1937-04-12 — Page 10

10

T

HE cargo boat Tre- vesan, Cornish by name, Cornish by

home port-St. Ives-lay on the other side of the world.

She was

ten days out of

Fremantle, Western Aus-

tralia, bound for Antwerp,

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH. MONDAY,

APRIL 12, 1937.

THE TREVESSA EPIC

Retold by

Guy Ramsey

crossing that desolate reach |=|=|=|=||jo|if|

of the Indian Ocean where there is no land for 3,000 miles: from the western coast of Australasia to the Mauritius group.

kenturm.

Sho had been over-akin of the ship, weighed her down. hauled recently at a cost of £36,000,, Her action was laboured and slow.

ord his cargo of zinc concentrates, mast-head At Port Pric, where he had taken Darkness fell and the lights of the wavered and tossed, whose weight compared with water describing fantastic patterns against was heavy and whose consistency the slate of the Aky was that of half-set cement, minor

Viiso

Through the shifting ranges of the repairs had been carried out. A sen Lowered one peak, set like couple of rivets were "weeping Everest among the quiet hills of letting water through. They had Wales. Sheer black sides like On the bridge stood her master, been patched up with cement that Everest's fee; form topped making his first trip in command of was fully set, her, Captain Cecil Foster, a man of 36, who had held his certificate since 1010 when he was 23; an old em- ployee of the Hala

Steamship

Company, Ltd., controlled by the

P. & O. He had been First 'meer

Everest's

snow;

Algantic, liko Everest's bulk. Everest is mught enough with, awe, but moving, Everest, an Everest rushing at you' In the

darkness with n speed apparent only by the mountain's come growth, nn Everest turned to a

he blessed his now

The wind

ND

care.

thresh of

of the Trevose during the war, End ravening from the south-enst: the fum, perpendicular height

the prevailing

down

her torpedoed under him, been steady pleked up by the Union Cantle Trudes, risen suddenly to ale force into horizontal

er Alnwick Castle, which in turn The about him as though some headlong at

water. oily and

and menacing drive, and striking

But the war was over. His ship, of 5,004 tons, was a good ship. She behaved well in any weather, for all naturalised Briton: she was only a she had been the German Im- Inden In No. 1 Hold, close to the

by

the

wall that

on.

had been torpedoed, and had drifted heave

turning metal for 1 weary days in an open bont kraken were twisting and until he landed, weary, exhausted, in death agony below. Higher ran alone protects you!

the Spanish the waves and higher. The oily but not broken, on

The ship, struck erests began to sprout caps of fonmi. coast.

the rushing The sleek texture of the Indian Ocean thinned beneath the lash of the wind, waterhill, stagger

The Trevessa rode it, but the

ed, shook, shivered soggy mass of her

went £76,000 cargo, and

But her prow rode lower, her stern higher in the sea. Her two port boats were carried away. Across the screaming of the gale, deep, omin- ous, came a boom; low in timbre, fer- rifying in quality,

OUR BRITISH CROSSWORDS

1120

ACROSS

no

1. When poets complain of being this, it's as poets, and not us householders, I'll bet a ha'penny, This bell has no clapper.

9. Gentleman of colour not ad-

mitted to our circle..

11 Answer this!

.12 It was a great Victoria joke to Bay that two of these made a flower.

13 River that causes movement In

our little street.

.7

14 No Hun loses his head in this

sort of thing

17 Fished after tea and got all tied

up in consequence,

10 Arm of the sca.

20 Perfect darlings.

21 Merely an incident."

23 "What hides the helps?" said

24 smart repartee, herself.

26 One of the metals in brass.

29 Polar zene (hyphen 3-4). 30 The Bower that has a rosente alternative (two words, 3, 4).

'31 His isle is Mono's, also.

32 Motion read and amended with-

out heat.

2 Skittle.

DOWN

3 Smooth enough to be put in the

sty for a large number.

4 Blue already and might turn

quite sour.

5 Prescribed portion.

0 More likely to be appreciated

by Brown minor than by the car-driver (two words, 4, 3).

7 Saddle-bags? (two words, 6, 8).

120

114

6. Italian truism I take to make an

ethical theory,

10 A flying member of the Institute.

15 Lax-not locks, though it might

bc.

16 Prairie

in South America, homely-in-the. United States. Commented at length, yet scant, Indeed.

18

20 For some reason or another, this is always high when people go away in it.

22 Great river of great service to

croosword mongers.

