THE ERROL WRECK

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2587, 23 August 1909, Page 5

THE ERROL WRECK

CONSULAR INQUIRY.

STATEMENT BY SURVIVORS

United Pnicss Assvjmateon—Cofyiugut (Received August 22, 5.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, August 22.

The Norwegian Consul-General has held an inquiry into the loss of the barque Errol, wrecked at Middleton Reef.

Johansen, one of the survivors, stated that the captain told him, just before the disaster, that he estimated the ship’s position as a degree south of Middleton Reef. No observation was attained for tw-o days owing to ,the weather being overcoast. No intoxicants were used, either before or after the wreck. The captain was /'a good disciplinarian. Several witnesses stated that Palmer, another of the survivors, had the cap. tain’s ring. Palmer, in evidence, at first denied this, but afterwards stated that Lawrence gave him the ring. He was in the mate’s watch at the time of the disaster.

Lawrence states that the ring was near the captain’s body, and he must have given it to Palmer. The witness (who had been left on the ship when the other survivors were on the reef) recounted the deaths, and stated that he put the bodies overboard when life was extinct, except the two children. They were missing in the morning, and their mother must have thrown overboard during the night, as the youngest was tied to a dead-eye with a strand of rope, though the mother was crying.