A TERRIBLE STORM

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 26, 31 January 1921, Page 5

A TERRIBLE STORM

THE STEAMER WAIRAU'S EXPEREENCE. (By Telegraph.—SpecUl to "Star."") WELLINGTON, this day. When a southerly gale is raging in Cook Strait it causes an ugly break at the entrance to Wellington Heads. A few years ago the Union Company's Nelson steamer was damaged by a heavy sea which swept aboard as the vessel made, the entrance. Probably extreme difficulty in getting out of the Strait into the shelter of the harbour, coupled with bad visibility in the early hours, accounts for the failure of those on the steamers Wairau and Baden Powell to see the Omaka's crew only a few hundred yards away struggling to save themselves, two on a plank and one on a 400-gallon tank. According to members of the Wairau'* complement, the Omaka crossed the bar about twenty minutes ahead of their own craft, which negotiated the entrance at about 11.30 pjn. Before long tbe Wairau overtook tije auxiliary schooner, whose sails were flapping listlessly in a gentle breeze about ten miles out. However, the Wairau encountered the vanguard of the storm, and a quick-risen gale set in. The Omaka at this stage, taking advantage of the changed weather conditions, overhauled the steamer with a nice turn of speed, leaving the Wairau to battle ahead with her engine power. Once the Wairau was fairly into Cook Strait the weather conditions became such tlutt that vessel, which carries a boom, had sail set on her aftermast in order to steady her. Now both vesesls entered the heart of the storm and made heavy going. On board the steamer the. experiences of the crew were unenviable. In the words of one of their number, an "old stager" with fifty years' experience !of New Zealand coastal waters, "We were being buffeted in the biggest sea I have ever seen in Cook Strait." On several occasions the decks of the T_se4 were awash, one particularly heavy sea. striking the little vessel near the bridge, swept aft to the galley, flooding it, and driving the cook to shelter, in addition to shifting a quantity of deck cargo. ATI this time nothing further was seen of the schooner Omaka, and it was naturally concluded that, running before the wind, she had reached her destination in good time. POSSIBLY SEVEN DROWNED. ALL WEI_INGTON RESIDENTS. fßy Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The body of Mariow. cook of the Omaika. was recovered last evening on Petone beach. There is some doubt at present whether six or seven persons were on board. Ail of those lost were Welling residents. Captain Purvis leaves a -widow and two children. -Mr. Weekes (engineer) bad a wife and four children, and Mt. Marlow had a -wife and three ohSdren. The Warrau's people say the Omaika had passed them when a gale sprang up, and they never saw her again. The sea was the bea-viest they had encountered, and they had a very anxious time themselves. THE SHIP'S BOY. The name of the ship's boy lost on the Omaka wreck is Cyril Thomson, aged twenty-one, son of Mr. F. Thomson, Government grader at New Plymouth. He began his seafaring career on the Amokura.