MAROONED FOR THIRTEEN DAYS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2769, 26 March 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

MAROONED FOR THIRTEEN DAYS.

The crew of the London sailing vessel Deccan, which was wrecked near Cape Horn in December last, told a thrilling story of adventure and privation when they were landed at Liverpool by the Pacific steamer Orcoma.

The Deccan left Port Talbot with a cargo of coal last August. She was bound for South America, and had on board a crew of twenty-seven, including six apprentices. When the vessel was near Cape Horn the master, Captain Parnell, was taken ill. He was put ashore at Port Stanley, subsequently returning to his home at Portmadoe, where he died, The ship proceeded on her voyage, but encountered seas of tremendous violence, and was driven ashore on Mes Island. Immediately she struck, her mainmast went overboard, and, being badly damaged, the vessel began to fill rapidly. The men took to the boats with a few biscuits and some tinned meat, and the vessel went down a quarter of an hour afterwards. A landing was effected on the island of Tierra del Fuego, and here the crew remained marooned for thirteen days. The food supply gave out, and the men had to subsist on mosses and shellfish. Rain and sleet fell almost incessantly, and the~only shelter the men had was a tent made from pieces of the ship’s sails. In their explorations of the island the men found several lniman skeletons, indicating that shipwrecked men had previously perished there. At the end of thirteen days a sealer was sighted, and the crew were rescued and landed at Punta Arenas, from which port they sailed for Liverpool.