Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-11-10
TIRE Man WAS
SHIPWRECKED
IN SOUTH SEA

| AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 16.-Shipwreck
cd on south sea island-6000 miles
from San Francisco This was the
experience of Howard Hunter, manag
ing director of the Goodyear Tyre e
Rubber Company of Australasia, who
has just arrived at the Goodyear fac.
tory here, from that land of rabbits,
kangaroos and prize fighters. He will
return to Australia when the confer.
ences which brought him here have
closed, but declares that on his return
trip he will pick out the largest ship
that plies the Pacific ocean, for he
blames the exciting events Of his last
voyage to his booking passage on a
tramp steamer, instead of waiting for
regular liner.
Everything went well, he explaines
until his ship, the Natal, approached
small coral.island-dott with co.
coconut trees-W where the Ship had lost
an anchor on another trip, when sud.
den squan sprang up and forced the
steamer to seek safety in the open
seas.
The Crash $500 =
Naturally the interest of all aboard
was awakened as the ship backed hith.
er and thither, combing the sea for the
lost anchor. Then something har5pen-
ed. The decks shivered and crunch.
ing crash announced that they were on
the rocks. The ship listed badly and
began to sink rapidly. An S. o. s.. was
flashed over the water, but the rata
tat.tat of the wireless soon ceased and
the operators appearance on the deck
in dripping clothes, announced that
the wireless room was flooded. IF
Life boats were quickly lowered but
had hardly splashed into the rolling
sea, when a small fleet of launches
and native canoes appeared on the
port side of the vessel. In a short time
the ship was deserted and passengers
and crew were soon busy drying off in
the fishing huts On the shore. Tidings
of the shipwreck soon passed around
the island and the natives came from
all directions to assist in the salvage
of the ships cargo. ...-.. ~z. T..
Tires First
Not a minute was lost in putting
them to work, as it was feared that a
sudden storm might break up the i'll
fated ship and scatter the cargo over
miles of sea bottom. So both natives
and crew toiled the entire night. One
of, the first of the passengers to rise
was Hunter, who fortunately had his
camera with him, and secured a photo
graph of the stranded ship. He discov-
cred that the first goods to be taken
from the doomed steamer consisted of
a large shipment of Goodyear tires
intended for. New Zealand
The expected storm broke the next
day, after 400 tons of cargo had been
landed safely on shore, and soon tore
the Natal to pieces, scattering the
skeleton along the reef where it took
it's place with the bones of a dozen
other vessels whose careers had been
terminated in a similar manner.
Rouahing 1t .....-..... ....-..' -.
But there was not enough food on
the island to maintain the marooned
party, so to stave off starvation,
start was made for New Zealand in
small fishing smack, which was so
overcrowded that Hunter was forced
to sleep on the deck for five nights,
until the boat locked safely at Auck-
land.
A trip by rail and an uneventful
voyage by boat finally brought him to
his destination, having undergone a
unique sea experience, fraught with all
the thrills of ocean travel in the sub
marine zones, except actual sight of
the coming tower and the wake of the
tOrDed0 . -.