THE TARARUA DISASTER.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3081, 12 May 1881, Page 3

THE TARARUA DISASTER.

OFFICIAL INQUIRY,

fBY TELEGBAPH. j

Dt/nedin, May 12. The inquiry into the circumstances of the wreck of the Tararua was resumed yesterday. Mr Jas. Smith appeared in place of Mr Holmes for the first and second mates. Robert Lindsay was recalled. Mr Simpson to the witness : I wish to ask you one question—When your captain came on deck at 3.45 had you any conversation with him ? Witness: None at all, further than he said the ship was making a very good course. Mr Simpson : You had no conversation as to where the ship was —as to her position ? Witness: No. Mr Chapman: I think you told us yesterday that you said nothing at the inquest about the position of the ship when you went below at 4 a.m. ? Witness: Not that I am aware of. A mate takes no observations along the coast, but if the ship were in danger it would be his duty to call the captain's attention to it. By Capt. Thompson : I never tested the course between Port Chalmers and the Nuggets by'the leading lights. My duty on leaving Port Chalmers is to be at the fore-castle-head. Captain Thompson : You steered three courses that night—first for the Nuggets, then for Slope Point, and then the fatal course due west. That course west was a very particular one ; there was the danger of Waipapa Point on the one hand and Toby Rock on the other—do you not think it would have been a wise precaution to test that particular point by the leading lights from Otago Heads ? Witness : It would not be for me to go to the captain and suggest those things. Capt. Thompson : Do you think it would be wise to test that particular point ? Witness : Yes, if I thought the compasses were not correct. Capt. Thompson : When you left with the boat with the three men and the boy .who were to be landed did it not occur to you that you and the second mate were in possession of the only means of escape from the wreck, and that being so did it not occur to you that you ought to take great care of the boats P Witness : Certainly. Capt. Thompson: Then how was] it you came into the surf ? Witness : We were not in the surf when the sea which capsized the boat struck her. They were coming in heavily. Capt. Thompson : You have told us that you sounded with the oar and got 8 feet of water. Witness : I was then eight or ten lengths outside the breakers. Capt. Thompson : How long after you sounded was it before you struck ? Witness: About five minutes. We were backing it quietly. Captain Thompson : From your experience as a seaman did you not consider that you were in great danger from the blind rollers when yon had only Bft. of water ? Witness : I did not think of that. I was only thinking of how to save tho lives of the passengers. When I left the ship there was not such a sea running as to lead me to expect a break in Bft. of water. Captain Thompson : Now what plan did you propose to adopt to land the three men you had with you ? Witness: We had heading lines with us, and my idea was that one man should jump over and take one end of the line ashore, and those in the boat would tend the line, and make the other men fast to it. John Williams, a passenger, gave unimportant evidence. Edward Maloney, second mate, deposed : I hold a second mate's certificate from tho Victoria Board. I am in the employment of the Union bteamship Company. I have been so for three years and five months. I have been second officer all that time. At 5 o'clock on the morning of the wreck, or it might be ten to fifteen minutes afterwards, I fancied that I could hear the surf on the beach. I went aft and told the captain I thought the vessel was rather close to the shore. Ho was then looking at the chart on his table. He came on deck and looked along on the stai'board side, and rushed aft to the steering-wheel. He put the helm hard astarboard. As the ship was coming around she struck. I cannot say how many points she had come round. I had seen nothing before she struck. After she struck she dragged heavily for a few minutes, and then bumped and settled down, After she

