HISTORIC HOKITIKA

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22805, 2 September 1939, Page 19

HISTORIC HOKITIKA

IX. Shipwrecks and Their Cause (SPBCIALLT ‘WSITTEW FOR THE PRESS.) [By T. L. RALFE]

REPORTS of the number of 'wrecks at Hokitika read more like the imagination of fiction than the sober narration of actual fact. As children, we played in and out of their old timbers, buried by one tide, exposed by the next, and extending from the river’s mouth to the site where lay the old Montezuma, far to the northern end of Revell street.

of vessels which went on shore but got off again without damage. Premiums Increased As time went on, wreck following wreck, Melbourne insurance companies gradually increased their premiums on boats sailing to the West Coast, until they stood five times as high as those charged for vessels trading from Melbourne to Adelaide, a longer voyage. Finally, risks were absolutely declined, and the trade with Australian ports greatly lessened. Nevertheless, “running the blockade,” as it' was termed locally, held out promise of rich reward in high freight and pasr senger charges; consequently, there was never a lack of enterprising souls ready to dare and do. An indication of the high cost of freight is given in the following quotation from the “Nelson Examiner,” December 28, 1864: “At Hokitika, a presentation of an address was made to Captain Leech, of the Nelson, signed by fifty-nine passengers. Mr Martin Cassius, in congratulating him on entering the river with his steamer, which, so far; was considered impracticable, said that by so doing he had effected’ a reduction of £25 per ton in the price of provisions at Hokitika.” Mr John Rochfort, of the Provincial service staff, has recorded that at the early date quoted, there were only some 80 persons living at Hokitika, and about 20 stores in course of erection.

There was no royal road to the new field, either by shore or sea, and not until late in 1865 could travellers, with any degree of comfort, journey overland. AU supplies, including live stock and building material, had to be sea borne. In addition, thousands of passengers were hastening by ship to the new Eldorado; thus, sea traffic became exceedingly great, and sea tragedies an everyday occurrence. Since the historic first crossing of the Hokitika river bar by s.s. Nelson on December 20, 1864, shipowners have suffered losses, estimated at hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling. Writing on July 5, 1865, two months after the proclamation of the goldfields, “The Press” correspondent says: “The beach is strewn with wrecks, 18. sailing vessels and seven steamers having been hurried to destruction withip the last five months, and at this moment 11 vessels are on shore, but not one life in all these disasters has been lost.” Preshaw, author of “Banking Under Difficulties,” who arrived at “Okitiki” early in November, and than whofn"‘"there is no better" authority, records- he had counted as many as ' 20 steamers and vessels piled up at the river entrance — “some on top of others.” A fair percentage of these “wrecks” were refloated. The following table, compiled by Mr Edward Patten, who was appointed collector of customs for Hokitika port in 1865, gives the names of the 19 vessels wrecked up till July 31 of that year, with their port of registry and tonnage:— Wrecked on River and Broken Up SYLPH (schooner, Lyttelton), 47 tons. , OAK (brigantine, Melbourne), 190 tons. JUNO (ketch, Lyttelton), 50 tons. JANE WILLIAMS (cutter, Geelong), 39 tons. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (threemaster schooner, London), 158 tons. RUBY (screw steamer, Dunedin), 86 tons. ESTHER (ketch. Sydney), 76 tons. ROSELLA (schooner, Auckland), 47 tons. TITANIA (screw-steamer, Launceston), 54 tons. NEW ZEALAND (paddle-steamer, London), 374 tons. Wrecked on River but Repaired and Rendered Seaworthy MARY ANN CHRISTIAN (schooner, Lyttelton), 42' tons. Wrecked on River and Undergoing Repairs SARAH (ketch, Lyttelton), 33 tons. Wrecked on Coast and Broken Up GANNET (cutter, Auckland), 27 tons. ' GLASGOW (ketch, Dunedin?). 47 tons. WAKOOL (screw-steamer, Lyttelton). 46 tons. MONTEZUMA (brigantine, Melbourne), 136 tons. DEFIANCE (ketch, Dunedin), 27 tons. _ PILOT (schooner, Lyttelton), 27 tons. Wrecked on Coast but Undergoing Repairs WAIPARA (screw-steamer, Belfast), 48 tons. Total tonnage 1431. In addition, there are a number

“Many and many a vessel has been beating off the bar for weeks —some for as much as 17 weeks—without getting in, or getting a chance of being discharged in the roads. Many vessels have gone away, carrying their cargo and stock with them. The shore on both sides, Of the entrance is literally strewh with wrecks.” So writes a correspondent to his paper. Hokitika, with its fast multiplying thousands, all dependent on sea-traffic, was profoundly concerned with the state of the bar, at all times the chief topic of conversation and attraction. All too frequently the inhabitants were without fresh meat, sometimes for a month at a time—the record stands at 100 days—therefore, ships seen making for the harbour was an occasion of importance>

