS. The following story was obtained from Mr Crosby Smith (of the Hinemoa) on his arrival afc Invercargill on - Saturday, and was taken from notes written by Mr Smith during the voyage lio-me: "On the arrival of the Hinemoa in Port Ross, in the Auckland Islands, early on the morning of Saturday, the 16th November, ■ great excitement was cateed when on sighting the Government depot it was noted that a white flag was ifiying at half-mast, in token of the presence of a shipwrecked crew. Captain Bollons lost no time in launching a boat and effecting a landing, and as he approached the depot a cheer went up from at least a dozen men who were congregated there. ' It was recognised as a trite British cheer, and was answered with a three times three from the Hinemoa. After a very short delay Captain Bollons returned, followed by live of the stranded crew in the depot boat. The boat contained the second mate (Mr McLaughlin), third mate (Mr Knudsen). Harry Walters, Charles Eyre, .and another. The second mate was . wearing a skull cap-mader of-sealskin ;.nd one or two wore a kind of slipper made out of untanned' cowhide, while all were wearing clothes from the depot supplies. THE wrece:.

"From the crew it was learned that the four-masted barque Dundonald, 2lX)0 tons, left Sydney on 17th February, bound for Falmouth, laden with wheat. She carried a crew of 27 all told, in addition to whom was the captain's son, a lad of sixteen, who was not in good health. Contrary winds were met all the way, and a great disturbance of the compass had been noticed half-way between Sydney and the Auckland?. At 12.30 on the morning of 7th March, the ship struck on a reef on the west side of Disappointment Island, an outlying island of the Auckland group. The night was thick, with half a gale blowing, and l;ind was not seen until immediately before the ship struck. An effort was made to wear the ship.' but it was too late,, and she was driven stern first right into a crevice in the cliff, which towered up, 300 ft high. In a few minutes the fore part of the ship dropped into the sea. causing a large wave to wash along the deck, sweeping the crew before it, and carrying away in one sweep eleven men, who were never seen again. Among these were the captain and his son. • The * rest of the crew hung on to various - fixtures, and when the wave had gone by, they rushed up the rigging. Three men go: ashore -from •the jigger mast, but on? of them slipped back over the cliff and met his death. The story of the landing and. what followed is described m the narrative of Charles Eyre, which is given below. Captain Bollons supplied the men with some additional stores, and told them he would call for them on his return from the Bounty and Campbell Islands in 10 or 12 days. The men all appeared well, and it was evideut. that the food they had subsisted upon had agreed with them. While the men were on the island two ships passed them, the first in July and the other later on, but the castaways could not attract their attention, as the vessels were a considerable distance off the shore." - A SURVIVORS STORY.

The following additional pariiculais "were given by Charles Eyre, A.li., London, to 3lr Crosby Smith, while he was acting as cook to the expedition party on Campbell Islands:— " When land was 6ti-n right ahead we tried to wear the ship short round, but sha would not stay, and went sU-in firs' into a crevice in the cliffs. Orders were given to clear ,the lifeboats, but it- was abig sea and aocks a!I round u:-. The captain ordered ns to put on our lifebelts. The steward gave up all hope of saving himself, and said ' Good-bye, boys. I'm too old to g-e: ashore/ He went into his cabin and shut the door. ,Sioon after the air in the hold blew up the deck. Th;- mate told us to get tinder the forecastk-head. as the ship might be dismasted. We were there two or three minutes when she started shipping seas just at the break of the foc'sle. and when we saw seas coming we went on the focV.- head, but were- not there moie than a couple of minutes when the water began to come right over. One tremendous nea washed clean over us. and although we all managed to Lang on. the next one washed us all away. I don't know what became of the- others, but I was whirled round and ionnd. I caught hold of one of the shrouds and climbed up. As I did so I heard someone following me. and looking back I caw it was an Irishman named John Judge. We went on to the fore-topgallant yard. As it was canted towards the shore we thought it was touching the cliff-, but found it^to

