Death of Captain John Benton
p. 57 · Read in the full issue
INTERESTING experiences among the Pacific Islands of 50 years ago were included in the lifetime of Captain John Benton, who died in Auckland on November 15, aged about 70.
Captain Benton went first to sea in 1889, in the schooner “Olive”, which was engaged in the Islands trade. The crew left the vessel at Apia to take part in the Malietoa war and the “Olive” was delayed until that was settled. In his various commands he had many exciting experiences, one of which concerned the three-masted schooner “Jessie”. During a hurricane Captain Benton and his crew had to abandon the ship. They landed on an island, and when the hurricane had passed they found the schooner had broken her cable, and they were forced to row the 300 miles to Noumea.