25 Where Gaston siceps when

lighted up.

27 Ray

28 Hus tea? Have, really, nowa-

days.

Saturday's Solution, SUPERSEDING CAP UNGDRE RAB HOE MTMIC 87EMITAMB #THBAND LEARNS PEPLUMAGE ARGEO A GUE EI SCREEN NEMA SE AND HENRI DUPLEX G-PENCIL

EFERONIMP=R-ON I MORION.A-M÷ADIT

OWANE ACTUANDEY NATADE HT HE 1D BEMI UNEVEN UBERENARN" B-

MK EMBELLISHES

SWEDISH EAST ASIATIC

M.S. "SHANTUNG”

M.S. "CANTON”

CaLtoy

1st May 28th May

HONGKONG to ANTWERP

£54

(Excollont accommodation - still offering for a limited

number of passengers.)

Agcats:

GILMAN & CO. LTD..

Hongkong.

E. KUYGEN,

Canton

the sound

sound of water,

THREE

IN

The Trevessa's boat which was railed across 2,100 miles of ocean in 25 days.

that the gusts of rain that sent drops on to their unshaven, stubbly cheeks and jowls might trickle down Into the cans they slung below their throats. They left their socks lying by their aldes, to squeeze a few rain down their parched

s strove to lower the sall and by the time me they had washed the salt from the

Jeton, Water in it; but

canva

Their

canvas tho shower had

and stopped. foot, unsocked, dabbled in the at the bottom of the boat, The salt scorched them, · The salt caked on their checks and burned like fire. Their strength ebbed with every passing hour. They could not esu- mate how near they were, how far they were.

WEEKS AN

OPEN BOAT

but pent like a r, not rushing free,

WOS

(15

a padding beast grow-

ing angrily for its prey. The boom broken by a slipping, a grating: if woodwork were allont and scraping against the ship.

The keen ear of the officer on the

watch caught the sound. Soundings were taken. There was water in No. I hold and it could not get away. That shattering impact had torn a hole in the plates, forcing metal from metal, rending nsunder the metal rivets that held them together.

And the water could not be forced through the cargo into the bilge where the pumps could get at it I remained, locked in the for'ard hold, ever adding to the weight of

the cargo the weight of a constantly

being the story of the origin of the bi-annual Trevessa Trophy event for ships' life-boats, held in Hongkong, The trophy was won last week by the Indo China Steam Navigation Com- pany's Mausang, whose two lifeboats gained first and second places.

increasing bulk of water forcing was not the time to wait.

upwards, Another wireless

the

Wha

ON the other bont their

rations were two table- spoonfuls of water and half a biscuit per man per day. Once, trying to lower the sail to catch water, ono man fell overboard. He sunk like a plummet before the boat could even be turned round.. Once a pilot. fish. awam at the bows, a shark at the stern of the boat: sure sign of death by seaman's superstition. The omen was fulfilled; one man died of ex- Hosure that night.

u

Smith pored over the "Epitome

boat was one-third of Navigation" which he had snatch- ed up from his cabin when he went of a cigarette tin

to get his coat. By seaman's trad!- of water per motion, knives were stuck in the mast per day; one lidful

to avaid disaster. Their feet, blla- of a un of con- tered, their faces seared, their bodies densed milk twice wasted, they yet held on: raising a a day

one biscuit per day. As the raising a cheer, hearing the First the song to echo over the trackless waste, stores of cigarettes

dwindled and the Officer spy: "In a month you'll bo tins emptied, each telling this story and getting beer

was given his for the telling."

man

"mug" to be pass- Men died: of exposure, of strain, ed up to the Cap- of losing all control and swilling tain to be given brine to allay for an instant the his ration.

agonising thirst that ravaged their throats to burn with a more For the first five furious heat the instant the actual days the biscuits wetness had gone and only the salt could not be caten: remained. they were

they

hard;

were

Two men in Foster's boat: eight that in Smith's. The crews shifted them And no one was going to waste single mouthful of nectar to wash over the side us the officers read the down biscult, and get it absorbed in burial service. They wavered from the cloying maes of flour. That was their, course, ran too far north, too to be rolled on the tongue as Lucul- for south, fought their way back lus never rolled his choicest Fates through dirty nights and days so nlan; to be savoured na.no epicure calm that their only progress was by

to-day lingers over a thimbleful of oar on June 20, a cracked voice

Napoleon Brandy.

