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S.A. Pair Marooned On
Barren Island
MELBOURNE, September 18.
Cast away on barren Curtis Island, in
Bass Strait, for three and a half weeks,
after their yacht had been wrecked in a
storm, an Adelaide businessman and his
woman companion Here rescued by fisher
men yesterday afternoon.
The couple were:—Alex
ander Hay, 47 of the Bri
tish Hotel, Port Adelaide,
shipowner and wholesale
fish merchant, and Miss
Thelma Bennett, 35, of Pros
pect, Adelaide.
While cast away they lived ,
in a rock cave, keeping alive
chiefly on penguin and mut
ton bird meat, and signalling
vainly to passing deep-sea
ships and aircraft.
On August 16, four days after
leaving Port Adelaide in the 22
ton auxiliary ketch Miss Evelyn
bound for Sydney and a Pacific
Islands cruise, they ran into a
severe storm which wrecked the
vessel.
They put off from the sinking
ketch in a dinghy, rowed for 26
hours in high seas and landed
on Curtis Island, about 30 miles
away, with a week's hard ra
tions, water, matches, clothes
and flares.
Mr. Hay and Miss Bennet
were sighted early yesterday
morning from the fishing craft
Loch Lomond, out of Port
Welshpool.
The coxswain (Mr Edward
Ryan) saw green and red flares
being lit on the island shorty
before dawn. He called the
skipper (Capt. Peter Locke)
who pulled the fishing boat as
close as be dared to the shore
and asked the castaways if they
were in trouble.
They told him they were
marooned, and were near star
vation. At 2 p.m. Capt. Locke
put a dinghy over the side, and
two of his crew made the dan
gerous approach to the high
rocky coast.
Boots Torn To Pieces
They found Mr. Hay and
Miss Bennett tired, dirty
and haggard, and suffering
badly from exposure.
Mr. Hay's boots had
been torn to pieces by the sharp
rocks. A three-inch beard
covered his face, and his hands
were calloused and bleeding
from many cuts.
Miss Bennett was barefooted,
dressed in slacks and an old
army greatcoat. Her feet and
hair were in the same state as
Mr. Hay's.
The couple were transferred
to the Loch Lomond, and came
on tonight to Melbourne, where
they will rest for several days.
Mr. Hay said that he had lost
two stone while on the island
and Miss Bennett had also lost
a great deal of weight.
"I don't think we could
have lasted another week,"
he added. "We were able to
walk about, but we were very
weak.
'The hard rations ran out
after about two weeks, and
from then on we lived entirely
on penguin and mutton bird
meat. We also found a few
grubs in the undergrowth.
"We sighted many big ships,
but they were too far away to
see our signals. It was mad
dening.
"Last Wednesday week an
Air Force plane flew overhead,
and we tried to signal with the
fire, but it did not make any
impression.
Mr. Hay said that when he
sailed from Port Adelaide he
had cleared the customs. He
had intended to call at Beach
port, South Australia, Port
Fairy, Victoria, Port Welshpool
and then Sydney.
Police in Adelaide were un
able last night to ascertain
whether another person apart
from Mr. Hay and Miss Ben
nett sailed in the ketch from
Port Adelaide on August 12.
Nobody appears to have seen
the ketch leave the port, but
it is thought that it left in the
early hours of the morning.
Hay was reported to have re
ceived a clearance from the
Customs Department and he
and Miss Bennett also had pass
ports.
Mr. Hay's wife, who lives at
Kent Town, said last night that
she understood her husband
had proposed taking two busi
nessmen from Melbourne with
him, but she did not know their
names.
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