THE OVERDUE BARQUE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11377, 13 September 1902, Page 7

THE OVERDUE BARQUE.

THE OWNERS NOT ANXIOUS.

The barque Timaru, which is over due at Kaipara, is owned by Messrs A. H. Turnbull and Co., of Christchurch. She is under the command of Captain A. Johansen, who has had about eighteen years' experience on the New Zealand coast. Besides ballast the vessel carried about twenty tons of cargo, consisting principally of chaff, flour, and potatoes, making about 160 tons in all. She is an exceptionally stiff ship, and has been sailed with as little as 100 tons of ballast.

She was properly provided with shifting boards, and the owners do not think that anything has happened to the vessel throngthe ballast shifting. The Timaru was seen on the 21st of August, when five days from Lyttelton, by the Elverland and Morning Light, about 35 miles south-east of Cape Campbell A nor'-west gale sprang up, and on the 24th the Timaru was seen by the Morning Light about ten miles east of Kaikoura Peninsula.. The wind from Friday till Sunday had been exceptionally heavy, with a high sea, and the vessel had apparently ridden out the gale all right. A southerly breeze then sprang up, with thick weather, and the two vessels ran before it, the Timaru being lost sight of, and the Morning Light-, which was bound for Waitapu, was off Cape Campbell at midnight, when the wind was light, and the weather clear.

There has been no rough weather since, and as the Timaru came through the heavy gale without mishap, there appears to be no reason to suppose tbat'tbe shifting of the ballast has been the cause of the vessel's non-arrival. The Elverland, which had been in company with the Timaru and Morning Light off Cape Campbell "on the 21st, anchored in Cloudy Bay, and arrived at KaL para on the 27th nit. (special to "the j?_ess.") AUCJKLAND, September 12. In connection with the barque Timaru, now overdue at Kaipara from Lyttelton, Captain Rodd, of the barque Mary Moore, whkfii is at present in port, states that there should be no anxiety regarding the Timaru. From an experience of 25 years in New Zealand waters Captain Rodd has no hesitation in saying that the master of tbe Timaru has come north about, and w_l yet reach his destination. Captain- Rodd's opinion k that the barque has been blown a long way off the coast by strong winds, and has been unable to get back again.