The compass-a spirit compass in Foster's bont shouted "An'.... was of no use: the boat moved to

to 'An'!"

port or starboard, her nose waver- No need to be an interpreter: that ing from side to side like the head croak was "LAND!" The sharp- of a drunkard, too quickly. Ono eyed man was given the promised day, a seaman, mad with the thirst reward: one tin of water. They beat that devoured him, smashed it and towards the land from noon until drained the bubble of alcohol-burn- dusit. The coast was fringed with

contained.

but the providence that had

Ing spirit that scared his throat sustained them did not desert them:

THE

11

boat, quarantined for plague, lay Gretry, off the coast. Constable "aboard"une"Secunder, saw them, ROVE

the alarm.

A the captain ordered out They left none too soon, axia sady pulse of the wind; Creole she man, wn boat feebly the boats and Issued life-belts. The minutes after they had swung down with and defeating-uie steady sailors possess; that sixth, or, seventh that had covered 2,100 miles in 25

"old you see once.

of

on the

the bows down, down until they. The Trevcan broadcast the 5 OS. sent "Afraid further search useless. threatened to lead the ship to the It reached Western Australia and Not much hope at finding Trevessa's

compass was no loss; bottom,

was relayed to Britain. The nows- boats. Gale blowing."

Boats put out, piloted them ashore, papers carried a tiny paragraph Another short paragraph appeared

Foster ahead and Smith on the island of Rodriguez: 1,700 ship chronicling the news. The two star in the London newspapers. There behind steered by the stars as the old miles from the place where the board boats left and hove-to under was a flurry of excitement at Lloyds, mariners steered; by the sun-he had find foundered; covered in 23 days.

Two days later, on June T 1 am. on June 4, 1923, sea-anchors to wait for daylight. There was a clutch of terror at the a sextant by the drift of the sea

slow certainty of death warring above all, by that instinct that true beating its way to Mauritius: a boat discipline was not the iron discipline into the boiling sea, the Trevessa

days: Smith's boat. Once ashore, all sense that guides them aright. compulsion but the resilient steet dipped her nose once more into the hope of life. -And

save one: Cool strove to discipline of perfect confidence and sea, rallied,

They made chutes of cardboard bands recovered regain her

their chins Allchin died on the strand. perfect co-operation. At 2.15 in the balance, tottered, and plunged. Bounty"? Have you read the story and slung them under morning, that icy hour when the The Trevean, the Tregenna, the of the immortal Bligh, the stern, spirit of man

is at its lowest ebb, Moreton Bay steamed over the track ruthless, sadistic, Captain Foster gave the order of sea within the next few days, who was yet so consummale a sea-

chip." Abandon for-a-rescue: the They found fragments of wreckage, man that he brought his company, SOS had gone out earlier in the tragedy-an upturned boat Inbelled no trace of his evil

qualities night, Hiving the position 28.45 S.S.

Trevessa. They found nothing throughout that nightmare journey? South, 85.42 East. It had been re more.

Did

think such epics belonged ceived by the Runic, hundreds of For two days the Trevean zig- to the past, to the days of sali, lo a miles away; by two other ships then zagged about the empty, heaving justier age 7 You were wrong. unknown, later found to be other sea, patrolling, looking, searching Here was no Bligh, tormenting his ships of the same company. The the surface, scanning the horizon for crew, plifering their pay, ordering in Tregenna was 350 miles away and the boats. They saw the illimitable a cold, quarter-deck voice hideous could make but @ knots: the Trevcan waste of water, the tossing, flying penalties to gratify his own sense was 272 miles to the South. There spray, and a boat floating Reel- importance and his own passion for

NYK

San Francisco via Shanghal, Japan Ports & Honolulu.

Tatsuta Maru

Asama Maru

Chichibu Maru

Tues., 20th April Wed., 12th May Wed., 2nd June

Scattle & Vancouver (Starts from Kobo),

Hiyo Maru

Holan Maru

Hikawa Maru

New York via Panama.

Noshiro Maru'.

Nako Maru

Mon., 12th April ́ Mon., 3rd May Mon., 24th May

Sat., 1st May Thura, 13th May via Japan, Honolulu,

South America (West Coast)

Los Angeles, Mexico & Panama,

+Atago Maru

Helyo Maru

.Sun., 25th April

Thurs., 13th May

London, Marseilles, Antwerp & Rotterdam.

Hakone Maru

Suwa Maru

Fushimi Maru

„Sat., 24th April

Sat, 8th May Sat., 22nd May

Liverpool via Port Said, Beyrouth, Istanbul, Piraeus,

and Marseilles.

