WAIRARAPA INQUIRY.

Press, Volume XL, Issue 5755, 28 February 1884, Page 4

WAIRARAPA INQUIRY.

Iphbss association TB*ffl**[ tt i DUNEDIN, FeteMgSt The inquizj. Bβ Wairarapa **** e P*3» ' to-cfey. Tue fourth engineer an* vSL witasirees said they heard noaaW w vessels racing. ~ . ( Captaia Chatfleld was reeled* «f'E posed —I atopped off about hal£- an hour to land the V'-xfJSfe is no troth,ia the rumor that »*2SS?V : ■ race the Adelaide. We ' ordinary speed, and I euppoa* tM T i was doing: her beat to pace ue. I £?# orde» to let the Wairaiapa \ anything extra. We could see from the Adelaide all the «*t*?Kj baa. la the west cb&nnel .***&&& fengtha of water ie tb» eliould have had whew Wβ tflPfi, neTor spoke to the Adelaide, or »'»p It did not occur to mc to aat the Wjfi to keep the other side of Captain Cameron stated * h «'iff«&. would be requited to resftir ««* "TjinquiwwM to-morrow, wfien paeaeßgais etu* be taken at UanoaJn. > ■- «^"| The following bT*"%!i*'FSs£i taiaed bor the "I>aOy i from a passenger on bo"?* M»tt*!f> holdingan excellent P -Befoie we started there | eion that a hmmt down theb«M£Si&. placa between the w «*^f^p««^ffi|f sis.

