Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-04-01
SAY REFUGEE ON
ROCK OF lanai
NOT MOLOkIN|
..... HlUIN MHIII MII


owner and master, who for years has
nayigated sailing vessels in Hawaiian
waters.
'1f Captain Sam identifies the Ko-
rean as one of his sailors. / believe 1t
will be found that the man finally
found a resting place on a point OF
rocks near Lanai rather than the di-
minutive rock in the Kahoolawe chan
rel.
The prevailing direction of the
winds as well as the current running
through this channel would make II
almost Impossible for. a person to
drift in the direction of Molokini.
Captain Sam finally found refuge on
Lanai, without apparent effort to
change his course"
The veteran master Of the Moi Wa,
hine Is attending to business matters
on the windward side of the island.
He is expected to return soon, and
the identity of the Korean will then
be positively established.
Tells Strange Story
Questioned by Chief McDuffie at
the police station last night through
the aid of an interpreter, Han Duck
Hyung gave detailed account Of the
wreck of the Moi Wahine, his perilous
swim of more than twenty-five miles.
to shore and his stay on the barren
rock where he drank salt water until
consciousness left him. All McDuffie's
attempts to determine whether the
man was an impostor or not proved
fruitless, as his tale was too circum-
stantial to be doubted. While the
Koreans story differed somewhat
from that told by Captain Sam, his
tale of the first part Of the trip con-
FORMS with the known facts. His
story Of the actual wreck of the YES
sci, as told through the interpreter
last night, is as follows:
ION the night of the wreck was
sleeping below the decks, and some
time in the night, l do not know when,
several other Koreans on, the boat
came downstairs and woke me up. i
went on deck and saw that everything
there was in confusion. Waves were
breaking over the deck and heard
the captain give the order to lower
the sails, to right the ship, and then
to cut down the masts. AS we were
doing this the schooner rolled over.
saw that things were becoming
dangerous and / drew my knife and
held 1t between my teeth. / found
a bundle of sails. and cut the lash
ings and when the ship turned over
held onto the bundle and floated on
it after the ship had went down.
After / was in the water the waves
threw me around so much that had
to get off the sails and swim. swan
for some distance, then turned around
and started to swim back"
Swan Long and Desperately
The balance of the tale is dimly
remembered by the Korean. He knew
four ways of swimming, he said, and
remembers having used them ALL He
was unable to tell at what time the
Moi Wahine went down, nor how long
it was until the sun rose, but when
day finally broke he had been in the
water so long that he was helplessly
exhausted. Not knowing where he
was going nor what was passing in
his mind, he still continued to swim,
Floating now and then to relieve the
strain. He finally struck on a rock,
he said, upon which he pulled him
self and fell exhausted. When he
finally recovered sufficiently to make
survey of his surroundings he found
himself on a small desert island,
which, according to his description, is
Molokini Island, a forsaken bit of
sand off the coast of Maui, and upon
which is light which is visited twice
year by the lighthouse tender. Ac
cording to the course which the
Korean took in his swim, as. figured
out at the police station last night.
he spanned the distance between the
wreck of the Moi Wahine and the
island, which is between twenty and
twenty-five miles.
Fishermen Find Marooned Man
Han does not remember how long
he was on the island. He was naked
and starving. with nothing to quench
his thirst but salt water. The island,
it is known, is not visited sometimes
for months, but few days after the
landing of the Korean, the place was
visited by party of Japanese fisher
men through a strange freak of provi-
dence, who took the partly. demented
man off. The details of the three or
four days stay on the island have
been completely blotted out of his
memory. The Japanese fishermen
took him to town on Mofokai, the.
name of which he does not remember,
and there he staved n month finally
borrowing enough money from Kore-
ans there to take him to. Maui. There
he again borrowed money to take him
to Hawaii, and on Hawaii he has
been ever since the wreck, until he
finally landed in Honolulu to set be-
fore the police the second, and prob
ably the last, story of the wreck of
the Moi Wahine