SECOND EDITION. MAROONED ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15955, 25 October 1919, Page 11

SECOND EDITION. MAROONED ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND.

r TERRIBLE HARDSHIPS. WHAT H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND FOUND. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. Received October 25, 2.30 p.m. FANNING ISLAND, October 24. The marooned men picked up by H.M.S. New Zealand on Christmas Island are at present guests of the (Fanning Island cable staff, recuperating after their terrible privations during the past year. They were left on the island by the lessee, Father Rougher, in the middle of 1918, with a scanty stock of provisions, and a promiiee that a relieving ship would arrive within forty days. These men, English, manager of Rougier's station, jt French, youth, and a Tahitian, were the only inhabitants, and were almost desperate when the New Zealand appeared. The landing party, which included Lord Jellicoe, was held up by DEuglish, who was clad only in a tattered pair of shorts patched with rice Jag. Lord Jellicoe was amused at the comifcaJf spectacle presented by a man 4iold--sng up a warship with a revolver, though he took a personal interest in the hardships suffered by the party, and 3)ad a long talk with English. The com- ' mander of the v Xew Zealand had officers •working all night copying charts which had been executed with reniarkoble exactitude by English, and the meteorological reports made during his enforced stay on the Island. The map showed the positions of various wrecks on Christmas Island, which is the veritable death-trap of the Pacific. Tiere was e violence of eight■' wrecks, while millions ''"'" j-f feet of timber, mostly in good condiwere strewn along the shores. The irony of the marooned men's situation was the possession of three autoinobiles, needed for traversing the long distances between the scattered cocoaput groves. The unfortunates thus had means of travelling de luxe, yet were [without clothes, food, or comforts. Rats fewarmed everywhere at first, and had devoured pillows and blankets while the mm. slept. English said lie would gladly have exchanged the automobiles for a clean ehirt and trousers and the means of shaving to enable him to welcome, his distinguished visitor and life-saver in eome semblance of cleanliness instead nf in Robinson Crusoe-like attire and at a revolver point. English kept a faithful diary during the whole time on the island. This contained some entries pathetic in their Jiopelessuefs— "Dvr by day looking, and longing, and praying for a ship to arrive." Distress, ill-health from exposure iind the v.Tetchedness of their food nearly drove the men crazy, and they would not have been able to esist many more ■weeks. When English left the warship, Tx>rd Jellicoe presented him with his photograph, saying, "'Tour's is the hardest lot of I've ever heard of. "Sou must iiave some little souvenir.''