Toyooka Maru

........ Sun., 16th May Sydney & Melbourne via Manila & Ports.

Kitano Maru

Wed., 24th April

Bombay via Singapore, Penang, & Colombo,

+Máyebashi Maru

Tokushima Maru

Calcutta via Singapore, Penang

+Genoa Maru .;.

Tsushima Maru ....

Shanghai, Kobo & Yokohama.

Hakozaki Maru

Kamo Mary (Direct to Torukun! Maru.....

t Cargo Only.

Wod., 28th Apr. Fri., 30th April & Rangoon,

Mon., 12th Apr. Sun., 25th April

Fri., 23rd April Nagasaki) Fri., 23rd April

Tues., 4th May

General Passenger Agents in the Orient for the

דיק

CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE.

Tol. 30291,

you

demon skipper

cruelty. But here was a seaman, two scamen possessed of all his abilities and none of his faults: Cecli Foster and his first officer, Charles James Stewart Smith.

They had loaded the boats, `pro- visioned the boats, launched the bonts: three tasks on such

B

night to tax the most expert.

Now, to sall the boats. No hope of rescue on that deserted vastness of sca And to make land-well, 1,200 miles to the East, in the teeth of the gale,

lay Austraila; 1,750 miles to the west, lny Mauritius and

Rodriguez. Between boats and those. two land masses, one so huge, one so small It seemed impossible to hit

VIA

BY EMPRESS

HONOLULU

TO

CANADA, U.S.A., & EUROPE

.at Noon April 18th- at Noon May. 14th-

May 28111 June 11th

EMPRESS OF JAPAN. EMPRESS OF CANADA EMPRESS OF RUSSIA EMPRESS OF JAPAN Air-conditioned equipment carried on Trans-Continental Trains. Frequent Canadian Pacile Atlantic sailings from Montreal and Quebec,

It in the immensity of occan with down the smooth St. Lawrence Seaway, to Europe,

the instruments avallable on such a bont, was-Sea.

with

Forty-four men: seventeen the Captain; the balance with the Arst officer; two open boats; and the sca. The war was on.

ALL night the boats lay-to

together. All next day they lay-to, not daring to move; ball- ing, waiting, waiting, balling. At five in the afternoon they rigged a sail. At six a gust of wind carried It by the board. A tow-line run from Smith's boat to Fosters. They ploughed their slow way westward for an hour, two hours. At ten the British

tow-line was carried away by the ravening sea. Again they lay-to for

a council was

the night,

hehe

following

day

Yes, they would keep toge- The Captain's boat was the faster and led the way, then hove to to permit the other craft to catch up. When the strain of waiting grew too intense, the Captain's boot solte

sailed in circles round the Chief Omeer's.

council was held. It was decided that the boats must part: the Captain's to

make its best speed for Land and send help to the slower heavier-laden craft, As Foster holat- ed another improvised sail, the crew In the other boat raised three cheers, The boats, now rowed, now drift

At or was it eternity?-ones

Telephone 20752.

Canadian Pacific

TRAVEL A.-O. LINE

To AUSTRALIA, Calling at Manlin, Thursday Is., CAIRNS Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

CHANGTE-TAIPING

Stoamers:

(Oll Burners), FASTEST & MOST UP-TO-DATE STEAMERS IN THE SERVICE OPEN AIR SWIMMING POOL, ELECTRIC LAUNDRY, BARBER SHOP, SURGEON AND STEWARDESS CARRIED. Enjoy Your Leave in Australia and New Zealand. Hong Kong to Sydney—19 Days. FIRST CLASS FARE TO SYDNEY, £73 BFTURN

» LONDON (via Australia) from £127.15. (Australian Newspapers on fle)....

Due H'Kong Leaves H’Kong Leaves Manila Dua Bydnoy

STEAMER

CHANGTE TAIPING

In Port

16 Apr.

10 Apr.

B May

11 May

18 May...

21 May

6 June

CHANGTE TAIPING

8 Juna

15 June

18 Juno

4 July

·A·Aug.

ng with ren and wind, now salling, for crawled over the shifting surface of the sea. The ration in the captain's

9 July 16 July 31.19 July :

AUSTRALIAN-ORIENTAL LINE, LIMITED.

· Ballings subject to alteration without notice. Freight or Passage, apply to Butterfield G. Swire. Agents-Hong Kong- China Japan

Telephone 30332

Page 10Page 11