THE LOST RIPPLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 188, 9 August 1924, Page 7

THE LOST RIPPLE.

LITTLE HOPE HELD GUT. IDENTITY OF WRECKAGE. DEFINITELY ESTABLISHED. EIGHTEEN ON BOARD. I SEARCH PARTIES ALONG COAST. (By Tele-graph.—Press Association. , ! NAPIER, Friday. 1 Advice has been received at Napier that two of the .Ripple's hatches and ten casks of dock cargo have been washed ashore at White Kock. twenty miles south of Flat Point. This, together with the finding of a ship a lifeboat and the dead body of a man, appear to indicate that the worst lias happened. Mr. Charles Cameron, of Flat Point, telephoned this afternoon that the boat and a body were found by a rabitter on the beach. The bo;;t. bore the name ''Ripple.' , and the body was that of a seaman. It is suggested that the steamer may have been running before the gale, which has probably now abated, at sen, and that the derelict boat and man's body may have been the result of an atloir.pt to communicate with the shore. The police are now organising a scsircli of the coastline for any other .signs of boats or men. The Richardson Company pay that there is no doubt about the identity of the lifeboat and the cargo coming ar.hore. The barrels were deck cargo, and may liavo been washed overboard. A Dangerous Coast. ! From Cape Palliser to Flat Point the coastline is low, with sandy, shingly beaches, rocky points extending at intervals some distance olf the shore, and rendering the whole stretch dangerous for anything navigating close inshore. The first landing is at Riddiford's station, at Toro, forty miles from Cape Palliser. Castle Point, twenty mile.3 further on, offers some shelter, but thi.s would not be of very much value in the face of the south-past gale which was reported to be raging along the coast about Flat Point yesterday and last night. As stated yesterday, telephone communication with Cape Palliser was I lost after the bare announcement of I the Ripple's peril got through. Had this connection been maintained it is possible that the Mararoa could have been advised by wireless of the derelict j steamer's position so long as the latter j ! remained in sight of the lighthouse. I The trawler Futurist, which is still I searching, may, if she picks up the Ripple, tow her on to Napier. As ne ; ther vessel carries wireless nothing will be known till the trawler reaches ' port, unless she can signal some sheep I station along the coast. The worst ot the storm now seems to have passed. Its full force was not experienced in the Dominion, the centre being off the coast, and it was probably of a very bad type.