A SCOW WRECKED.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 144, 17 December 1908, Page 3

A SCOW WRECKED.

•LIVES LOST. [PKES? •XS'M'IATIOIS.J 'Al'C K LAND, yesterday. Tlie Ho:;i:ci>' correspondent at Jjeigh telegraphs in reference to the wreok of the crow Kia Ora, which Struck a reck off Kanaii Island on Tuesday night: — About midnight oir Monday, during the heavy gale that. raged, on the coast, the Kia Ora went ashore on a Kawau Island. Tlie solo survivor states that the . vessel struck about 12.15 in an in--tense darkness, and with a heavy sea Tunning at the tiihe it was impossible to sco tho bow Of tho vessel. The captain, thinking himself well clear of Kawau Island and wishing to keepof the canoe rock, altered .his course two points to starboard. Almost immediately afterwards the scow struck a submerged rock and was at •onco iswept by a huge sea which smashed her. against the rocks, carrying her' spars overboard. The cook was, jswept away by the same wave aid was never seen again. The yes- ' js'el 1 started to break- up and the captain: and his son, with the survivor, found themselves clinging to a rock which was being swept by occasional seas and a ceaseless spray. The tide wjjS; fjd-hng and solater, on they, were - less in danger of being washed off, but the cold wind 'and spray kept them in a '..state -of helplessness and misery. At. length,' when daylight broke, the survivor said he would riot stay there to be drowned by th© incoming tide. He struck out; for the shore, and after 20 minutes swimming he land«d ashore at the foot of the steep cliff fairly exhausted. He looked back after clambering up the cliff a little way, but could see nothing of the other two, either in the water or on. the rocks, and it can only be suTmised that they followed his example and tried to swim ashore, or were washed from their hold by a big wave.. They were not 'seen again. Tlie survivor climbed painfully up the cliff on what little precarious holding he could find and eventually readied a cottage where he was received and welcomed, and news sent in to Kawau Mansion, House. The survivor is naturally much exhausted, hut was reported well at the time tlie s.s. Kawau left the Island for Omaha. The vessel is broken into several pieces, one part of the hull being upside down, while the fore part is aslant inside the rode she struck and tho deck house is ashore further along.