She Was Scattered

Far And Wide

From a Special Correspondent

Shaken and shocked, the three men—two of them naked peered out from the meagre shelter of a stunted ironwood e. Their eyes strained to pierce the darkness towards the l where the breakers roared.

r as hardly believable, but less tan an hour before they had >en sailing the 26-ft yacht net en route from French esia’ to Rarotonga Now, igh they did not yet know it, were on the island of Mitiaro. e Cooks The Margaret was ing up out there on a reef. three were Brian White (the ;r) and Trevor Young, both ckland, and Frank Sutton, an ihman who had been a mger” from Bora Bora. garet, with White and Young left Auckland on a Pacific at the end of May—l 2 months than they had originally ed. They had in fact been i a day of sailing the previear, with the stores aboard, White had accidentally put and in the chain drive, with suiting loss of three fingers, le postponement of the cruise, m finally they left in May voyage to Tahiti was marred orms and winds. But they lally made Tahiti, Moorea and Bora. They had left Bora with Frank Sutton, on Sepr 14. r days out on the night of nber 18 they realised that vas near. They soon expected the island of Mauke in the . When watches changed at hat night both Skipper White Sutton searched the starless for a sign of land—but none be seen. rtly afterwards, with the other Blow, Sutton was on deck with .rette in his mouth. Suddenly

he discerned a white streak, dead ahead.

By the time the others reached deck a reef was ominously close Without her mam sail the little boat refused to come up into the wind and in the next few minutes the Margaret, with a shuddering crash, had smashed on the reef.

"Rroarkide On"

Seas were breaking right over the boat; she came broadside on and she was being lifted bodily against the reef.

One big sea swept White and Young overboard. They were able to scramble on board again, There was no way of telling how far the edge of the reef was from shore. It was only 30 yards but this could not be seen, and the three men had no idea where they were, It was obvious that nothing could be done to save the Margaret. They cut the dinghy free and set out for the shore—wherever that was. They had gone only a few yards before they realised that the dinghy was not needed, and groping their way across the coral the three men, two of them naked and Sutton wearing shorts and sweater, made the beach So there they were behind the stunted ironwood tree at midnight wondering what to do next. They decided to return to the yacht in the hope of being able to salvage something—perhaps even some clothes. , , Within the hour they had made their way back to the yacht, which was now breaking up fast as she was lifted farther up on the reef.

The shipwrecked crew of the "Margaret" at their farewell on Mitiaro at the hands of the hospitable islanders, who clothed and fed them.

The photo was taken by Don Silk, skipper of the yacht "Patsy Jean", which picked the trio up. They are, from left, Trevor Young, Frank Sutton and Brian White.

i the big seas running there ared to be no chance of salvag anything or even getting on 1. washed-up blanket was divided een the two naked yachtsmen. 5 pieces of sailcloth found drift they wound around their feet, h had already been cut and ed by the razor-sharp coral, e party returned to shore and id miserably for the dawn, led together for warmth. Rain d to their plight.

"Little To Be Done" ere was little to be done at reak. All that remained of the raret were the keel, part of one the engine and the mountings, ous few oddments were to be :d up—the most valuable being astic water bottle, a tin of iw nuts, and a packet of prunes, eir island looked most in itable. It seemed possible that is inhabited, but by climbing lighest tree they were able to oconut palms some miles away, with renewed hope they made ree-hour march in this direc sharing out the water, prunes nuts. m they learned from some led native fishermen that the i was Mitiaro not Mauke as had suspected. the village, the three ship ped yachtsmen were given a i Polynesian welcome and food Nothing were soon found. Radio ict was made with Rarotonga where the island is admin id.

Rarotonga there was no local rnment ship available to make :un to Mitiaro, but the yacht i Jean, which had been in tonga from New Zealand for time, offered to make the 142trip to the island. Skipper was Silk. Patsy Jean left Rarotonga le Tuesday and was back there te Saturday. rotonga yachtsman R. Boyd, was one of the crew of the i Jean, reported: “We went to a look at the reef where the aret piled up.

Scattered Far and Wide search of the island produced antiquated bicycles on which irst half of the journey could ade, followed by an hour’s walk very rough terrain, lere, fluttering from a rocky op was a tattered Red Ensign ing the spot where a dozen es were diving with moderate ss bringing in tins of foodstuff )ther odds and ends. The chaos i greeted us was complete. Very remained on the reef, where Margaret had come to rest, but vas scattered far and wide, though the largest piece re ing was probably 12 feet long two feet wide, a section of

planking, most of her was in good firewood size. Our hearts bled for her and we were only too pleased to get away from that terrible spot and back to the village where a big farewell was arranged for the crew.

“They came ashore again and were presented with more gifts, wounds treated and speeches made while we ourselves were looked after royally, too, during our short stay.

“An impressive parade led down to the water’s edge and boats and swimmers accompanied the three shipwrecked mariners to the waiting yacht.

“The trip back was the sort that one reads in story books. A fair wind

and a calm sea made sailing a real pleasure, while with three extra on board double watches added to the picnic atmosphere.

“You can’t keep a good man down and White is planning his next boat —a bigger one, of course. Meantime they have lost everything. The yacht, valued at £1,500, was uninsured.”

According to unofficial reports from Tonga it appears unlikely that the new Nukualofa broadcasting station will be on the air before late in the year at the earliest. The frequency will be 1020 kc/s in the standard broadcast band.