WRECK OF THE 'SURAT.'

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXX, Issue 5116, 15 January 1874, Page 3

WRECK OF THE 'SURAT.'

] jij, i ilioiMncgiaun abnd^meutof theaccount of tho having of the pas 1 - on yets ami nrew of the 'Xu.aL 1 by t>io special con t.>|joudent of the , Ota go Guardian, who wad on board the I French raau-of-war 'Vire,' which steamed to the scene of the wreck : — • As we stood in to a small indentation of tho land, .we could plainly seo ahead of us, more 0:1 to the beach, whore tlio surf broke white and high, a stately vessel with her fere and roaiutopsailsset, her mainsail clewed up, and her main and mizentopgallant sails hanging loose. Bvit that every now and then a wave bigger than its fellows broke upward and spouted in from above her counter, and ran along her rail and decks in a sweeping wash to tho forecastle, where it again burst into foam ; 'she presented no appearanco of that broken or dismal condition which we almost always associate with shipwreck. Catlia's River runs into the sea over a bar close to a small rounded head, and stretching northward from tho opposite sido of the river is a spit and sandbeuch of a couple of miies in extent. The ' Surat' was beached about half a mile, at tho farthest, from the entrance to tho river. Passing to the southward of the head above mentioned, we come upon a small bay, and note at its southern extremity a point known as Bloody Jack's, after some notable and excessively sauguinary hero of olden and Maori time We could, in the grey morning, make out the ' Wanganm' at anchor under the point I have named, the name of which ro repeat would bo to render myself liable to an accusation of loving strong language. Thes.s. 'Wallabi,' which came in from the southwards at the same time we arrived from Dunedin, ran close in to the stranded ship, and then describing a circle • passed over the bar and entered the river. One of the ' Vire' quarter boats was lowered, .and the party I have mentioned, with the Addition of your correspondent, after a tough pull, were landed inside' the Heads. And here we quickly came upon evidences of shipwreck, Camped under a few rough sails and "iude coverings, near the house of the Catlin's River pilob, were some men and women with that peculiar personal appearance of new-ohuminishnoss known so well to colonials,. and not infrequently described by them as lime- juiciness. As soon a9 &11 th'6~' passengers had been got together at Catlin's River, the main portion of thorn was sent off in two parties to the mills, a little up the river, whilst a few of those whom we now yaw remained at and around the Pilot- Station. It vas decided that we should go up the rivor at once iu the 'Wallabi,' and collect these people, aa it would be necessary to take them over tho bar in tuo steamer before 3 o'clock, if they wore to be put on boaul the ' Wallabi,' and about two miles up came to what is kuown as the now mill, where a large party of the immigrants wore. We bad previously. detdSfaftd a ooupl9 of boats, under the charge of^CapUin Thomson and Mr. Reid, up a branch sfroam to the old mill for the other parly. un landing afc tho new mill, we found tho immigrants in as comfortable if state as was possible under the circumstances, owing to the very kind reception they had met with from the people there, and from Captain Thompson and Mr. Reid. I subsequently learned that matters were in a precisely similar condition at the Owako Mill. When the immigrants arrived at thtae placed they cold, wet, and hungry, and had bMft without food for over lour-and-twenty which, considering the number of children and infants among them, made things even more serious than they otherwise might have been. But, in every instance, the mill hands and employees cheerfully turned oufc of their quarters and gave them up to the new comers ; and what with plenty of fresh beef, broad, milk, and butter, I neither man, woman, nor child was long in want of substantial comfort. So far as any infectious disease was concerned, the immigrants were all right. A couple of new-born infants had died during the passage, and the mother of one of these, whose accouchement had only taken place a few days previously, was then lying in one of the huts very weak in consequence t>f the protraoted- trouble and exposure which she had recently undergone. The steamer had towed up tho ' Surat's ' boats, (amongst them the long-boat, which, 1 fancy, had seen water for the first time on the occasion of the wreck), and all haste was now made to get the immigrants on to the steamer by means of these boats, as we had to catch the tide at 3 o'clock, in order to go out over the bar. The immigrants were quickly mustered and put into the boats, and taken to the steamer, under the supervision of Mr. Commissioner Weldon. And hero I may be permitted perhaps to notice how, even under dangerous and distressing circumstances, human idiosyncracies always mnko a certain ludicrous side come uppermost. Few of theso poor people had saved more of use from the ' Surat ' than the mere clothes upon their backs. Yet in nearly every instance the immigrant had some precious twopenny-half-penny treasure oE peculiar value to himself or herself. The girls had each and all preserved little items of tawdiy Gnery in tho shape of feathers, Ac, which, after much manipulation to get the creases out, they disposed in the shockingest of shocking bad hats. Throughout all, male and female, thero was quite a mania for umbrellas, though why, in the excitement aud olamour of a shipwreck, the human mind should dwell upon, and the human hand should clutch an umbrella, I am unaware. In connection with the above, it may bo noted that a jury of wrecked matrons who had assembled in the cabin discussed the captain' d merits, amidst such distract. on 3 as shedding tears and giving oach other brief memoirs of the narrators' lives, and, in his (the captain's) absence, wore unanimous in condemning him to all sorts of torments, hero and hereafter. After making as careful a survey as wts possible under the circumstances, the following document was drawn up :— Survey held, this 3rd day of January 1S74, at tho request of Captaiu Johnston, on the ship 'Surat,' as she now lies beached in Catlin's Bay, by the undersigned, and we report as follows : — " That the vessel is watei logged, and the seas breaking over her. That the captain reports having struck upon a reef down the coast, and, finding the vessel in a sinking state, boached her to save the lives of passengers and crew. » As ths vessel now lies on an exposed part of tho coast, and is liable to break up at any moment, we recommend that the vessel be abandoned and sold for the benefit of whom it may concern. — G. F. Reid, Maater-Mariner ; William Thomson, Harbourmaster ; James Leys, Master s.s. ' Wallabi ;' Robert Mills, Shipwright. As there was a very heavy ground swell in, it was agreed, on getting again abreast of the 'Wallabi,' that the passengers would have to be transferred to tho French man-of-war by boats after going outside. Therefore, the ' SuratV life-boats wore taken in tow to help, and wo pasted over the bar and out into tho ocean with a parting three cheers, given by a numbor of settlers assembled on the beach. All speod was made to tho 'Viro,' to whoso stern we were soou fastened by a hawser, aud the woik of transhipment commenced, aided by tho French vessel's boats ; and a work it was seeing that the only way of getting from the 'Wallabi' to the boat, and afterwards to the boat to the 1 Vire,' was by a sort of leap for life, when a wavo brought boat and steamer together, as the latter rolled backwards and forwards. But all was accomplished with only aa average amount of ducking. The stylo in which tho two lieutenants and the boats' crews of the 'Viro ' did their work was quite wondeiful when contrasted with tho clumsy manner adopted in the ' Surat's ' life-boats. Tho French sailors stood upon nothing, and nursed babies caught in a doxtorons manner, whilst they helped the mothers into the boats, and boro their (the mothers') weights upon their toes and other portions of their figures, and apologised all the time, as if they were the injurera and not the injured. Not one who saw how carefully, quietly, and and admirably they managed, but would have said that aa seamen they were a credit to any nation.

