AROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 185, 6 August 1932, Page 4

AROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP OF THs£ PORTS. THE WRECKS OF A CENTURY. INCIDENTS IN 1008. (By LEE FORE BRACE.) Barque Locli Lomond.—Sailed from Newcastle, New South Wales, ou July 21, bound for Lyttelton, and was never heard of again. She carried a crew of 19, under the command of Captain J. Thomson. The Government steamer Hinemoa and several other vessels made a wide search for the lost barque, but all hope was given up when wreckage, identified as having belonged to the Locli Lomond, was picked up on the west coast of the North Island, 30 miles south of Cape Maria Van Dieman. On October 30 a lifebuoy with the vessel's name painted on it was found inside the Hokianga bar. How the vessel met her fate can only be conjecture, as she was ably manned and well found when she left the Australian port—just another mystery of the sea. The Loch Lomond was originally ship rigged, and with her sister ship, the Loch Katrine, was considered by many seamen to be the most handsome vessel that ever left the Clyde. She was built in 1870 by Lawrie and Co., of Glasgow.

S.s. Whnngnpe.—When bound from Wellington to Suva, broke her tail-shaft on September 18. A boat under tho charge of the second officer readied Suva five days later with the news of the disaster, and the s.s. Tofua was dispatched to her assistance. The Tofua picked up the disabled vessel on September 30 and brought her safely into port. S.s. Ngunguru.—Stranded on the Karamea Bar on September 25 and was totally wrecked. All hands saved. Schooner Zior.—Totally wrecked at Tatatu Point on October 1, all hands being saved. Barquentine Helga.—When bound from Wellington to Newcastle was totally dismasted in a heavy gale in the Tasman Sea on September 22. Jury masts were rigged, and by wonderful seamanship she was brought safely into port on October 12, no one being injured. S.s. Hawea.—Stranded on the North Tip Head when crossing outwards over the Greymouth Bar on October 30. She earned a crew of 26 all told, all of whom were rescued. Her cargo of 713.000 ft of timber was nearly all salved, but the unlucky Hawea became a total wreck.

Collision Off Dover.

S.s. Tongariro.—When passing the port 1 of Dover in the English Channel, bound ' for New Zealand, she collided with the j s.s. Drunlanrig on November 27. x>otn vessels were very severely damaged, flnu both had to be beached to prevent them sinking in deep water. The Tongariro s bows were stove in, forepeak flooded, and the water, just before the vessel was beached, broke through the collision bulkhead, and did considerable damage to the cargo in the fore-hold. The vessel was refloated after temporary repairs had been effected, and was taken on to London to have new bows constructed. No one was injured in the accident. Scow Kia Ora. —S trail <lea on Kawau Island, Hauraki Gulf, on December 10. Three lives were lost, including Captain Piercy and his son. S.s. Daldorch.—When leaving Auckland on December 31, bound for London, took the wrong channel when passing the Bean Rock lighthouse. She stranded on the Bean patch, but oil the top of the next flood tide she was successfully refloated by the officials of the Auckland Harbour Board. When tho vessel was subsequently surveyed it was found that she had sustained very little damage, but the towage expenses in getting the vessel afloat ran into several hundreds of pounds. The accident was caused by .the master of the Daldorch proceeding to sea without a pilot, compulsory pilotage not being in force at Auckland when the accident happened. S.s. Charles Edward.—Struck on the Wanganui breakwater on December 6. Immediately after striking the sea {jot up and drove the vessel under the piling of the breakwater. Her bottom was bilged, and the rising tide put out the furnace fires, rendering the vessel helpless. The steamer was abandoned, but no lives were lost.

Schooner Ururoa.—When making into Wanganui on December 18, the wind fell calm, and the schooner was anchored a short distance from the beach, near Castlecliff. During the early morning the wind came away very strong from the west, the vessel's anchors failed to hold her, and she drove ashore. The breakers soon got hold of her, and she became a total wreck. No lives were lost. The Rio Loge. Brigantine Rio Loge.—On January 7 this vessel sailed from Kaipara for Dunedin, and was never heard of again. Few vessels sailing the seas had a more romantic and interesting history than the famous Rio Loge. She was built regardless of expense in 1860 by Symonds, of Garston, for Lyle and Company, sugar planters of the West Indies, and for a number of years sailed between Jamaica and Bristol in the sugar and passenger trade. Later she traded between Mauritius and Lyttelton, being then owned by Messrs. C. W. Turner at the latter port. In the Mauritius-New Zealand sugar trade tli ere were many famous vessels, such as the Ocean Ranger,, Thurso, Gazelle and Alcestis, all of them extraordinarily speedy little vessels, perhaps the most famous fleet that ever sailed in colonial

waters, and it was recognised that the Rio Loge was the speediest of them all. On one occasion the Rio Loge led home the racing sugar fleet from Mauritius, covering the distance ill only 30 days, averaging over ten knots per hour throughout the passage, a record which still stands, the next best being nine days over the time taken by the little flyer. When the sugar trade with Mauritius died out, the vessel was purchased by Cflptain Spence, and for many years was engaged in the South Sea Islands "blackbirding" trade, running between Queensland and the Solomon Islands. Many tales are told of the methods used aboard the Rio Loge when "recruiting" her cargoes among the islands, and on two occasions the natives of the Solomon Islands made attempts to cut off the Rio Loge and capture her crew. At the commencement of her career in the "blackbirding" trade 6he was an extremely popular vessel with the natives, but this popularity was lost by a strange circumstance. In 19C3 she was fitted with internal combustion engines, the first vessel in tiie South Seas trade to adopt the innovation. This work detained her unduly at Brisbane, and she was a month overdue on hev usual run to the Solomons. Her agents there had recruited a full complement, and for many days the contingent camped on the beach of a lagoon at the island waiting the arrival of the overdue vessel. She wag seen far out at sea approaching the entrance with all sails furled, but still booming along with "a bone in her teeth." As it was a flat calm at the time, the natives could not understand the reason for the vessel's speed, and with one accord they fled to the bush. The recruiting agent's vocabulary was insufficient to explain the mysteries of tho internal combustion engines to the simple natives, and try as he might it was impossible to remove the "taboc" that was placed on the Rio Loge. She was a "hoodoo ship," and a "hoodoo ship" she remained until the cessation of the ill-famed trade.

" Something Tells Me."

For the last ten years of her career she was engaged in the trans-Tasman timber trade, and many well-known New Zealand master mariners' learnt their business aboard her. A strange circumstance was recorded in regard to her last voyage. When she arrived at Kaipara to load for Dunedin, Mr. T. Taigue (now Captain T. Taigue, of Auckland) was second mate in tho little vessel. When loading was completed at Aratapu, he decided not to sail in her, but could give no satisfactory reason for his refusal. "Something tells me to leave her," lie told Captain Spence, and leave her he did. A few weeks la/ter Captain Schutzc, in the Mary Ysabel, sighted a derelict bottom up in the Cook Straits, and from the description givec Mr. Taigue identified the vessel as the Rio Loge. his opinion and his reason for leaving tho ill-fated vessel being published in the Press. The complete story of the Rio Loge ie, without doubt, one of the most romantic of the sea, and proves the old adage, "Truth is stranger than fiction."