SECOND EDITION.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 91, 14 October 1889, Page 3

SECOND EDITION.

THE BARQUE OTAGO JN DISTRESS. + DISASTROUS COMMENCEMENT OP A VOYAGE. A TERRIBLE GALE. TWO OF THE CREW KILLED. TWO MONTHS TO LYTTELTON. |Bt Tki,bobafh.| (.unitkd press association. | Christchukch, Tnie Day. Tho barque Otago, which arrived at Lyttelton yesterday, has suffered an extraor. dinary aerioa of mishaps, and has only reached harbour undor extraordinarily fortunato circumstances. She left Sydney on 13th August, bound for London, with a cargo of copper, tallow, wool, Ac. When in longitude of the Snares met a fearful gale, bhe wan thrown on hor beam ends, and terrific seas made a clean breach over her. Her saiis wore blown away, and everything movable or small, bulkhead, berths, tableß, cupboards, do., wero swept out of the cabins by tho waves, which also took overboard tho ship's papers, charts, the log, the captain and officers' clothes, and, worse than this, the captain's instruments for navigating the ship. All this lattor damage waß effected by one enormous wave, which was followed by several others. The ship's carpenter, while engaged in repairs, wus hurled against a locker by one of these, and died almost immediately from the effects of the injury. When the crow were mustored another one was found to be missing, as were tho lifeboats, bulwarks, and deckhouse, all of which had been washed olein away. Tho ship was hove-to till 26th August, and tho feelings of the passengers (2) and crew can be imagined when they found that the voyage must bo Drosecntod without charts, sextant, or ohronomotors, and, worst of all, without a rudder. This terrible loss had not been discovered at first, the wheel being intact, and it waß only made clear when it was found that the ship had become an unmanageable log. Hundreds of miles from land, and out of the track of trading vessels, their plight looked anything but cheery. The weather too, unluckily, continued stormy, and as water found its way into the lazarette and into the hold, it beeamo necessary to keep tho pumps going night and day. Tha rigging of a jury rudder with the heavy sea prevailing proved a terrible difficult taßk. Four mothods were tried, and the last, in which a number of deck planks were lashed together with a kedge anchor at the bottom, and tho wholo suspended over the stern, with a I block and taoklo, one on eaoh side, to haul it over as required, was successful, but only after the forepart ot the ship had been lightened by the cargo boing jettisoned. To navigato the vessel to port under all these adverse conditions was naturally an exceedingly trying task, and the progress made was only at a Buail'a pace. Incessant watoh was kept by everyono, and after 39 days of this species of voyaging by dead reckoning land was sighted, and turned out to be tho Sistew Islands, to the westward of the Chathams. From that point various small mishaps were mot with, and from 2nd to 12th October was consumed in covering the 400 miles between that and New Zealand. Captain Norman and tho barque Otago are well known in Lyttelton, and naturally the occurrence has caused great excitement here. Captain Norman, in 1866, when wrecked on a coral reef while on a voyage from Sydney to San Francisco, took charge of the boat and made for Honolulu. They were fifty days in the boat, and when land was reached all wero more dead than alive. Tho Otago will discharge hor cargo and be docked.