The Penn's Grove record., 1884-04-05
for Life.

"DETAILS VI d l6uldl hdDl0 oNlllnihlS
feat, have just come to hand from Auck-
land, New Zealand. The facts as stated
in the local papers which are before us
are verified, if any such verifcation
were needed, by private letters to the
relatives and friends il this country of
the hero of the exploit, namely, a Cap
tain Haultain, o of Colonel Haultain,
who is 80 years of age and weighs, we
are told, fourteen stone, and commands
a sailing vessel on the New Zealand
coast. The night of September 9 was,
it appears, an excessively stormy one, a
strong gale blowing from the east-south-
east, dark, rainy and unusually cold.
About 2 A. NJ. his ship wa making for
the entrance of the Whangerel harbor.
Tie Captain himself was upon the deck
occupied with some alteration in the
rigging, and while clearing away some
ropes was caught by the peak down
alp and flung clear off the ship into the
raging sea. Capt. Haultain had on at
this time a heavy o%vercoat, high sea
boots up to his thighs, two pairs of
trousers, two shirts and two u~ndershirts.
Taking it for granted that a boat would
be sent back to look for him as soon as
possible, he swan with these appalling
membranes upon him, as near as he
could tell, about half IN hour in the
wake of the ship, ~coo-ee-ing, after the
fashion of antipodeans by land and sea.
No boat, however, appearing, he felt
that his only chance was to strike out
for the shore. at this time he Vas no
great distance from the Frenchman at
the mouth of the harbor and succeeded
in stripping himself of the load of
clothes and of the long boots, an opera
ton which in itself must have been ex-
hausting enough, n~ecessitating, asst did,
frequent dives. To makethe nearest land
be soon found vas hopeless, on account
of the strong ebb tide that was running.
and he had nothing for it but to head
for the opposite shore of the harbor,
three miles distant, which two or three
lights made visible through the dark
ness. This extraordinary feat-extra-
ordinary, that is, when the clrcumstan-
ces are considerable succeeded in ac-
complishing, and he was picked up,
after being three hours and half in the
water, clinging to the beach with his
hands, half s~enseless, his legs having
lost all power of action and the surf
breaking over him. In the meantime
his men on the schooner had lost no
time in putting off a boat to the rescue
of their captain. After rowing for
o ne time they gave up the search as
fruitless, and, the boat being small,
were themselves in no great security.
The schooner, left short-handed, was
driven ashore upon the same beach as
its captain some time before the lat er,
and the boat heading for the same point
was capsized in the surf, the men strug-
Cling ashore as best they could, though
without loss of life. They remained
upon the beach about three hours, till
daylight showed them where they were.
Travelling then along the shore in the
direction of the nearest house they
heard cries as from a man struggling
in the water, and eventually found their
gallant captain in the surf, as before de-
scribed. The force of the sea that was
running all through that night, say the
local accounts, may be realized by the
fact that the vessel was driven so high
and dry upon the beach that at high
tide it was possible to walk up to her
dry shod.
The Auckland papers speak of it a.
the most wonderful performance that
has ever been enacted upon the New
Zealand coast, and claim for Captain
Haultain the mantle of the unfortunate
Webb. They note the fact, also, that
he was such a determined abstain
that when half dead and totally numb
ed with exhaustion he refused to swal-
low a spoonful of brandy. They exult,
and with good reason In the fact of