be about 16 feet away. We were going to try to string ashore on the end of rope, but found the rope was too short. Unfortunately we had dropped the only knife ire had. and could not cut another rope to lengthen it. We, spent the night. up there, heard • many distressing- cries around us. About an hour before daylight we began to climb down to the foretop, and found about twelve men there, including the first and second mates. The mate told us to prepare for the worst, as the mast could not stand much longer. x A e thought we had better cut a few lines, as wo might b-_' able to help one another' ashore. I had lost- my knife, so the mate gave me his, and I went up again and cut away some of the running gear. Suddenly I heard a voice from the shore opposite, and found it to be Michael Poole, a Russian Finn. I cut one of the 'topsail bum lines and threw it to him, and we made it fast at both ends. By this means we all managed. to get ashore. The cliff was about 300 ft high, and at the point jusi". above the mast wrs a very- steep slope, which allowed us 'to climb up with comparative ease. .Sixteen of us out of 28 got ashore, which left 12 to be accounted for as drowned. They were \ washed away when the big sea swept; the ship. I now learned that the first man ashore, Walter Low, called out- to pass a rope, but before this could be done he slipped over the cliff into the sea, and was never seen again. We were all very much distressed when we got ashore, being very hunn-rv and cold. When in the top the mate told us there was a depot. on the island, and when we got ashore we went in search of it. The weather was so thick that we ji'ou'd not tell where we were going, so 'we turned back. Later on we discovered that there was no depot on that island. This was a great disappdin'meut to the mate, who along with the second mate had been seriously ill from exposure. We never expected* the second mate to recover, but he gradually got better. The mate, hpwever, after fin din "• he was not on the main Auckland Island, was disheartened. He rank rapidly. and died on the twelfth day af.er the wreck. He was over 60 years of age. By this time we had discovered that we were on Disappointment Island. After the mate's death Ave shifted over to the eastern side of the island. The water where we struck was very bad, vso we shifted to the other side. HOW THEY FED.

" The first day after getting ashore we subsisted upon raw mollvhawks. The few matches amongst, us were wet, and it was three days before we could get them aiy. When we once got a fire going we banked it up and kept it alight for seven months. Until May we only covered out-selves up with canvas we got from the ship before she disappeared, but we began to see that we were, going to have some cold weather, for snow and hail came on. We then decided to dig holes in the ground, which we did with our hands, and above the holes we built up sticks and put sods on top. forming huts about- six feet long and four feet wide. We managed to scrape through the winter all right by living on sea hawks, mollvhawks and seals. When we saw the seals first - bobbing up on the water we thought we had got the sea serpent all right. We did not know how. to kill them at fi-ist. . We used to whack them on the back with a stick, but one of the fellows happened to hit one of them on the nose and it rolled over, so after that we had no difficulty in dispatching them. In the beginning ;we u.-ed to cook everything by putting it on the flames,, but afterwards we made a mud even and cooked food on a- spit-. We knew the depot was on the island, which was about six miles disant, but we did r.ot know how toi get across there. PERSEVERING BOAT BUILDERS. " It- was decided to build a canvas boat, but we had cut up the sails for clothes and blankets, as we had scarcely any clothes on when we got ashore from the ship. In July three men built a boat of canvas and sticks. To do this we had to put pieces of our clothes' and blanke's and sew them together, 'and the task was all the luirder as the sail maker and carpenter were both drowned when the ship went ashore. We did th sewing by means of a small bone from one of the birds, with a hole bored in it with a little bit of wire we had. On 31st- July a startwas made in the boat by some of the men for the main island, which was reached all right, but as they could not find the depot they came back on the 9th August. They had six matches with them and used four while over there. The second boat was built in September, and on one fine morning a- party started

for the main sland, but the boat was smashed by the sea before it could get away. We builti a third one in October and started a,gain, with a party of four mtmelv Knudsen, Walters, Gratton and myself. We got over to the large island but as we reached the shore . we struck a lock and the boat- was smashed, sending us all into the water. Wei scrambled jishore again, but- the mishap put out a fire which we had carried in the boat on a sod. We had carried' fire in order to save matches, of which we had only two. Th'.y got wet and even after drying them for tlives days we could not get a light, from them. % HHK liEPOT REACHED. "On the fourth morning after landing we starfe-1 in search of the depot, -and after walfcnn- across the island, about 15' miles through bush and scrub, we struck

