ON A DESERT ISLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9116, 23 December 1907, Page 2

ON A DESERT ISLAND.

FORTY DAYS' FIGHT AGAINST STARVATION. Another thrilling romance of the sea was told by the passengers and crew of the Whit© Star liner Oceanic, whioai reached Plymouth recently from New York. Shortly before th 6 liner left New York there were landed there -sis members of the orew of the American barque .Prussia, who had been cast away on a lonely island at the extreme south of South America for weeks, and reduced by hunger to the necessity of •, chewing sealskins to keep alive.

The Prussia was in the vicinity of Cape Horn when a gal© sprang up, and drove her far of ner course. Captain Andrew Johnson was trying to sight the light maintained by the meteorological station on New Year's Island, when they lost their bearings, and struck on the. rocks of Staten. Island< a bleak and desolate mountain spur, which rises out of the Atlantic some miles east of Cape Horn, and s separated from th© mainland by the Strait of Le Maire. A narrow fringe of sandy beach about 30ft long, skirts the island, and behind this rise mountain cliffs. On this inhospitable strip of sand all cave two of tne crew were cast when * ieir vessel struck. So quickly did the vessel go to pieces under the tremendous pounding of the waves that there was no time even to launch a boat. A TERRIBLE NIGHT. The men were thrown into the boiling surf, and washed up on the sand by seas which buffeted them with such force that most of them were unconscious. Had it not been for the quicK work of two of their number, xaov& fortunate in getting ashore, they might have been swept back into tho sea. These men groped through the darkness and dragged their companions as far back on the beaches they could. When morning broke the survivors fouud themselves under the shelter of a cliff. Two of their number were missing. They were Sabata, the Japanese cook, and Henry Hammond, an American seaman, who were never seen after tho first confusion of the vessel striking. The same morning — June 20 — tlie captain died from the cold and exposure.

Tlie cold was intense," and the first thing the men did was to gather wreckage and build a fire. This done, they buried Captain Johnson, as far back from the line of breaking surf as possible. The beach was strewn with wreckage, and they gathered from the ship's stores that oamo ashore a barrel of pork, some biscuits, and a quantity of canned goods. The question then was how were they to get away. A hut, hastily erected, furnished but little shelter from the'- cold, and the men knew that their larder would last but a short tinie. They knew that New Tear's Island was only a short distance away, and Carl Stark declared that lie could from the wreckage builda small boat which would make the trip. "While several busied themselves in collecting all _ the material available for boat-building, two men, Stanislaus Porthina, a Frenchman, and Haseth, a Norwegian, were detailed to climb up the cliff to start a signal fire and raise distress signals. THEIR FORLORN HOPE. Tho two moa were gone three days, and Haseth returned alone. He came crawling back on his hands and knees. His companion had been frozen to death, and Haseth's feet were eo badly frozen that hs could not walk. He is now in hospital in Argentina, and may lose both feet. The supply of food becoming exhausted the unfortunate men killed seals for a week, and ate them and limpets. Seal meat was only available for a week, because after that, as one expressed it, the seals got wise, and they could no longer kill them. Towards the end they were forced to subsist chiefly on the skins of the seals previously killed. All this time the work en the boat was progressing slowly, and thirty days after they struck tin? island Stark declared the boat readv to be launched. John Hunter, -the mato, Hermann Hayne, and Stark led the forlorn hope. Their departure was a great event for the remainder, who gathered on the beach and cheered Hunter as he piloted the boat out to sea. The distance to Xew Year's Island was about one hundred miles by boat. The boat's crew had taken a slander part of the food supplies, but they did not suffer much from hunger, for they made the run to the metro ro logical station under favourable conditions. A week after the arrival at New Year's Tsland a whaleboat. under thecommand of Lieutenant Delgardo, and manned by five volunteers, rounded the point of rocks on. Staten Island, and was espied by the castaways. Their troubles, .however, were not at an end. Tho rescue boat had met with adverse winds, and took five dayr? to make the trip. The store of provisions the rescuers were bringing for the- men of the Prussia was more than half consumed when they reached Staten Island. A gale fiprang up shortly after tlioy arrived, and it was six days later bofore the whaleboat could be launched, and tlie start made for New Yost's Island. In the interval all the food brought by the rescue party was consumed, and on the way back to the station all had to eat limpets.