EARLY WRECKS NEAR WELLINGTON.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 455, 13 March 1909, Page 10

EARLY WRECKS NEAR WELLINGTON.

Sir.-lho first wreck that I can remember was the barque lytic, which was wrecked on what was called tho Grey Rocks, tho first rocks between Island Bay and Tenwl ili about 1847. There has been a Jo J ft| spoken about a number of boxes of rr u ] t I i <.. ing found in the wreckage, which beloVd-'to a passenger named Mrs. Sclwyu. This "fedv gave a reward on every box that .wa* f.-und as salvage, and all were found but 0n... H was supposed that ono of the early settlers loiind this,.and what Mr. Ames has said in an article in tho "Post" is ri.'lit According if, my recollection 'the next wreck was that of tho barque Maria in 150' ,, - supposed to have happened on Karori Rock' and, according to Mr. Amns's aversion, only one was saved out of 31 lives But 1 knobby personal knowledge there were two, one a Malay and tho other Charles Stewart, who was at the wheel when Urn vessel struck and was washed overboard by a largo «•«,•<!• coming over the vessel. As a boy I had the curiosity of going out to the wreck next day, and tho bodies that wore washed ashore belonged to the crew. A passenger, Mr. George Wallace, was washed up a day or two afterwards. This vessel sailed from Wellington to Lyttolton, thence called at Port Coopor, discharged her cargo, and then, returning to Wellington on her way to Sydney, was caught in a south-caster on. aucli a

niThfc as that of the Penguin wreck. Why I know was, when we heard the news of the wreck in Wellington, I, a boy then, was living r.t Mount Albert Signal Station on the hill tho other side of Ncwtown Park, and out of curiosity I went out to the wrock with other boys. While standing there viewing the bodies that lay on tho beach, young Stewart, one of the- survivors, came down from M'Menamcn's station on a mulo iiv a very poor condition to identify'the bodies.. It appears that Stewart and the Malay, whilo looking around to discover where they were, found M'Menamen's homestead. All tho bodies wero buried in one grave at the mouth of the Karori Stream, but Captain l'ugh, who was brought to Wellington for burial. As regards tho wreck of tho City of Dunetlin in the early sixties while going from Wellington to Hokiti'sa, this vessel was full of diggers. It was reported that some of the children of M'Menamon's saw her go down on Tom's Rock or thereabouts. It was blowing a dirty south-easter, and nothing ,has been, heard of her, but a barrel of tar which was washed ashore in LyelPs Bay with tho nanie Favourite on it. It appears that after the vessel had foundered it was remembered in Dunedin that a barrel bearing that description was shipped by her for Hokitika for a small vessel that was being repaired there colled tho Favourite. My opinion is nobody knows where tho City of Dunedin foundered to this day. Of course there are other wrecks which arc too numerous to mention. There is one wreck I would like to mention in particular, and that took placo after the first earthquake in 1848, and that was tho barque Subarian, which was full of people running away to escape tho earthquakes, among whom wore some prominent settlers. She was bound for Sydney, and was in command for tho time being of the pilot, whose name was Calder. At the entrance to Wellington Heads there aro two passages divided by Barrett's lk-ef, and the instructions were that tho larger vessels took the outer passage, which is on the Pcncarrow lighthouse side of the reef, and the other side, which was smaller and. witlj loss water, was used by the smaller vessels. The pilot who was in charge, instead of taking the outer passage, to make a short cut took the inner one, and tho consequence was he ran her on tho reef. Luckily all passengers and crew got ashore safely, and as far as my knowledge carries me. nono of those ever attempted to leave Wellington again, and the argument was, "It was just as well to stay hero and be swallowed up by the earthquakes as to go to sea and be drowned." The Subarian afterwards became a total wreck. Those are some of the impressions of my early boyhood. Another wreck I should like to mention, which took placo in Cook Strait, was that of the City of Newcastle, which was bound for Newcastle. It seems th.it no lives were lost. One boat-load managed to reach Picton and the other one, after a search had been made, was given up for lost, and so certain were the friends of the few passengers she carried that they all went into mourning, and when a barque, the John Knox, bound for Sydney from Lyttolton. sailed into Wellington with the people of tho missing boat, which was picked up m the Strait, nil Wellington went mad with joy. So genuine was the rejoicing over the safety of those on the City of Newcastle that the band played up and down the streets, and 1 shall never forget it as long as I liyo. These few remarks, I trust, I have, not intruded on your valuable space.—l am, etc., F. FRANCE. Belmont, March 3. ; | ( ( I , I i c