SHIPWRECK RECALLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 255, 28 October 1930, Page 8

SHIPWRECK RECALLED.

LOSS OF THE WAIRARAPA. GREAT BARRIER STRUCK IN FOG. TERRIBLE COASTAL TRAGEDY. . ' (By A. McC.) ■ ■ ." . It was on Sunday evening, October 28, 1594, that the Union Steamship Company's 1783-ton passenger steamer s.s. Wairarapa struck a reef at the Great Barrier Island with the loss of 140 lives. The doomed .vessel left Sydney on Wednesday evening, October 24, for Auck-: land, carrying 230 passengers. All went well, and New Zealand was first sighted after breakfast on the following Sunday morning, Three Kings and also Cape Maria Van Dieman being seen. Then the weather became hazy, and, as the vessel speeded south, the fog became denser, and prevented sight of land and the taking of observations. The master, Captain Mclntosh, who had made the trip many times, shaped the usual course for Cape Brett, checking the (lista'nee every half hour on the patent log and making every preparation for the taking of sounding's if necessary. Darkness fell, and the old course was kept until 10 p.m., when it was judged that the vessel was in the vicinity of the Mokohiuau lighthouse. The- light, however, was not visible. The captain was on the bridge almost continuously, and seemed to have no doubt as to his whereabouts, for at the hour mentioned the course was altered to almost due south.. Full speed was kept up, the vessel being carried along at the rate of 13£ knots an hour. Awakened by Impact. Most of the passengers retired to bed at the usual hour, quite unconscious that the ship was steaming on to destruction. At midnight the watch was changed, and within a few minutes a black mass was eeen about ten yards distant, but before the order "full speed astern" could be rung out, the ship had met her doom. Then came the order "All hands on deck," and the passengers, clad in their sleeping attire, rushed on deck. Thn stewards and stewardesses, whose heroism was praised by the survivors, calmly bub quickly handed out lifebelts to all.

Qaptaiii Mclntosh kept his post on the bridge up to three a.m., and with him were several of , the passengers. Huge waves dashed over the bridge, gradually weakening ifc, until at the. hour mentioned it was seen to sway and finally give-way. All were then hurled into the water. , . ■ . Then commenced' for - those left & night of anxiety and suffering. The unfortunate people on the doomed vessel did not realise at.the time'that the ship had struck a reef at Miner's Point on the Great Barrier, nearly twenty miles out'of its usual course. At this point the cliffs rise to-a height of froin eight hundred -to one thousand feet and it was at the base of this precipice' that the ship struck. Huge, angry seas raced and swirled between it and the mainland. Ten minutes after the crash, the boat gave a tremendous lurch, smashing the starboard boats, and at the same time throwing nearly sixty passengers into the water. With" them went sixteen horses which had been stabled on deck during the voyage. The remainder of the night rang out with heartrending cries for help from those clinging to the wreckage in the water, while those still left on the ship were powerless'to helpThe dawn revealed to those still alive the full extent of the catastrophe. Less than a score were washed on to a ledge on the rocks,. while about forty were still clineing to the riggings. All around were the floating dead. The hull of the Wairarapa had almost disappeared V now, but the riggings were still alive with demented humanity. An Act of Heroism. The problem of how to get ashore was solved when an act of heroism was performed. An Aucklander, by nnmc wLeighton, climbed to the masthead ana detached a signal halliard, and with this the second engineer attempted to. swim ashore. He failed, but one of tne stewards accomplished the heroic tasfc He secured the line to the rock, then hand over hand along this thin line. all but two of those on the rigging managed to got safely across. The survivors woo had reached the rocks remained there during that day Tip till 4 p.m., wlien their hearts were gladdened by the BiSff 11 , of Maori canoes coming into view. They were then picked up and taken to tne native settlement at Copper Mine Bay, where they were very kindly treated bj , the Maoris. When the news of flic w«* reached Auckland the Northern Steamship Company immediately dispatcher the s.s. Argy'le to give assistance, ail" also to convey to the scene friends aiw relations of the- passengers.