first struck she canted her head to northward. 1 saw the broken water all round her. I could then see the loom of the land. I had been with Captain Garrard for two months. I believe he kept a book m which he marked down the course run, but I never saw it. I had no knowledge of the coast with regard to boat harbors. All the boats and appliances were in good order. The ship was well found. In my opinion the best was done that could be done under the circumstances at the time of the wreck. Everybody on board was perfectly sober. Captain Garrard was a teetotaller. By the Court: I stood off and on with the boat during the afternoon to see whether I conld render any assistance. At four o'clock the vessel was standing all right and the passengers were on the forecastle-head and in the rigging. The water was breaking over the afterpart of the vessel. Ido not think a steamer could have got inside the reef with safety. At least that is my belief. Mr Simpson : Could she have got in an hour previously ? Witness : After 12 o'clock the sea was rolling very heavily. It got up all of a sudden. I did not see the Kakanui until daylight. Captain Thompson : If the Kakanui had been round aboxit midday could she have taken up hor position outside the vessel and floated a line down to her ? Witness : I don't think so. Mr Simpson : Then you say it was impossible for you to get within hail of the ship ? Witness : I think it was. Mr Simpson : Did you make any attempt —did you go as near as you could ? Witness : I did, with due regard to the safety of the boat. Mr Simpson : You knew that the first mate's boat having got loose the passengers were isolated except from any assistance your boat could have rendered. Witness : There were two other boats on the ship—a dingy and a life-boat. Mr Simpson : But if it was not possible for you to get within hail of the vessel was it possible to get these boats out ? Witness : I went as near as I could with safety. Mr Simpson i Now, did you run any risk ? Witness : I did. Mr Simpson : What was the result of tho risk ? Witness: One man got capsized from the boat, but swam to the boat again. It would have been impossible for me to stay between the vessel and the shore so as to be of service in picking up any who might be washed off. By Captain Thompson i I did not know the state of the barometer the night before. I made no remark about approaching bad weather. It did not occur to me while in the boat to suggest that the other boats should put out to sea with passengers. Mr Simpson : It did not occur to you to giva any opinion except as to the particular things you were sent for ? Witness : I thought the ship was quite safe up to 10 or 11 o'clock. Captain Thomson : You know that the morning is the best time to work on the coast of New Zealand. Witness : I am not aware of that. By Captain Thompson : I took no cast of the lead that night at all. It was about five or ten minutes after I told the captain the second time that I thought the ship was rather close in that she struck, and that time with a vessel running 10 miles would represent five-sixths of a mile. The man on the look-out gave no alarm. By Captain M'Gowan: Although I fancied I heard the surf I gave no orders to the men on the look-out to keep a sharp lookout. Mr Simpson: Would it not have been prudent for you as second mate on the bridge at the time to tell the man to keep a sharp look-out, fancying you heard the breakers in the distance ? Witness: I put no question to him, although I fancied I heard the surf. It was his duty to keep a sharp look-out. Mr Denniston : A look-out may slumber sometimes, and it might be worth while reminding him. By Mr Simpson]: I saw the look-out man walking about. The crew of the boat obeyed my orders implicitly. They made the remark several times that it was not safe to stop inside, but this did not influence me in the slightest. By Mr Smith: When passing headlands and the ship being on her course it is not usual to cast the lead without the captain's orders. I have been 15 years trading on the coast of New Zealand. When I went aft the second time it was because I heard the sound of breakers. It was very faint, and only a suspicion on my part. The look-out man was evidently awake, and turned about every half minute. It was impossible for me to return to the ship on the Friday afternoon because the sea was so high. If I had attempted to get close to her, a boat such as I was in could not have lived. The sea was breaking on both the east and west sides of the ship. I had about twelve years' experience of the west coast of New Zealand, where the landing of passengers is done by tender when the sea is running high. I have never experienced such a high sea on those occasions as it was on that Friday afternoon. Mr Denniston: Had Captain Garrard hurt himself ? _ Witness : He got a small scratch on his riglit hand ; that's all. Mr Simpson : Would you have stopped out if the captain had not told you to do so ? Witness : I would, sir. The Court adjourned at 5.30 until next day. Dtwedin, May 12. The chief postmaster yesterday received a telegram from Invercargill, reporting the recovery of a mail bag from Dunedin to Melbourne from the wreck of the Tararua, containing 100 ordinary letters and 21 registered ; 19 of tbe registered letters can be delivered, but the other two are much damaged. Wyudham, May 12. The body of G. W. Jones, late purser of the Tararua, was recovered on Tuesday afternoon, and identified by his name being written on his shirt, and also by a paper i found on the body. Four more bodies were ! washed ashore yesterday, two of them being headless and most fearful objects to behold. Indeed all the bodies now coming ashore are in a dreadful condition, and the police, who are compelled not only to handle them, but to examine them minutely in the hope of identification, deserve the greatest commiseration. There are still twelve constables on the beach. There is a petition going the rounds here for signature, having for its object the establishment of a telegraph station at Fortrose, the nearest township to the scene of the disaster. The nearest telegraph station at present is Wyndham, a distance of between thirty and thirty-five miles from the beach. Auckland, May 12. A public meeting was held last, night in the Pitt-street Wesleyan Church respecting raising a fund for the families of the late Reverends Kichardson and Armitage. There was £105 subscribed at the meeting, and a committee was appointed to collect subscriptions. The Rev. Thomas Buddie presided, and the Revs. Dewsbury and Oliver and other gentlemen spoke. A resolution expressing sympathy with the bereaved families was carried.