SAVED FROM THE SEA.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 1

SAVED FROM THE SEA.

Crew of Helpless Schooner Rescued. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, December 18. Rendered helpless by storms, and leaking badly, the schooner Ria, from Newfoundland, drifted for seventeen days in mid-Atlantic. The captain and crew were forced to catch rain water to quench their thirst. They burned their clothing to attract the attention of passing ships, and were finally sighted at night by the steamer Aztec. They were rescued in a heavy sea and landed at Honduras. The Aztec’s master, Captain Brice, on his arrival at Southampton, said that a sack of onions was the only food left on board. The crew were almost on their last legs. Some of them had long flowing whiskers. The Ria was a wooden three-masted schooner of 190 tons, built in 1920. She was owned by A. F. Buffett, of St John’s, Newfoundland.