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THE ALBATROSS MESSENGER The
New Zealand Marine department recently,
received from Downing-street a
'' translation of extracts from a report of the
lieutenant commanding the transport La
., Meurthe, to the captain commanding the
French naval division in the Indian Ocean.
;' The vessel La Meurthe, it will be remembered,
was sent in search of 13 French sailors,
< refugees from a wreck on the Crozet Islands,
and who had made their whereabouts known
by the experiment of setting free an alba
' cross with a tin collar round its neck bearing
brief records of facts, the bird having made
its way to Fremantle, West Australia, where
it was found on September 23, 1887, ina
. dying condition. The New Zealand Marine
department, in a recent issue of the Gazette
of the colony, published the documents received
from the Home authorities as follow
:
Sir,- . . . But first of all I must in
any form you of the principal object of my
_ i voyage,, the search for 13 shipwrecked
Frenchmen, and inform you that I regret
that [ have returned without them.
The shipwrecked men were no longer on
the islands when I arrived. I say " no
- longer," because they had lived there for
seven months, and the department was not
wrong in supposing that they were the crew
of the Tamar's ; but they must of perished
in an attempt which they had made to go
from one island to another in the group, is
, they have not been picked up by a vessel.
Here is now the absolutely exact particulars.
I extracted them from a letter
signed 'Major, captain of the Tamar's,"
~ which I found on Hog Island on December 2.
or " The Tamar is, a three-masted iron vessel
., belonging to Bordeaux, ran on Penguin
- Island, in a thick fog, on March 9, 1887 at 2
a.m. She struck about three miles from the
south south-west end of the Island, and the
. ' crew were saved and directed in two boats to
Hog Island. They reached it on March 11,
having only had time to get from the ship a
little water and 300lb. of biscuits."
Hog Island represents the most desolate
aspect which one could imagine, so that
the joy of the. shipwrecked men must have
.,, been very great when they perceived on that
desert land a hut, and in the hut the provisions
and clothing left by the English man-of-war
Corners in 1880.
' They lived on Hog Island from March 11
: 4 to" September 30. It was this island from
which, on August 4, flew away the albatross,
- on the neck of which one of the shipwrecked
men had hung a tin plate, having these words
on it: "13 shipwrecked! Frenchmen are
refugees on the Crozet Islands August 4."
The albatross had flown to die on the shore
of Fremantle (Australia), where, it was seen
on September 22. But nearly at the same
time, when the presence of the shipwrecked
men was revealed in a surprising fashion,
they, having exhausted the means of living
on Hog, Island, had decided to proceed to
Possession Island.
Here are exactly the last sad lines which
ended the letter of Captain Major, "Seeing
. food diminish, those unfortunate men have
supposed that on Possession Island they
would find as much as here, as would enable
them to await the summer, when they hope
'! that some ship may come to pick them
up. Those who read these lines are besought
to instantly come and see on Possession
Island if those unfortunates still exists, and
to make known this writing to the French .
Consul at the port to which they go. Hog
Island, September 30, 1887. (Signed) P.
. MAJON."
When I had this document I no longer
doubted of the success of my enterprise. I
. knew that there was plenty of food on
Possession Island, but what was my grief
when I found intact at Possession Island, the
provisions left by the Comus in 1880, nothing
having been touched.
? Afterwards I visited all the islands and
rocks, and on no part could I find a trace of
1 our countrymen. . December
13. To-day anchored at Hog
Island, where I had resolved to establish a
depot of provisions. I have placed in the hut which
is now absolutely full, 1,020 kilos of
preserved beef, 500 kilos of biscuits, 40 kilos
of sardines, 20 blankets, 19 pairs of shoes, 15"
cloth trousers, the whole well packed up in
27 cases and three casks clothing. I have also '
put in the hut two spades and two axes for i
~ use in killing albatross, penguins, and, above
' ball seals and sea elephants. In the hut' will
be found saucepans, and certain utensils I
which I have naturally left at the entrance to the
hut, and also, where it is conspicuous, I
j,; have hung a board on which is painted in <
French and English, the following words :
"These provisions have been lefty the
Meurthe for the use only of shipwrecked ,
,, crews. Fishermen must not touch them.
BICHABD Foo." I
$