WRECK OF THE TASMANIA.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9818, 30 August 1897, Page 5

WRECK OF THE TASMANIA.

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) GISBORNE, Aueust 28. The Government steamer Hinemoa arrived at Mahia at 7.30 on Saturday morning. She sent a boat ashore to pick up Mr Armstrong, the Government surveyor, who has been specially engaged surveying the locality for the Marine Department, and be directed the vessel to the position of the wreck. Mr Armstrong had, previous to the disappearance of the Tasmania, taken careful bearings froni the shore, and,* by means of flags he had put down, the Hinemoa was at once taken to the exact spot, being steered straight between the two masts of the sunken' Steamer. She actually sailed right over the top of thtf Tasmania. The tops of the masts are just level with the surface of the water at low tide. The steamer has sunk fully ten feet from the, position in which she wa3 pre- j vioUßly,pbserved,,having, become embedded ; in the sand, of which the bottom is com- ! posed. The weather yesterday wae beautifully fine, the sea being perfectly still, and outward circumstances could not have been better for diving operations, preparations for which wete at once made. These preparations took a considerable time, the greatest care being exercised so. that no mishap should befall the diver. Mr McGiven, the diver from Taranaki, was the first to go down, and he remained under water fully twenty-five minutes. Dpon returning to the surface he reported that one of the hatches upon the hold in which the mails were kept had fallen down, and with very great difficulty he crawled between the gratings into the hold. He found the hold full of liquid mud, and when hie helmet disappeared below the surface of this the waste air from the air valve found such difficulty in escaping that he was nearly suffocated. He came up to the surface quite exhausted. Mr Wilkie, the Postmaster at the Spit, sent down Mr Lloyd, the other diver, from Napier. He verified Mr McCriven*s statement after a submersion listing about five minutes. Both divers agreed that it would be quite impossible to recover the mails. By this time, owing to the length of the preparations, it Was 5 p.m., and nothing: more conld be done, and the Hinemoa came on to Gisborne to telegraph the result. She goes back to-night to Portland Island, thence to Napier to transfer the lighthouse-keepep, and from Napier returns to Mahia to finish the survey upon which Mr Armstrong is engaged. This, it is estimated, will take fully a week to complete.