ANOTHER HOLIDAY SHIPWRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 158, 6 July 1899, Page 2

ANOTHER HOLIDAY SHIPWRECK.

THE PARIS FILED UP ON THE MANACLES. SIX HUNDRED SOULS SAVED. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, May 26, 1899. No holiday without its shipwreck .seems to have become the order of the day. At Easter we had the terrible Stella catastrophe, and now at Whitsuntide we have the wreck of the fine Atlantic liner, the Paris, on the Manacle rocks near Falmouth, where, last October, the Mohegan was "piled up" and many lives lost. Happily in the case of the Paris there were no fatalities thanks to the excellence of the discipline on board in a measure, but chiefly because the weather was eminently favourable to the work of rescue. Had a storm been in progress when the big ship struck the terrible scenes of the Mohegan disaster would have been re-enacted. The Paris disaster is inexplicable as that which overtook the China at Azalea Point in March, IS9B. When the Mohegan ran ashore the weather was thick, but when the Paris took ground at one o'clock on Sunday morning there was only a drizzling rain to obscure the look-out's vision. Moreover the Paris had no business to be anywhere near the Manacles at the time. We arc told that when the officers heard the look-out cry "Land ahead!" they were amazed and alarmed. No wonder; they had left Cherbourg seven hours previously, and ought by one o'clock to have been well out to the Atlantic. The only explanation that has yet been vouchsafed as regards the cause of the mishap is that a strong flood tide bearing on the port bow set the liner out; of her course. To accept such an explanation would of course be to convict the officer in charge of gross carelessness, for a glance at the compass would at once have shown the deviation from the course set when leaving Cherbourg. An inquiry will of course be held in due course, and meantime it is to be hoped that the dreaded Manacles will be equipped at once with' the lighted buoy with which the authorities promised to replace the present apparently useless bellbuoy when the Mohegan was wrecked. The Paris, which was commanded by Captain Watkin, and had a crew of 372 hands, left Southampton for Cher-

bourg en route to New York on Saturday. She had on board 386 passengers, and at six o'clock on Saturday evening left Cherbourg for America. At that time there was no hindrance to a good run down the Channel save for a misty rain, and all went well until at one o'clock on Sunday morning the cry of "Land ahead!" startled the officer. The engines were at once reversed, "but before her sped had apreciably diminished the Paris slid on to the submerged ledge of the Manacle rocks known as the Lowlands and came to a standstill with a very slight list to starboard. So slight.was the shock that many of the passengers were quite unaware of the accident until warned that something had happened by the cry of "AU hands on deck." As they hurried up from their cabins in all stages of deshabille they were met with assurances of their safety, and at no time was there anything approaching a panic on board. One lady passenger fainted, but the remainder behaved in

exemplary fashion. Captain Watkins had his gig launched and was rowed ashore to ascertain the position of the ship and to wire for the assistance of Ealmouth tugs. When dawn broke rhe passengers were relieved at seeing the shore and the beetling' cliffs of the Cornish coast and the life-boats od Falmouth, Porthoustock, and Coverack with a short distance on the seaward side of the Paris. The vessel was headed to the southwest, the reversing of the engines having put her broadside on to the rocks;. and but for the fact that the water was calm, and there was only a refreshing breeze a very different tale would have had to be told. As the rain ceased and daylight opened up the surroundings the passengers and crew were forcibly reminded of the dangerous ground upon which the Paris had intruded by the masts of the ill-fated Mohegan peeping above the water barely a quarter of a mile distant. When the captain returned to the ship it was imported that a large quantity of water was in the hold. All were ordered to leave by the tug Dragon, but beyond the" clothes ir which they were dressed nothing was taken out'of the vessel. TJie Dragor landed all passengers at Falmoutt shortly after seven o'clock; The following, personal narratives may be found of interest. One pas senger writes:—"When nearly all the passengers were in their bunks the steamer struck, rose a little, quivered grated over a solid substance, anc then came to a standstill, listing i little to port. The shock was such ai would suggest striking a derelict oi some ■ heavy object lying low in th< waiter so that it could run over afte: the collision. The possibility of thi steamer being on the rocks did no present itself to me, so perfect wa: my confidence reposed in Captaii Watkins. The stewards promptly aroused the passengers with cries o "All hands on deck by captain's or tlers." There was the usual display o individuality, some of the passenger rushing up in their night clothes others dressing appropriately for ex posure in the water or in boats, bu there was no panic. The sounding when the vessel struck was nin fathoms of water forward and four teen fathoms aft. The officers havinj made certain of her position the pas sengers were soon relieved of feai for the sea was calm, and had it beei necessary to take to the boats, th> disembarking would have been doir without discomfort. The i-ockets wer responded to by a boat from shor and afterwards from the coast guards." Mr Thomas Allen gives the follow ing narrative: —"I was in bed, feelin; ill at the time. I heard a gratin; noise and then a sudden hard thum; which shook the ship and she seeme* to stop dead. I began to listen am in a few minutes heard someone com ing downstairs calling 'All hands o: deck.' I thought there must be some thing up. I tried to feel for th electric light and to rouse my chun: who was still sleeping soundly. I: the hurry I pulled him down and h fell on his head. I went up the stair and they told us to get lifebelts. W

I went down and got ours. We were ! not allowed io go on deck again, but were ke.pt waiting on the stairs. Men. and women were coming up, some in their night-dresses and some without ' any clothes at all. There was no screaming. The people were assured | that there was no danger. We were 'kept on the stairs for about an hour, and during that time coffee and biscuits were served out to us. Then ■we got in the ship's boat and were taken to the steam tug, which brought us to Falmouth." :•, A Swedish lady writes: "1 was lying awake when I hoard a dragging sound and a shock and the engines stopped. I went upstairs and asked what was the matter. The steward said it was a rock. 1 could see the land quite plainly, and I thought the ship was stopping to take up passengers or something. I did not think ; there was anything the matter. I i went to bed again and stayed therefor half an hour, and the steward came down and said 'Get up.' 1 said 'There is my baby; don't wake him.' He said, 'If you want to save your baby get up.' * 1 dressed my baby and went on deck. We were mucli frightened, but there was no confusion."