rio'bt ou it. There was a, good boat at tl°e depot-, but .no. sails, .so Ave cut. up our clothes to make a sail, so 'that we could return to ■Disappointment Island for the rest "-of the crew. On the next dav we tried to sail round for them, but the weather was too bad, and we had some difficulty in returning to the depot. On the following day .we made another start, and got there about time o'clock. We had found clothes at the depot and exchanged them for what we were wearinn- and we also cut each others haw and beards, which during the seven months we were on tlie other island lutcl. gicrw n so long that we looked like a lot Of sprin< r poets. As we got near oui old camp 0 out mates did nob know us in our new toggery, and they thought we were sealers. The next morning we put half the men ashore where we first landed with the canvas, boat and left thein to make their way over to the depot and then we took the second officer and others .round to the depot, W Iliad been seven months on Disappointment Island. We saw from a piece of paper in the depot that the Tutanekai had been tlier® on Ist I'ebruarV, and that some other Government boat would call in about six months so we were on the look out for a boat every day after we got to the depot. You* can * imagine our delight -'when the Hinemoa put in an appearance on Saturdav morning, 16th inst., eight months after the day of our "hipwreck. When we got to the depot we found only ships biscuits ad tinned meat, no tea, butter, sugar or coffee. We found the _ c i lool - of the depot open and it was evi--1 dent that some of the stores had been purloined. We found an- old pattern gun in the hut, and after a bit got it to work. We used tlie roots of a plant(Skilbocarpa> polar is) for vegetables, and it was not bad when boiled. We also made coffee from tea biscuits by roasting them. We afterwards found a little tea at the tnderbv Island depot." Mr Crosby Smith states that. Charles Kvre, who gaive the above statement, acted as cook for the Campbell Island section of the Expedition, Mr- Smith says he is an intelligent young fellow, 21 years of age, having just completed his term of apprenticeship. He is genial and full ■ of .humour, and can look upon the comical side of the situation, although very deeply impressed with its sad aspect. He amused the party when being plied with questions, by saying tliati he had had erght months' of a gentleman's life, hunting big galme. VISIT- TO riHE ISLAND. At 5.50 in the morning of of the 28tli Captain Bollons weighed anchor in Port Baas' iimd |stsa.medi for Disappointment Island, where lie .had promised to land members of the expedition for -a few liours, if it :were at all possible to do so. It had special interest for them in. thatno one of seientfic standing had been known to land there previously to examine *he flora and fauna. Apart from this there was the extraordinary interest that it was here'that the Duudonal had been

