THE GALE.— SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2717, 2 April 1866, Page 5

THE GALE.— SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

Auckland was risited by a very severe easterly gale on Saturday and yesterday morning, which did considerable damage to the shipping in port, and caused an entire suspension of maritime trade. On Friday the rain set in, and a breeze freshened, the glass giving indication of an approaching storm. The atmosphere was hazy and heavy, with every appearance of an impending storm, and early on Saturday morning the barometer rose to nearly 3010, with an upward tendency. The rainfall of Friday, reported in our last, was not equalled during the heavy showers which fell on Saturday an 1 early yesterday ; the wind, however, increased to a heavy gale, accompanied by sharp squalls, which hurled the rain in sheets of water against the houses, and augmented the deluge of water created by the heavy rain-fall of the previous day, the buildings only being preserved from further serious flooding by the strenuous exertions of the occupants. The damage to shipping was confined principally to the injury of small craft, several of which were driven ashore and became total wrecks ; and the strength of the mooring of every vessel in harbour was seriously tested, the large ships dragging considerably during the continuance of the gale. Four years have elapsed since the harbour, with its peculiarly great natural advantages and shelter from adverse winds, was visited by suoh a gale. On the 2nd of March, 1862, a fierce gale - from the same direction did great damage to the wharf and shipping in harbour, the injury sustained being estimated at £2,000. On Saturday morning, about 5 o'clock, the wind veered round to the eastward, and. came on to blow. The cutter • Eclair,' owned by Mr. Nicholl, of the Thames, with the greater portion of her cargo of kauri gum on board, was the first to succumb to the violence of the gale, and went down alongside the middle T of Queen-street Wharf. Seeing the danger she was in from collision with the wharf by every heavy sea, the men on board proceeded to discharge her cargo, but had not succeeded in rescuing much before she filled and went down, and shortly afterwards went to pieces, leaving only the mast entire, which was held in its place by some of the rigging. The s.s. ' Beautiful Star* was alongside Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane's barque ' Constance' for the purpose of coaling when it came on to blow, and the bumping becominguncomfortable, steam was got up and the vessel taken into the stream; not, however, before the barque had sustained damage to her stern by collision with the end of a pile. The cutter ' Orpheus,' Inness, master, was driven between the old and new Ts on the wharf, and came iato collision with the schooner ' St. Kiida.' The stern of the 'Orpheus' was completely carried away, and the starboard quarter of the schooner 'St. Xilda' smashed up. The latter vessel was about to be taken into the shipwrights' yard for repairs and refitting, since her purchase from the Government by an Auckland firm. The schooner 'Sea Breeze,' Captain Norris, which only went alongside with the previous evening's tide, had her starboard quarter and covering board stove in, with one or two stanchions smashed, from contact with the piles, and was only saved from further injury by the prompt attention of her captain and Mr. Edmonds, part owner, who placed bales of hay between her lower sides and the piles, to prevent her going to pieces with the violence of the bumping. The paddle-steamer ' Waitemata occupied the next berth, but was more fortunate, having only her port sponson beam carried away. The paddle-steamer 'Enterprise ' rode safely, with steam up, on the west side of the wharf ; but both vessels were unable to venture across the harbour with such a sea on. During the gale the native schooner 'Morning Star,' from Wangaroa, was observed to enter the harbour, being carried with great force before the wind under double-reefed sails. * She was taken to the west of the wharf, and it is presumed must have run round Kauri Point for shelter, as she did not anchor in the stream. The schooner Ono, lying alongside Lower Custom-house-street for repairs, had her side stove in and filled with water as she lay alongside. A small schooner, name unknown, which was moored off Mechanics' Bay, was driven in shore and shattered to fragments. A yacht and whale-boat, anchored near, also went down, and must be considerably injured by the action of the waves. Two cutters, one the ' Clyde' and the other unknown, sank off the breakwater during the evening ; and the coal-hulk ' Marion,' in which were confined the Maori prisoners who afterwards made their escape from* the Eawau, went down at her moorings near the sams place, with some 500 tons of coal on board. The hulk was purchased from the Government after the escape of the natives, by Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, and used as a coal store. A small cutter from the Tamaki, with punt attached, used for landing cattle, was also sunk near the breakwater, and the cutter ' Lady Bath ' waterlogged. The cutter ' "Wanderer ' had a piece taken out of her bows, and the cutter ' Bessy,' ladon with timber, had her bulwarks stove in, and 'her bows and side injured as she lay alongside Custom • house - street. The schooner • Rapid,' also alongside Custom-house-street, had her side and bulwarks greatly broken up from collision with the piles, and was much, strained and damaged. The cutter 'Fancy,' near her, had her bows and topsid^s carried away. The cutter 'Aloe' had her jib-boom carried away, and some of her cargo of kauri gum washed overboard, from collision with a cargo-boat which was driven on to her whilst 'at anchor. The, - Protectorate cutter ' Ruse ' (late 'Will Watch'), which arrived last week from the bouth Sea Islands, had her stern carried away as she lay alongside the first T ; and, in being moved, jammed the water policeboat with such force against the piles that the latter was broken to pieces. The outter ' Three Sisters' was dismasted ; the schooner ' Dot ' "driven from her moorings into the wharf, and greatly damaged; the schooner 'Mary Ira,' and several other vessels, deprived of their jibbooms and bowsprits, and numerous vessels driven ashore, go to make up the long catalogue of shipping casualties caused by the gale of Saturday and yesterday morning. Fortunately, we have heard of no loss of life, and trust we shall be spared the pain of chronicling any fatal shipwreck arising from it. A report was current in town on Saturday evening that the P., N.Z., and A.E.M. Co.'s s.s. 'Prince Alfred,' which left this port at noon on Friday, had been driven ashore at the Kawau, but without the slightest foundation. The

barque 'Kate/whish arrived on Friday evening, reported having seen her steaming safely away from the island, with the wind on her quarter. A narrow escape from injury and loss of life was experienced by several bystanders on the wharf during the heavy wind, owing to the overturning of a pile-driver, which fell with great violence at the feet of several persons standing on the wharf. The large floating piledriver, used in the construction of Queen- street Wharf, was driven from her moorings off the breakwater on to the wharf, and smashed to pieces. There are other casualties, too numerous to mention, arising from the^ gale, and the damage arising therefrom is variously estimated at from £2,000 to £4,000, the greater portion of -jrhich falla upon the owners of small craft and men barely able to stand against such a calamity as the loss or injury of their .vessels. The storm, which commenced from the N.E., was at its height at noon on Saturday, with the barometer at 3010, and abated somewhat during the afternoon and evening.only to freshen early yesterday morning. The wind died away last evening and came lightly from the northward.