Morning journal and courier., 1888-09-10
oAsTA WAYs IN THE PAC1F1o.

Thrilling Experience Of Wrecked Crew on a Little Coral Island.
 The mail steamer Alameda, which has just arrived in this colony, has brought news of 8 romance of the sea in many respects as wonderful-as any recorded in the pages of fiction, writes Christehurch, New Zealand, correspondent of the London Telegraph. On April 10th last the Henry James, of Glasgow, Captain Lattimore, an irons ship, with @ cargo of coal, and having several pas- | sengers on board, bound from New South I Wales to San Francisco, struck on corsl reef soon after passing the Island of Palmy- ra, in the Pacific, about five degrees north of the eoaator The vessel had to be aban- doned, and the boats being got out, the crew | and passengers took refuge on the Island of Palmyra They found plenty of cocoanuts and some small birds, 20 that they were in DO danger of immediate starvation. The mate and four eeamen volunteered to Eo in one of the ships boats to Samoa-a dis tanee of thirteen hundred miles measured \ in direct line. The boat was provisioned with small keg of water, two hundred and fifty cocoanuts, little bread, mutton, cheese and whiskey, and with this soanty provision for the journey the intrepid men set forth upon their perilous voyage. They ultimately reached Samoa in safety, eI- | though more dead than alive. Owing to \ the milk in the cocoanuts turning sour in | consequence of the great heat, the men suf- I fered severely from dysentery, and were so exhausted on arrival that they had to be carried from the boat. They performed the \ journey in their open boat in nineteen days. l Attention was of course at once turned to \ the unfortunate castaways left upon the is- ! land. Among them were two ladies and four I children, two girls and two boys, their ages | varying from three to nine years. The Brit | ish consul at once chartered schooner to go | to the assistance of the castaways, bat before | the schooner could reach the island the cap- | tain of the Mariposa, small steamer bound | from New Zealand to San Francisco, hap pened to hear of the disaster and determined | to visit the island, which lay thirty miles ont 1 of his course. On nearing the island officers | were stationed at the masthead, the captain was on the bridge, and every available field \ glass and telescope was in use by the passen-
 gers to catch the first appearance of land.
 sAt p. m.," says one of the passengers on the rescuing ship, "the mate from the | about an hour afterward we could make out 1 the island quite distinctly, and the excite | ment became intense when the captain said he could see people on the beach endeavor- | ing to launch a boat Before long the en- | zines stopped and we lay to about two miles of the island, which was surrounded by oe. l ral reefs, over which a heavy surf was break l ing We could now see the eastaways drag l piIlg their boat along between the reef and the island, where, it being low water, the 1 boat would not float. In the meantime 8 boat manned by the chief mate and crew l of four had put off from the Msriposa, and, meeting the boat from the shore, trarshipped
 8 part of the shipwrecked crew, and in this
 manner the whole of the castaways were
 safely rescued. Three ringing cheers greeted the arrival of each boatload-three trips in
 all were made-and the appearance of the
 one containing the women gave rise to in-
 creased excitement. One of the sailors,
 whose only covering consisted of a very rag
 ged pair of trousers, was suffering from large
 open sores on his back, caused by the sur
 and salt water, but with this exception and
 one or two cases of dysentery, the men ani