Early in October, 1865, a sunny spring morning ushered in an event which could have been seen only in that outlandish, isolated spot. Rumour was, for once, proved true ■ —the ships, which, day following day, had been congregating in the roadstead, were to receive the impatiently awaited signal “take the bar.” As the tide made there drifted to the river’s mouth a number of spectators having a close interest in the safe crossing of the ships, and as the time approached for their venturing, the beach was thronged with an excited crowd. *First came the auctioneers, solemn visaged, and saying aloud, “Sad thing, another wreck, I’m afraid,” while inwardly chuckling “Fi, fo, fum, I smell another sale.” They are closely followed by the shipping agents, who affect big sou’-westers and oilskin coats, and whom, in virtue of their business, are very nautical ashore, and looked up to as authorities. Next come the mass ./ . . anxious consignees; draymen on the look-out for jobs; Thacker, the “inimitable,” seeking fresh material for a “screaming” farce; followed by a stream of idlers and the riff-raff of the town. These, too, have a stake at risk. Vessels, a baker’s dozen of them, make for the bar. The moment has come, and as the leading vessel moves in, the watching crowd grows tense with hope and fear. A shout goes up, “One hundred to ten she goes ashore!”. The odds, amid great excitement, run up to one hundred to five, without finding takers. All eyes are strained

MISHAPS AT SEA The shipwrecks at Hokitika in the early days were an outstanding part of its history. In this, the ninth of his series of articles, Mr Ralfe gives an account of these misfortunes and discusses their cause. The photograph shows the Eunice stranded on the beach.

as the critical minute comes. Struck by a heavy sea, • her fate seems sealed; she shakes herself free, and, like a yacht, sails over the last danger and into the river, to the delight of all. But not so fortunate is her close-following sister; swept by a heavy roller, and losing steerage way, she drifts to her fate; seeing which, several of the oncoming vessels about ship and stand out to sea. But not all, and observing their safe entry, the faint-hearted, plucking up courage, venture a second attack, the ebbing of the tide finding all but one safely berthed amid the smiles of joy and relief of anxious citizens. •

The description of an eye-witness of those scenes, combined with the study of the report on the bar submitted to the Provincial Government by Captain Gibson —after whom Gibson’s quay is named—explains fully the reason why the risk of entering the river was so great. “The entrance to the river,” states the eye-witness, “is exactly described by the letter ‘S,’ of which two-thirds form a channel less than 100 feet wide, and exposed to the whole drift of the ocean. Ships enter this narrow channel at a sharp, angle, and unless there is a good breeze, a sailing vessel cannot preserve sufficient steerage way through the rollers to round the corner of the lower end of the spit. She drops bodily off before the sea, and two or three 1 tremendous seas lift her broadside on to the beach, there to be pounded to pieces by the following tides.” A fair proportif n of the boats “beached” were refloated; being raised by screw-jacks, and placedon ways, they readily ran down the greased ‘incline into the river. These frequent mishaps were a great source of profit to auctioneers, one of them, Mr R. Reeves, doing an immense business selling cargoes, and often the vessels themselves. So large was this business, states an authority, that his advertising expenditure in the local paper—- “ West Coast Times”—ran into a sum of £250 a month. Difficulties Faced by Ships This account of those early sea tragedies may be fittingly concluded with the narration of a couple of instances of the profits awaiting those willing to take risks. On one trip—lß6s-—from Nelson, the captain of the William Misken; a small screw-steamer, knowing Hokitika had been without fresh meat for a month, shipped several head of fat bullocks and some sheep, paying £lB and 18s respectively a head. His venture, in his own words, was “for better, for worse.” At considerable risk he entered port, and was immediately rushed, selling his cattle at £75 a head, and the sheep at £5 each, cash down and removal at buyer’s risk—not bad for 48 hours’“work! The same captain is the hero of another story. Large steamers were discharged 'in the roadstead, the recognised charge being £1 a passenger, and £4 a ton of cargo. The Claude Hamilton, crowded with passengers, had for 10 days been beating about in the offing, awaiting the of a small steamer tendering her, but though she steamed into the roadstead every tide, fired guns, and hoisted signals, no one would venture to her assistance. At last the Misken’s captain, for the consideration of £SOO, agreed to go out next tide and tranship in boats to his own steamer those sea-weary, unfortunate women, children, and diggers. In six hours, for his pluck, he was the richer by £SOO. Those long days—sometimes weeks —of beating about, resulted in one very serious tragedy, when in February, 1865, a boatload, numbering 13 impatient passengers of the Lady ' Darling, ignoring popular superstition, - tried to land on the beach. The boat was capsized by the raging surf, and seven were drowned, all the bodies being recovered.