Tl c ' Viid, 1 having hee^ <nnp!r>> fl »n the tran-porb of 1io<>ji«, luvs ,i v e>o' 't\ecndeiks, aii'l hoic pio\i&i"ii h d I i 'i mosr extenni\cly wade wilh l)l u<!.< s .in.] I), deling, so tint tho women and clu.ilit'i w<k* no sooner on boaid than tin;, \uio «-• nt> i'ciow, and made comfortable. (.VoUi iy ou a, large scale mu&t Lave been going on for some time, too, for a good meal, with plenty of meat and half-a-pint of vin oWinaue, that would have been first-olass claret m a Diioodin hotel, was served out to all, with te* and medical comforts for tho*e who required them, under the constant attention of a quick, kind, French doctor. The ' Rurat' had on board a large quantity of railway iron and plant for tl.e railway work&hops, to the amount, so those say who ought to know, of £75,000. Further, she has a plant for a woollen factory belonging to a saloon passenger, Mr. Booth, whose evidonce, I may say, will be interesting ; and she haa besides a quantity of drapory and miscellaneous goods. The New Zealand Insurance Company stand to loso £13,000 by her. Wo had a beautiful trip to Port Chalmers, and before the immigrants left the ' Vire' they bad each a coffeo royal of good proportions, and something to eat into the bargain, A special train conveyed them and their scanty belongings from the Port to the barracks at Caversham.