Three Dead In Yacht
p. 64 · Read in the full issue
Tragedy
A TRAGEDY of the sea was brought to light in Fiji on November 25 when a mission ketch sighted a wrecked cutter on a reef at Visoqo, Vanua Levu, Fiji. On board, the missionary found an emaciated young woman almost dead from starvation, and the dead bodies of a woman and a man.
It appears that the cutter (“Wing On”) left Seattle (USA) on August 14 for the Marquesas with Mr. and Mrs. Dalton Arthur Conly and Mr. and Mrs. Chester A. Thompson, of Los Angeles, aboard.
The yacht probably was thrown off its course by a cyclone, which is mentioned in the roughly-kept log, and continued blindly for some 5,000 miles without sighting land.
Starvation overtook the yacht’s com pany and Thompson died on November 7, being buried at sea. Conly (master of “Wing On”) died on November 13 and his wife about November 23. The sole surviving member, Mrs. Fern Thompson, after being rescued, was taken to Labasa Hospital, gravely ill.
An attempt will be made later to sal vage the yacht.