AROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 233, 1 October 1932, Page 4

AROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP OF THE PORTS. THE WRECKS OF A CENTUBY. INCIDENTS IN 1913. (By LEE FORE BRACE.) Barque Albert.—On April 8 a heavy southerly gale drove all shipping in Napier Harbour to the safety of the open sea. The barque Albeit, moored in the inner harbour, broke adrift and crashed down on top of several fishing trawlers lying there, doing extensive damage to hersclt and everything she came into contact with. Sα Whakarna.-On February 10, during this vessel's voyage to New Zealand, there was an outbreak of fire among her general cargo stowed in the shelter deck. ine vessel was between Las Palmae and Capetown at the time. For several hours all hande fought the flames, being spurred to great effort by the fact that over 200 tons of high explosives was stowed in the immediate vicinity of the flames. Atter many hours the flames were subdued, but extensive damage was done to the cargo, and to the vessel's fittings in the immediate vicinity of the fire. No one was injured. Ss. Manaron—Stranded on a reef near French Pass, in the Cook Strait, on April IS With the rising of the tide the vessel was backed off, and when it was found ■that ehe was making water very rapidly ehe was beached on D'Urville Island. All the passengers and crew were safely landed. Tainui In Collision. Ss Tainui.—When homeward bound from New Zealand she collided with the s.s. Inca on May 16, when a short distance off the Spanish coastline. Both vessels were seriously damaged, the bows ot the Tainui being etove in lo the collision bulkhead, causing the vessel to sink down forward until her propeller was almost on the surface of the water. Wireless culls were sent out, and the R.M.s. Garth Castle, of the Union-Castle Line, being about a hundred miles from the Tainui, hurried to her assistance. The Tainui had over 200 passengers on board, but the weather being fine no difficulty was experienced in transferring them to the liner. The crippled ships, both of them only able to make about two knots an hour, proceeded into the coast, the Tainui reaching Corunna safely, and the Inca reaching Vigo in a sinking condition. By good fortune the sea was like a millpond when the accident happened, and it continued eo until both ships made port. Had it been otherwise another great maritime casualty would undoubtedly have been recorded. Insurances amounting to £320,000 were on the Tainui and her cargo.

S.s. Inga.—When proceeding outwards from the Northern Wairoa. River on May 29, this ship took the wrong channel near Tokatoka. She ran on a reef o£ rocks, and a number of her bilge plates were torn open. The timber cargo in the vessel kept her afloat, and she was berthed at the Aoroa wharf and repaired. Tug Toanui. —Sailed from the Clyde on May 14, bound for Lyttelton. During a deuce fog she stranded on the Seven Stones Rock<?, a short distance from the Lizard, at the entrance to the English Channel. All hands were lost. This vessel was built for the Gisborne Sheepfarmers' Freezing Company, and at the time of the disaster she was under the command of Captain Sewell, the company's marine superintendent. S.s. Indrabarah. —Stranded on the morning of May 10 on Rangitikei Beach, almost on the exact epot where the ship Hyderabad struck in 1879. The Indrabarah and her cargo were valued at over £250,000, and desperate attempts were made to salvage her. Operations were commenced immediately after tho stranding, but it was not until July 0, after being 58 days on .the beach, that the big vessel was refloated. From the time of the stranding her freezing machinery was kept going, and it redounds to the credit of her master, Captain Hollingsworth, that not a carcase of mutton wae lost. About 200 tons of tallow and flax were jettisoned from her forward holds in order to lighten the vessel, but this was all recovered and reconditioned. The salvage operations cost only £20,000, and the saving of the Indrabarah was considered to be the greatest marine salvage job of the year.

Barque Clan Macfarlane.—When bound from Noumea to Hamburg with a cargo of nickle ore she was dismasted on August 2. The fore and main topmasts went by the board, smashing the bulwarks in their fall. A course was made for Auckland, where she arrived on August 24. The Clan Macfarlane, at the time of the accident, was under the Norwegian flag. No one wae injured. Wreck of the Devon. S.s. Devon.—When steaming out of Wellington Harbour on the night of August 25, she stranded during a strong southerly near Pencarrow lighthouse. Very heavy rain wae falling at ■ the time, and great rollers were coming up with the gale. As soon aa 6he etruck ehe was swept from end to end, but the crew managed to obtain some shelter on the forecastle. The Devon's distress signals were seen by the watchman on the e.e. Delphic, which was lying near Somes Island. Assistance was at once eent out to the stricken vessel, and a party was sent overland with the life-saving apparatus. During the following morning communication was made with the ship, and all her crew were landed by means of the breeches buoy. The Devon became a total wreck, but no one was injured. Barque Okta.—When bound from Port Yukon, Tasmania, to Falmouth, England, she stranded on Stirling Point, near Bluff Harbour, South Island, on September 18. A tug was sent out by the Bluff harbour authorities, and all hands were eaved. The vessel became a total wreck. The Okta struck on exactly the same spot as did the s.s. Scotia, the barque Maid of Otago, and the Pelham. S.s. Tyrone.—When bound from Lyttelton to Port Chalmers she ran ashore on Wahine Point, a ehort distance from Otago Heads, on September 27. She carried a crew of 70, all of whom were rescued. This vessel had just been purchased by the Union Steam Ship Company, but had not been handed over at the time of the disaster. Her 3053 fell on tho Houlder Line. Barque Amaranth. —Totally wrecked on Jervis Island on August 30. The crew made a safe landing, but on finding little water on the island they landed a quantity of coconuts. In two of the lifeboats they set out for Samoa, where both boate arrived safely after a very strenuous passage of thirteen days. No one was injured. Barque Northern Chief.—On October 29, when on a voyage from Auckland to Sydney, she was etruck by a great eea when in the middle of the Tasman. Considerable damage was clone to the vessel's deck fittings, and two men were swept overboard. A boat was launched and every attempt was made to effect a rescue, but the unfortunate seamen were never eeen again. This instalment of the Wrecks of a Century completes the first series. The second series, dealing with the marine casualties between 1813 and 1863, will be commenced at an early date, and will cover every maritime incident from beginning of New Zealand's history. The maritime casualties of the Great War in relation to the shipping of the Dominion will also be dealt with in a special series. "Lee Fore Brace" thanks the many readers who have written to him pointing out minor errors in his first series. Corrections have been made where required, nnd due acknowledgement will be made of this service when the "Wrecks of a Century" are published in volume form.