THE COLLIER MERKSWORTH. ABANDONED AT SEA. NINE LIVES LOST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 9

THE COLLIER MERKSWORTH. ABANDONED AT SEA. NINE LIVES LOST.

The steamer Merksworth carried coal from Newcastle to Sydney, and was on one of her .regular trips when she met the gale. During the whole of Thursday night ,ahe shipped large quantities M of water from timß to time, the wind blowing with hurricane force. -

On Friday afternoon about 3 o'clock the engine room skylight was smashed in by | a heavy sea,, and the water rushed down into .the engine room. Things did not improve, and by Saturday morning at 1 o'clock the fires were out, and it was decided to abandon the vessel. They were then 50 or 70 miles out of their course. All on board took to, the lifeboat. As soon as they got clear' of the 'steamer the boat was completely swamped, and they all clung to her. About half an hour . after she turned bottom upwards, and they lost the cook and a hand named Anderson. During the night; the boat turned bottom upwards several times, bnfc no other lives were lost io that wii.

Campbell and George (the fireman) died in the boat shortly afterwards, doubtless from exhaustion and exposure. Tney threw the dead bodies overboard, and seme time afterwards three others ditd in the boat in the same way, including Captaiu Dj'ball, Mitchell (the first engineer), and Brinetead (bhe winchman).

Oae of the survivors (JohansseD) continues the story :—: —

"At daylight on Saturday morning there were only five of us lef t in the boat — namely, the mate, Anderson (the second engineer), Way, Van Kinscotf, and myself. At this time four of us wenb overboard for short intervals, leaving the second engineer, who could not swim, to bail her out. It took us about two hoars to get her baled out. About this time we sighted land at Morna Poinb, and the boat was drifting quickly towards it. On neariug the shore the boib capoizadiu the breakers. This was about noon on Saturday. At this time the second engineer was drowned, and I believe the chief tfficer was also lost ; bub there is just the possibility that he wa3 carried ashore ab some other poinb.

Way, Van Kinacott, and myself reached the beach ia safety."

The three men were completoly exhausted, aad lay all night in the ecrub. Ib was 8 o'clock on Sunday morning when thry were discovered. The steamer drifted for 10 hours, and sunk near Newcastle, from which port the lifeboat wenb out in order to save any life there might be on board.

Ib is often said thab trubh is ebrang^r than fiction, and many of tbe incidents of real life if embodied in a work of fiction mighb ssem highly coloured. A case in poinb is an occurrence that has been made public through the death of one of the parties to a strange cir.ipaefc. It appear*, from an account of the affair in a Home paper, thab a well-to-do bub eccentric Kentish farmer became involved in a prospective matrimonial alliance, and being pressed by his lady love" to have the nuptial knot duly tied, be promised to do so ?then a fine stack of wheat — his season's crop — was threshed. For 28 years the sbsck remained where it

stood undisturbed excepting that it had a fresb coat of thatch from time to time ; but ifc is not placed on record whether the lady sought: the aid of the law to compel her fickle lover to fulfil his part of the compact. In the end, bow* ever, Jobn Sweller, the owner of the et»ck, died, 1 , and as there were then no restraining circumstances, his ex-ecutors had the wheat threshed. In spite of the lapse of years tho wheat when threshed is said to have been in good condition';, A strsnge thing is that starlings used the slack wherein to build their nest?, and thus seem to have kept away ra.ti and mice. The report does nob state whether th« lady sought sclaca for her disappointment elsewhere after the death of her firbt swain, whom she appears never to hava released from bis promise. The Railway department has made provision for the widow and children of the lato enginedriver Barker, who was killed near Helecsville. The Minister has authorised a payment of £500 compensation, and the widow has been appointed pofctmietrens at Taupiri at at fixed salary with a free house.