fa_ter than the Wairarapa. We waiteaa. for tbe A&de r« When we etarted we h*l a «£«** of lengths. We had t_w running on ** Adelaide was then gaming Sightly. That a race was going on was S__i_fr__eable. Oa board the Adelaide they »-« coaling up at a great rate. The smoke from their funnel was getting more E_e * stream ef fire than ordinary smoke. " -O-r vessel, on t _•» other hand, shewed no am at extraordinary exerviona beyond the faesihat we had no electric light.all the „«tea_- power being utilised tor the propeller, w hen we got past the Gellibrand frigbt the Adclaiue was close npon us. •fhea she altered her course and steered to /the starboard, evidently with the intention .ot taking up the running that we had on the starboard side of the narrow eh .nnel, feat our captain did not budge, and then the Adelaide steered back again to the port _He ot the chancel. By this time the Adelaide had been coaling np to a terrific .extent, because she was belching out of her fnaxtel a continuous stream of flame. "We could hear the passengers on board j* the Adelaide holloaing and making «fl sorts of noise. The Adelaide again altered ber course, and for the second time fl mn towards the Wairarapa on thestar-Iw-rd side of the channel, but our captain «_ld not budge, and the Adelaide had to go back again to the port side. At this ' SmeKe were ntaring the Swan Spit light, and it was evidently the aim of the captain d the Adelaide to get the starboard run- ; -jug from the Wairarapa, as he .would thereby gain an advantage in turning an «Hk>w in the channel at the Swan Spit jjehr. For tho last quarter of an hour the 1 jSelstide had gained upon us, and when » •he la-t altered her course coidd not have I Lfeen more than half a length behind. Her j -Mines were working with a terrific noise," ] _ad_he was evidently making more steam '. *___ she could consume. We then raced together tor about half-an-hour, the fiSuners gradually lessening the distance j J Swreea their sides, 'i he captain of the < A-elaide seemed to be pursuing these ! ZZUicB as he was unable to take up our .' T_nniK©ii the starboard side, and he 1 tried to force ns on to the bank < 5 tbe channel. We ran like this Sr a «-_rter of an hour, the Wairarapa ] f__lle_di-g slightly. Matters had become ] s_t interest-..; and also exciting by this ] +__*, because many of the passengers ! 4_ZxA. the ste liners were getting too 2>n_t.e__- other, and they did not like StaJook of things. Then the Adelaide fell •stern _ Utile, and we thought she was _VS__{ is,but we Eoon found out that she TO«__ altering her steering, and was tteabutef-ta _.tt_- closer, evidently with i ifcsA^ot-*-vi_* us over to the bank or ] Soioar coarse. But she did sot succeed, _ad__dto_o back again to the port side. f_«_ sow ttmed to mc to be less than 3 tma ffr»*"» Ust-oce between the sides ot t A t t»o ste-mers, which were running ainost ia aline, the Wairarapa stiU main- ( iginmg a slight lead. By this time the ■ e__ite_tt-t "*-s very great. The passengers ; on board the Adelaide were shouting "Gil.as jour tow line," "Sent out your ] Xot-s-ah-na," and were behavingvery like i ht ot Co_ingwood fiat larrikins. The < Wair_r_p_ passengers were not making , a»y lood noise, or answering the other yassaagers, but everyone was taking a lirely interest in the proceedings. In the : osoki-g reom, where I was, many of the jisse-gers were very much agitated, and _a__y gentlemen hurried away to their c-i-_- to look after their wives and families, the general impression being that d» steamers were getting too close. Mjr =- own opinion was that we were "in for it, * because the bows of the steamers appeared to he towards each other. The Adelaide, however, sheered off, but she was $o close that in doing so her quarter struck I ■Store with considerable force. At this mqjnent a passenger from the Adelaide jumped m board the Wairarapa. He told us that there had been terrific excitement on board :"#_ Adelaide, that the coaling was kept _-_p at a great rate, and that they were .Jutting on relays of men _in ten -dnute turns, because the engine fireß -*ere so hot that they could not take 'laager turns. He said the reason why 1» jumped on the Wairarapa was that jhaiooked the biggest and safest steamer. ■*"*be»x the collision took place the passen-ga_|_u-hed all over our vessel. One man $j_W&a life buoy, and most of ns rushed tea*, starboard side to avoid splinters fri-rtttft spars. Some of the lady passenthemselves up todesp__f Sttanng hysterical cries and em- _*_«-_* each other. When the steamers itn«fct-e yelling and cheering on board .ta>.-J-d-.de suddenly ceased, and there ■aogwdto be a complete panic on board. Tke Adelaide at once dropped astern. We kept oa our course for a snort distance, and t__a plunged into a dense fog. We could Ite&r ti_e.tog bells ringing at Queenscliff, which was about two miles away. The captain then determined to anchor, and ' there was some little delay in getting the etebor ready. We were now in deep water, asd we suddenly saw the Adelaide bearing downoa our starboard side. She seemed to he coming straight into our bow. Our captain -.went astern. The Adelaide erosbed our bows at a distance of about fifty yards, and then disappeared in the fog.- When the Adelaide first came in sight a fellow passenger by my side exclaimed," Good *->'od, what does he mean; he ia going straight for ns," and \ thought so too. It may he that the captain of the Adelaide noticed us going astern, and did ! not think there was any danger. We could not see the Adelaide after she passed ns, but she was not far away, because we - could hear her making a most dreadful - noise aa she blew off her superflous steam. ! Throughout the race, and afterwards, the \ Wairarapa made no noise of the kind, but we certainly travelled at a great speed. I think we were going full speed ahead all > the time, and utilising ail our power. We xaa the distance between Gellibrand Point - asd Swan Light, twenty-one and a half ; sates, in one hour twenty-eight minutes, ; hotthere did not appear to be any extra-erdin-ry exertions, because I did not i notice a single spark coming out of her toad the whole time. On the other • *»nfl, the Adelaide was emitting a con- , tancaw stream of flame from her funnel, i ™ itaH_et__.es leaped twenty or thirty ■ "^WBWthefunnel. We lay at anchor three hours, daring which time t _PW_!_"»- gathered in knots about the j y» aBBM-flf the exciting events of the ' ?*yy*g- W course we were all very much 2r*g«V««d did not know if we had sus- ' There was some talk ■*M»-aeeaptain intending to go back to i ¥«■ When the fog lifted, about two , o doer lathe morning, it was found that -i •we ef the plates near the stern of J "j™ vessel were indented about three and the deck was slightly raised. ■ «o wt as I was able to ascertain the j *_* n w*js of the passengers, they seemed to - *«™* that our captain steered in a very ■ _80_ao_s manner, and exercised calm "udg- ' »?nt> and that on the other hand the cap- ' »n of the Adelaide acted with great «jrmg. Some men went _o fax as to say . "Whe must have lost his head. It waa ttrged by some of the passengers that when ■ Chatfield found the veflsela were j •owning so close, and that the Adelaide was ( ■|""s-_*varing to jockey the Wairarapa out of ■ «errm_o__g, he should have declined to ' , «ace farther; but it appears to mc that he was unable to withdraw from the contest : * that moment, and our only safety lay in • keeping the engines full speed ahead, be- i ***"-• had we slackened speed we would ■ *aye dropped into the Adelaide. We could : Ijetgo to the starboard because we would • wagr«__dedontheba___-f thechannel. ' J-. 8 ,?*?"■> nofc g° to the port because we ▼onld have crossed the bows of the Ade«ute, and she would then have run right My impression is that? ' §*«"» Chatfield behaved very weU -. jsr 6 ** Races between steamers going ■oown the bay frequently take place,' j "°* » is generally understood thafl s * race ceases when the steamer*! J J*»chthe Elbow in the channel at Swanr 1 because it then becomes s -Jjwjag to the narrowness of the S ferule of the port is that two outward i J[et__ls shall not proceed abreast in thd 1 <»»Mme_, and as the Wairarapa was tlu.; 1 «s«ng boat it was clearly the duty of thei i to fall astern when we were ins '• because had another vessel; *jee» coming inwards there would hay . *een no room for her to pass, and the -Adelaide would have been cut of her --S*^ 0 ?? 1186 - Weip ere hugging the bank •« l-ie channel as close as we could, and ■ JJn very shallow water. The race ■*et_a_ly contained after we passed the point, and the crisis shortly ■ ■* u *-rwsrds occurred. I should say the •race continued for ten minutes after we Jsaied the Swan light. i