STEAMER MAKES RESCUE IN NIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18012, 24 November 1926, Page 12

STEAMER MAKES RESCUE IN NIGHT.

FOUR OF SCHOONER’S CREW ADRIFT, FOODLESS. TWO DAYS IN BOAT; ALMOST EXHAUSTED. (Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND, November 23. A ship's boat containing four men was picked up by the steamer Colac the day before she arrived at Colon on the voyage from Montreal to Auckland. The rescued men were the captain and three able seamen of the small schooner Joseph Whitaker, which had capsized in a hurricane when bound from Colon to Blewfields. When taken on board the steamer, the men reported that the mate and cook of the schooner had been drowned when she capsized. “ I was on duty on the bridge on the night of October 20,” said Mr T. M. Jarvis, third officer of the Colac. “The night was fairly dark and there was a heavy sea running. The ship at the time was one day’s steam from Colon and was making about ten kqpts. Suddenly about a quarter past ten I heard a cry on the port bow, but' at first thought it was the sound of a sea bird. Again the cry came, however, and this time the man on the look-out in' the bow also heard it, and I then noticed a dark' object on the port bow. We heard an answering hail, and I then called the captain.” As soon as those on the Colac sighted the ship’s boat the steamer’s engines were stopped, and when she was again put under way she circled back to where the cries had been heard. No difficulty was experienced in locating the small boat, and the steamer was again stopped. The lifeboat then came alongside. When it came within the glare of the lights from the steamer it was seen that it contained four men. Two coats and a piece of tarpaulin showed that the occupants of the boat had made some effort to get the little craft under sail. Once on board the Colac, the survivors were given hot tea and food, for they were badly in need of nourishment. The rescued men were natives of Panama, but were able to speak English fairly well. According to their story, their ship, known as the Joseph Whitaker, a fifty-ton schooner, left Colon several days previously with general cargo, including machinery and farming implements. Stormy weather had been encountered, and on October 18 the wind had blown with almost hurricane force. Fearing the worst, the captain had the schooner’s boat provisioned, and warned the mate and other members of the crew to remain on deck. During the afternoon the men’s worst fears were realised, the schooner capsizing. The mate and the cook, who had disregarded the master’s warning and had turned in, had no chance of escaping and were drowned before they could gain the deck. Fortunately for the other members of the schooner’s crew, the lifeboat, which had been got ready, floated off when the schooner capsized, and although all provisions and drinking water were lost, the men succeeded in righting *the boat and scrambling aboard. From the afternoon of October 18 until the time they were picked up by the Colac during the night of October 20, the survivors had neither food nor water, and were almost exhausted. Their efforts to make sail with the. captain's tunic and a tarpaulin rigged on two oars had been almost useless, and the men had about given up hope when a steamer’s lights were sighted. Once aboard the steamer the men quickly revived, and when the Colac arrived at Colon the following day they had almost recovered. They were landed at Colon. The Colac reached Auckland this afternoon,