People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20561, 12 March 1935, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

Shipwrecked. Seamans Dream of Rescue Ship Came True : Old-time Watchmaker’s Stringent Test : English Language Gives Greeks Many Difficulties to Surmount.

M R ? MARGARET BRIMBLE, now in her seventy-fifth year, has been interested in the latest report of an expedition to recover the General Grant’s gold, for some time ago she obtained from a nephew of one of the survivors facts that were not common property. James Teer’s boat was the only one that reached Campbell Island. He was a thorough seaman and his work ashore, in Mrs Brimble’s opinion, was worth a book to itself. The few survivors had five matches between them. Teer put two inside his shirt to dry while he went inland to explore. He came back late in the afternoon hungry and tired, having found nothing. The three matches had been struck but the fire was out. Teer set to work to get everything very dry, as their lives depended on these two matches, and before he tried to strike them he asked everyone to go down on their knees and ask God’s assistance. The first match lighted a firs that was not out for eighteen months. Teer’s chief assistant was a man named Patrick Caughey, who belonged to the same place in Ireland. Teer had told him to jump but he was afraid to do so as he could not swim and it was only when Teer cursed him that he jumped clear and was pulled into the boat. The survivors suffered from scurvy and had worn the boots off their feet. They were without clothes except such as they fashioned from sealskins. Teer, realising that exercise was necessary to keep the blood circulating, rigged up planks on which they could exercise by walking briskly. The survivors murmured about this, thinking that Teer hoped to kill them off, and it was Caughey’s intervention that saved him. Teer himself was afraid that the other survivors might go mad or die one by one, leaving him alone, and he was attempting to build a barge to go around the island when a whaler came in sight. W had had a vivid dream to the effect that his mother had come and taken him off the island, and he even described the rig of the ship, which Teer assured him was like nothing he had ever seen in ships. Nevertheless, Caughey watched from the same point every morning and when the vessel came in sight it

was rigged just as he had said, although it was strange to Teer, who had never seen such a whaler before. The whaler had to keep on her course, taking the survivors, who included a woman, for the remainder of the voyage. There were seventeen cases of gold on board from the Otago, Nelson, West Coast and Auckland diggings and there was also gold belonging to the passengers. Teer was. offered an engagement by the Government to take a vessel to the spot where the General Grant had gone down, but the terms were not attractive enough, and he was then in a low state of health, although he recovered later and was pilot at Hokitika before he retired to live at Jackson’s Bay, w'here he died. Mrs Brimble was born at the same place as James Teer, Newcastle, County Down, but never saw him, although she had most of these facts from his nephew. Jack Teer, who called on her while in Vew Zealand. 3F 9 9 'J'HE GREEK, who has lately come into the public eye, is not a man given to deserting his own country, and statistics show that in a city like New York, which has nearly a million Italians, as many Russians, half a million Poles and as many Germans, there are only 27.000 Greeks. The Greek is a very funny customer on account of his strange difficulty with the English language, to which he adds vowels, while dropping final syllables, after the fashion of the Cockney who drops all his h’s and puts them on where they do not belong. A good story is told of a Greek restaurant keeper in Sydney who was approached by a flippant young larrikin with the request:— “ You bringa da steak and da oyst.” The Greek looked sombrely at him for a second, and replied: “ You speaka da Inglish or you geta da kick-out.” If the Duke of Kent should by any stretch of imagination assume the crown of Greece, he will doubtless hear some amusing pVgin English, another sample of which is attributed to the Greek who had. given up the organ and monkey business for fruit selling. As he said to a friend, “No more da monk da organ da grind. I sella da Fiji banan.”

A PROPOS the Hastings watchmaker's feat of drilling a pin from end to end,

“ Horo.” who. has lodged his name with the Editor for those who may be interested, writes:—"This is nothing extraordinary as I myself before the age of 15 accomplished the feat on two occasions, and can give proof of it being done (by me). You do not state whether the drilling was done by the use of the lathe, which, if the chucks are dead true, is not difficult, whereas by the old method —drill and hair bow with screw ferrule—there was a question of real skill, first, in the making of the drill and the method of dealing with it. This feat nearly every apprentice of the old school (long before lathes were thought of) attempted or, going further, drilled through a 3d piece (silver) from edge to edge. I think you will agree that this is more difficult than the pin experiment. I must admit that I failed in many attempts, but ultimatelv succeeded, and the year this was accomplished was 1888. So you can see bv reckoning that I am one of the “ old school ” and have actually trained more men in watchmaking and repairing than one would realise. CIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “ Star " ° of March 12, 1875) Archery.—A match is on the tapis between Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch, with the view of deciding the championship of the three clubs, and also the individual championships for lady and gentlemen competitors. The matter originated with the Wellington Club, and will probably come off during Easte* week. Opunake. March 10 —The Natives have left Bailee’s mill, and have gone back to their own settlement to prepare for the meeting at Parihaka on March 17. They say they will not return if Te Whiti does not support the movement. It is believed that thev onlv want an excuse to retire gracefully, and will now let the matter C Consular.—lt is notified in the Gazette that the Consul-General for Italy, at Melbourne, has nominated Mr Alexander Cracroft Wilson to be Consular-Agent at Christchurch.