THE ISLAND HURRICANE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 29, 3 February 1905, Page 4

THE ISLAND HURRICANE.

JiURRiCANS AT NIUE. EXPERIENCE OF THE SCHOONEI YSABEL. A PERILOUS IiME. (From Our Own Correspondent.) VAVAU, January 23. The Auckland three- masted schooner ifsabel experienced the full force of the recent hurricane. Captain Koss reports; ■ "On December '20 sailed from Nukualofa : for Niue with general cargo, 14 horses' and 40 passengers. Experienced a aard and steady trade wind from the east, which lasted seven clays, till Niue was' , sighted, xhe wind then shifted to N.W., • oiowing right in on all the landings at' _\iue. Could get no communicatioa with the shore. At 10 p.m. on the 28tb . the wind suddenly shifted to S.E., with a rapidly falling, barometer. We thea stood away from the island with all sail we could carry. We did not get far. At 7 a.m. on the 30th our last storm sail had gone., and the hurricane was on us. It increased till 11 a.m., and' continued at its worst till 3 p.m. Barometer 2l)deg. At 3 p.m. the barometer began to rise, and the wind slowly abated, till at 0 p.m. it was the force; of a strong gale. Set a small storm sail at U3o,.and lifted the hatches. The" horses were all mixed up, but living. Two died next day. It is impossible to describe the horrors of this blow, with a ship full of men, women and horses, ■ or the misery of the ten days following trying to land them. We got back to the island next evening. On the 4th January the wind was steady from the north, but a sea came along from S.W.. almost as high as during the hurricane, indicating another blow somewhere tcthe westward. We finally got finished, and sailed from Niue on January 10, arriving at Nukualofa on the 14th. The Ysabel sustained no serious damage;-' the only boat in the davits "was blown ; on board, pulling the davits out of the rail. The wind, which was at east' at 7 a.m., slowly shifted round to N.E., ( N., N.W., W., and S.W. at G p.m. TKP blow affected the island very much.

"The blow has not afl'ected Vavau t nearly so much as Niue, although perhaps more damage has been done to wharves, boats and European property. The country here has suffered very little compared to the damage at Xiue."