so recently wrecked. Here also" were/ to be seen the. novel huts and, other relics of the shipwrecked crew.- There wais also an unpleasant task to be performed Jon, this visit in the removal of : the remains of the mate of the Dundonald, who had diied thfere of «xpbsure, nearly eight months before, to the little cemetery at Port Ross. Disappointment Island is from point to point about- 1| miles long by one male wide. The coast consists of high rugged cliffs. V "We had, said Mr Smith.'' a good view of the place where the ship struck, and it was certainly a very difficult and dangerous pie.ee of coast.; She was washed stern first into a kind of a tunnel, working ! round in a semicircular direction, and hence it was that the ship was tossed about- so much by the rough seas washing in from each end of the tuhnel. As we passed we could see a projecting rock with the sea just washing over it, standing about a ship's length fronj the mouth of the-icave. • This .must have pierced mendous hole in:'the bottom of the ship, which; accounts for>- the fore, part going under,.so quickly. ' One could quite under-, stand from this -how she toppled over on one side, throwing the masts against thi \ cliff. It was a wonder that anyone survived. There is 'only one. possible landing place .on' the island, which was discovered only after considerable search bv the Dundonald castaways. This spot the captain steered for* and piloted by the second mate of the Dundonald, whom we had picked up from the depot at Pert Rcss for the .purpose. . Neither Captain Bollons nor any one else, so far as we could learn, had- ever landed on the island previously. • However, the landing is by no means a bad one in cfilm weather, and with a, favourable wind, and these conditions' we ,-iVere favoured with. This favourable wind (N.E.) is very rare in these parts, and Captain Bpll<»ns had experienced, it only; three times previously. " Nearly every, member of the expedition landed-on the island, and commenced the zig-zag ascent of the hill, a. rise of about 500 feet in BCO feet-. The track was very slippery too, making., the going 'very slow and difficult At almost every step in the climb we met with mollvhawks setting 011 their nests. One egg "each seemed to satisfy them, but each egg was as large as four ordinary hen's eggs. As -one passed them they made a- snap sometimes, but no matterhow molested they could not be induced to leave the nests. Thousands of the birds could be seen dotting the hillside. Tim vegetation consisted chiefly of tussocks, but on the top cf the hills patches of bidibid covered large-areas, intermixed here and there with purple flowering veronica. Passing over the brow qf the liill we came in sight of the huts which had been built by tlje shipwricked crew. On nearer view they were seen to be very imuch of the shape -of a Zulu kraal. A hole about 2 feet long was first scooped out of the ground with a piece of wood and the hands, and some branches and. twigs, from the small tree. Veronica elliptica- were • placed over the top, the whole, when finished, looking like a miniature hay stack. Inside, the huts seemed 'mast comfortable and warm, and miust have been a great improvement on the first arrangement of sleeping under a piece of sail from the ship. Altogether there were fourteen of these huts, but one or two did duty as cookshops, and another as a store house, Occasionally a hut- would catch fire and the occupants would have to make a hurried exit on their li-ands and knees. Then "'the village fire brigade" was turned out- and the fire extinguished. Lying" about- the huts was to be teen simple evidence of the: food the men had subsisted on.. The heaps of birds' skins, feathers, bones, pieces of sealskin and seal bones were lying about everywhere. Great must have been the slaughter of birds, for the' men declare that- it required from three to four birds per man per day to satisfy them. Seals they did not eat until all-the birds were scared away. As we landed on the island a most interesting object was "'seen Hx'Stingon cliff side. {This was the frame of the canvas boat which had first been . built to carry the party to" the mainland in search of the depot. ' A more rugged structure could not bs imagined. It was

all elbows- and knees, but when one considers that it. was built of veronica- elliptical' which rarely lias two feet of - straight, wood in it, the wonder - i> that men had sufficient patience and ingenuity to build, it at all. How such a'boat reached its destination, propelled by oars made of forked sticks with canvas, tied around them. i« a miracle. FUNERAL OF THE MATE. While examining and photographing the

huts and examining the island for plants and rock.*, a party of four of the castaways had gone over the lull to j'htir first camp, to perform the sad work ol exhuming the remains of the to ate o their ship. . This took a couple of hours, and while this was being done the captain spent the time in searching mora of the shoreline for traces of castaways. About 4.30 two boats put oft from the Hinemoa, containing 'all the passengeis and the ship's company, who landed to attend the funeral, the party numbering about 60. The sen-ice was -a most; impressive' one. The captain read the Anglican Church funeral service, and the body, which had been enclosed in a sea c ie« , was lowered to its lasti resting P lac ® - the second and third mates of the Dundonald. TH] , SUR yiyORS. The names' of the survivors are -McLcmglilin (second mate), Ivnuctaen, Haiij Walters. Alf. Finlow, Jno. Judge, bd - tiago Marine, Jno. Pulize, Herrman Querfclt. 'CTnas. Eyre (A.B.'s), Robert Llli, (Adelaide). Jack Stewart (Waikato), Jno. GrSon, Michael P«l.. Arthur Ivimey (OS) and Jabez Roberts (cabin boy). THE LOST. . Tbd 'drowned; Captom Jftoinburn. his son Jamefi, \Vnliam Smith (steward), Thos. Crawford (sailmaLei), Edward Lee (carpenter), Walter Lo-n, bam Watson, Carl Anderson, Holder sen, Immanuel J as. . and H. Largerboloom. Jabez Peters, the mate, wa« saved from the wreck, but died some 12 days afterwards from exposuie.