ABANDONED.

BRITISH STEAMER. NORWICH CITY ASHORE Wrecked On Gardner Island; Crew Apparently Safe. SHIP RUSHING TO HELP. 1 (United P.A.-Electric Telegraph-Copyright) (Received 11 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. Badly holed and a complete wreck, the British steamer Norwich City, is ashore at Gardner Island, 600 miles north of Samoa, in the Phoenix Group. Her S.O.S. signals were heard at Apia, Samoa, yesterday, and the steamer Tron"ate is rushing to her aid. So dangerous is her position that the crew had to abandon the ship immediately. The Trongate was loading at Apia, on her way from New Zealand to Britain, when the call for assistance was received.

S.O.S. HEARD FAINTLY. "If Ship Holds We May Make The Shore." TRONGATE LEAVES APIA. The secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department yesterday received the following wireless message from Apia: — "An S.O.S. call was received from the British steamer Norwich City at 1.50 a.m. to-day. The signals were weak and statics were fierce. We were able at 3.20 a.m. to read the position of the steamer, which was 4 degrees 35 minutes south, 179 degrees 38 minutes west, Gardner Island, in the Phoenix Group, north of Samoa. He advised us: 'If the ship holds until daylight we may make the shore, but a heavy sea is running.' "No other stations appeared to hear his repeated calls, and inresponse to our CQ (all stations) calls we were unable to raise any vessel nearer than 850 miles to him. At'4.2o a.m. we advised him that we would try to get something out to him, and that the utmost was being done to get relief, to which he replied, 'Thanks.' "The signals then weakened, probably duo to daylight, and the last 'S.O.S.' call was received at 4.40 a.m. "The steamer Trongate, in port here, is now getting up steam, and will leave in about an hour's time for the wreck, which is about 600 miles from here. In the meantime we are calling CQ (all stations) to endeavour to get in touch with a nearer vessel."

Apia reported later that the Trongate left Apia about 2 p.m. to go to the assistance of the Norwich City.. There was no response from the Norwich City throughout to-day or this evening. "At 6 p.m. we ,got in touch with the steamer Lavington Court, who gave his noon position as 350 miles north-east of Gardner Island, and said he could reach Gardner Island at daybreak on Monday. We have passed this information on to the Trongate, and have asked the captain to arrange with the Lavington Court whether he wished him to proceed to the wreck."

The following message was received by the Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department this morning:—"The Trongate is proceeding to the Norwich City, which she expects to reach by daybreak on Tuesday. The Lavington Court is proceeding on her voyage.' "CRAB ISLAND." Scene Of Many Wrecks; No Safe Berthage. AUCKLANDER'S MEMORIES. Gardner Island is well known to Captain William Boss, Auckland's veteran mariner, who was ashore there 30 years ago, when he landed Mr. George Ellis, of Auckland, so that a survey might be made with a view to establishing a coconut plantation. The captain says the island provides no safe landing place. The north and western foreshore is bounded by a visible reef, over which the sea foams furiously. On this side of the island there is a lagoon, full of monster crabs and fish, of a variety easy to spear. The southern and eastern shores are inhospitable, offering no safe berthage. In all there are nine islands in the Phoenix Group, most of them only a few feet above the level of the broad Pacific. The islands have been built up through the centuries, pushing their way up 2000 fathoms from the floor of the sea. The precise position of Gardner is four degrees 37 minutes south, 174 degrees 40 minutes west, and it is 130 miles west of the neighbouring island of Hull. Steamers of the Canadian-Australasian Royal Mail service pass between Gardner and Hull Islands on the passage from Suva to Honolulu. Many vessels were wrecked on Gardner Island in the old days, the survivors dying lonely deaths. Captain Ross found mounds above the graves of sailors when he visited the island 30 years ago, but the skeleton of the last to die was nowhere seen. Over the whole island there is that brooding spirit of desolation which only uninhabited places have. No one would attempt to make Hull Island in an open boat, though there would be food there, in the shape of coconuts. The island is thickly wooded. Thousands of sea birds make it their home. The native name for the island is Motu Unga, meaning "Crab Island," a title conferred by reason of the outsized crabs which live in the lagoon. Of course, there are no animals on the island, which is unsuitable for plantation purposes, but it is over-run with dwarfed rodents.