Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), Monday 4 September 1933, page 2


OB Itf t BY CHARLEI CHAUVE' THE STORY- OPFiiE PICTURE SA NAM * -DUTRIBUTf.D BY UNIVERIAL PICIJ -

(Continued. i THIE rare visits from vessels are the greatest events of life for the Pitcairners. When a ship is sighted everything else can wait. '-Once ui wedding cerem'aly was stopped b? the cry, "Shii 0, Ship 0." Within five n inuti~, bride,.'bridegroonh, pans. tor, and the rest were half-way down to Bounty Bay. CIIAPTER SEVEN. As some steamer captains have threatened .not to wait if their boats.are not in sight, they have often: g6ne to,: sea with insflficient oardl??nsuflicient' petrol foertthe engine, or at night have shot thi? urf without. lantern or a compass to steer by. At times a life has been lost;.and all thpt the Pitcairners record book" will say is "Swept u :erboard and lost," or "Killed on the rocks at the landing, place," while on the same page one might read of the commercial result of this venture: "40 pumpkins, 20 pineapples, 25 cases of oranges and 10 bunches of bananas were exchanged for 6 bags of flour, 2 carcases of mutton, and a case of groceries." We were met on board our liner by Edgar and Fred Christian, the. former being the island's magistrate and the latter the elder in the church. So after a hurried greeting we were hoisted like pieces cf cargo from the big steamer into the Jocelyn, one of the large island whale-boats, which was weighted to the water's edge with its complement of cargo'and 50.imotley-looking islanders. ~'Losing' Losing' Island. The Jocelyn's engine refused to go, the friendly Ruahine had steamed away, a black squall was rising behind the island, and a terrific tide was sweeping us further out to sea. In the space of a few minutes the wind lashed the sea back to what it had been two days before. Great rushing curling waves would leap to form peaks of foam. One man worked frenziedly at the spluttering engine, while the others yelled at each other in a lingo of broken English and Polynesian, and through the shouting of the many captains canme the news that only one pair of oars had been placed 'in the

boat and that unless the engine could be started, it would be impossible to keep within sight of the island. Pitcairn had disappeared, and no one had brought a compass or, a lai. tern. An old islander said he could detelniie' the bearings when the squall"had passed to allow the :vcning star to show up, but unless the engine started or the squall ceased our only hope of rescue could come from the island the following lday. I failed to see how our crew could possibly keel) the Jocelyn afloat during the night. Young at Tiller. The man at our tiller was Arthur Young, a direct descendant of Mid. shipman Young. Ie had stayed by the tiller and, taking complete control of the crew, he turrned the oaut in the direction he believed Pitcairn to lie, and without a compass or the evening star to guide him, we floated blindly for a distance of ten miles, when Pitcairn loomed ahead in dark outline upon a murky background of heavy cloud. Lights had been lit at the Janding place, and .like firflies they twinkled and moved about as those on shore prepared for the beaching of the Jocelyn. Even during the calmest weather a surf rolls in at Bounty Bay, and every landing has its dangers, each boat having to wait its turn to ride on the back of an incoming surf. We moved in close to the great crags of the foreshore ; one stood out against-the sky like a huge Polar each incoming wave, boomed like a bear, and a large subterranean passage into the lava walls, filled with cannon, and sent a spray of white salt foam spurting to a height of 40 feet. A great fortress of basalt loomed above us ; the twinkling lights on the shore bounded to meet us, as a great roller lifted our .boat to its crest, and main, it carried us to the foot of the boat ramp at Bounty Bay. Strong, tau#ny arms closed about us, lifting us like helpless babes from the Joce1lyn, and many willing 'hands soon had all our baggage and gear safely ashore. (To be continued.)