HINEMOA'S QUEST

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1026, 16 January 1911, Page 5

HINEMOA'S QUEST

IN PALLISER BAY. NO SIGN OF IMPERILLED BARQUg FURIOUS SEA RUNNING. After lying in AVorser Bay from abotA 8.30 p.m. on Friday until 3.23 a.m. on Saturday; sheltering from the fury of the heavy southerly gale which had made the navigation of the Heads impossible, the Hinemoa won out /on her errand of search for the unknown barque which had, on the previous afternoon, been reported by tho officers of tho Kaipara as having been seen in an unsafe position off Falliser Bay. The treacherous inset 1 which often prevails here and has strewn the bay with wrecks, tho gale, and the lee shore made the position a somewhat serious one, and a search by a steamer was deemed highly desirable. In blindng seas Turakirse Head wn3 rounded at about 5 a.m., and Captain Bollons then headed well into the bay, thrashing through the terrific rollers with everything in readiness in case of need. . An offing was maintained at from a quarter to half a mile from shore. The seas which were being piled into the bay by tho gale were really tremendous, and the vessel pitched and rolled very heavily. Black Rocks, the farther point of the bay;' was invisible, obscured by the flying spume, but, by using powerful glasses, those on board were able to distinguish objects on tho shore. -The- ferry waspassed between G and 7 o'clock, and AVhaterangi Station between 7 and 8 o'clock. Here the whistle was blown, and two men were observed to leave a whare and gaze ; at the steamer. They then turned back to tho whare, and those on board surmised (from their apparent indifference) that they had nothing to tell. Bv this time the steamer was well on to' Black Rocks, which she rounded'about half an hour later, standing well out towards tho lighthouse at Cape Palliser- Here signals were exchanged, but the lighthouse-keeper reported that nothing had been seen. A careful search has since been made by those at the lighthouse of the beach and rocks in the vicinity, hut no trace ~ has been seen of any wreckage. The Mararoa, which arrived in port on Saturday morning, sighted a sailing vessel—the tops of whose masts were - only visible—standing 10 miles S.E. off Taurakirae Heads and, taking all'' circumstances into consideration—time, tide, change of wind, and the decreasing turmoil of the sea—it may be presumed that tho barque sighted by the Kaipara has succ-scded in beating out of the bay. It was at' first thought that the vessel in question might bo the Helen. Denny, but, as that barque arrived in. port early this morning, the probabilities are that the unknown' vessel may be the Titron, which left Oantaru last Tuesday for Maiden Island. A lifebuoy bearing the words "AA 7immera, Melbourne," . was nicked up on ,* West Beach, Island Bay, on Saturday morning. The AVimmera left AV«Uington for Lyttelton at 5.20 p.m. .on Friday, and ran into very heavy weather in the Straits. On arrival; -her officers reported that two life buoys. had been . washed off the stern on the run down. From the abovo it will bo seen , what the wea- . ther was like on the night that the Hinemoa had to put hack to AVorser ■Bay. Even had the vessel, managed to weather the southerly it. is considered, by those competent. to pass an opinion, that nothing could have been done on such a night as Friday night was at sea.A LIVELY TRIP. • THE. HINEMOA AND THE GALE. [BV "li.VXDSMAS'."] The ship weut up and the ship went down. ; ,Tne. unadorned narrative of the Hinemoa's quest for"' a storm-tossed barque is as told above. This is the unofficial narrative, wherein is set forth, the anguish and- travail of three - laudlubbers who accompanied the vessel on other duty. They iound in Captain Bollons a kind and hospitable triend; in the ship's steward material comfort; and in the members of the crew the saving grace of pity. But still, that , was not everything. There remained the sea, and the sea received their maledictions in due season. , They boarded the vessel as she lay "at the AVool ' Wharf, and sought the lee side of the bridge deck. The engineroom telegraph : rang out sharply, the vessel drew' out, hesitated, pnt back again for a late-comer, and, finally, getting clear away, rounded Point Haiswell, and lifted her forefoot to the swell of . the outer sea. As the.miles slipped past, she, in fact, lifted her forefoot higher, and continually higher, and finally, castingdignity and grace to the winds .that blew, she pranced about-in the : seething .cauldron at tho Heads. "The 'opinion of the three landsmen is -that her general demeanour was shocking. ■ Tho trio, huddled in the -lee of . the' - bridge-deck, reflected sadly with Shakes-,', peare that "the stomach, of..man is not constant," but with'pale-green- faces'survived tho ordeal which elapsed between ' their arrival at the Heads and their return to AVorser Bay, driven back by the. "blow." Nest morning at the cold and cheer'.' less hour of 3.30 by the clock they againfaced the "music." The fury "of the gale by, this time had . lessened somewhat, but the sea still raged. Wicked green ones swooped down . upon the steamer,' while other monsters, hoary-. crested ones, sluiced the decksl but still ■ Captain Bollons went ahead. Between half-past four and five o'clock, Paradise —to wit, the cook's galley—opened its doors and received them, and tea and toast warmed- their frozen systems. •Returning to tho deck they saw, as the steamer rounded a point, a :glorious sunrise, a great ball of firo' 1 .which shot-up/" from behind Cape Palliser, illuminated the scene for -ay-brief spac% and then disappeared behind a murky pall- 4-ftel that, however, all gladness vanished. The vessel rolled, in great' sweeps from side to side, pitched and tossed, and did everything practically but stand on her head. At times she seemed to be stabbing the sky with her masts, and then she slithered down between walls of water. The land-lubbers gaze into each others' eyes as a growing terror, long fou"ht against, seized their souls. Said Land-lubber No. 1: "I am not well." Said Land-lubber No. 2:- "I am di*" ' tinctly not well." - Land-lubber No. 3 said nothing Wordshad long since left him. .. He'was vcr* distinctly anything but well. With ashen face, eloquent of suffering, he hunejimnly to the taffrail—a, little over' i 1" in fact. • <• - lhe other two land-lubbers gazed in silent pity at their hapless companion. Then, examplo being stronger tbaji nrccept, all interest in the barque or wreck or whatever it was faded out for all three of them. - . _ And still pitilessly, relentlessiv. chock, jngly, the ship went up. and Ue shin" went ddivn. *