CABLE NEW 8.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 146, 21 June 1904, Page 5

CABLE NEW 8.

[BI ELXOTBIO TKLKOUArM. — CO?TUIGHT.] WRECK OF THE AUSTRALIA. ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. HOW THE PASSENGERS ESCAPED. I m has association. | " MELBOURNE, 20th Juno. The ]>i!ot BtiMiner Victoiia anivcd thin nhcinoon with ihu pawiongi'is and tho gic.iler poilion oi the ciew of tJie AusUilllil, \\ JilC'h fclllick llll) lOtk.S .it l'l)illt Nepi'.m shortly iilt.T 2 a m. on Monday. The ii'in.undor die standing liy until all tlio personal L'tiocLs of tho piu^jjungorii have been landed. Latest lepoits stilled that the Australiii lii\s half it iniie noith of thu Pctrimm vicek, close up to Point Nepenn, She i« rusting on i,ho locks fi.tin tha bow to well under amids-hips, in twenty-four feet of water al lloud-lido. Tlio vessel ban a considerable list to starboard. Tho bottom is badiy stove in, and tho holds are lull of watvr. Experienced seamen aboard the ship consider there i.9 no chance of .refloating tho Austi.ilia. shuck tho water rushed so rapidly in tlio vessel that numbers of passengers in tho after part of the .steamer had to wado up to their shoulders in water when escaping. T jc look-out man on the pilot steamer Vicloiia first noticed the signal* of distress jnd went in search. Owing to tho darkness, he wont outside without iindini' anything, but discovered tho a\ reck on tho return journey. It is difficult to understand how tho disaster happened, ns tho Australia's position is now huie near tjio cntranco, or channel, which tho lights nt Quucnsclifl'o and South Olmnnel clearly indicate. The captain stales tho pilot was picked up four or five miles outside Captain Cole was standing on tho bridge, alongside the pilot, when the vcAiel sH'ruck. She was steaming at Iho rate of fourteen knots and a half at the time. Jle immediately gave the orders to close the watertight' compartments. ■ Thero was no excitement or panic. Tho pilot stated that when the disaster happened he beenmo delirious, and was taken below, whero he recovered. Captain Wyniurk, marine surveyor, reports Unit the holds of tho Australia are full of water. Outside the spot where tlio vessel settled down the swirl of the tido is never still, except for a fow minutes at slack water. Nothing could bo done to-day towards salving Uie cargo. If a south-westerly gaie springs up Iho steamor must break «p. Tho loss of the f vessel will foil on tho Peninsular and Qricntal Company, which is its own underwriters. Tiio insurances on the cargo, which includo a considerable consignment of toflj are mostly in BiiUsh oilices. A TOTAL WRECK. (Received Juno 21, 8.59 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Tho steamer Australia has been abandoned as a total wreck. A VALUABLE CARGO. SALVAGING OPERATIONS COMMENCED. (Received June 21, 10.7 a.m.) MELBOURNE, Thi« Dny. The loss of the Australia will not interfere with tho Peninsular service, arrangements having been mtvdo to till tho vacancy. Estimates of the valuo of the cargo range from £15,000 to £25,000, including seventy tons for Now Zealand. Salvaging operations wcro commenced to-day. Tho Marino Surveyor considers the steamer will hang together for aotno weeks if the weather remains lino, but that she will soon go to pieces otherwise. The Government Astronomer piediets storms. STATEMENT BY THE CAPTAIN. THE CHIEF ENGINEER'S DIFFICULT TASK. . (Recoived Juno 21, 10.21 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Tlio captain of the Australia Ktaten that tho pilot wished to givo orders " Full it peed n&torn " when the steamer struck, bub he declined. The chief, engineer was off duty when tho accident hn-ppened, though ho immediately rushed to Hie engines. Tho men woro up to their waists when ho reached tlio engine-room. Ono check valve was not turned off, and in order to reach it the chief engineer had to swim. At considerable risk he managed to turn tho valve off. The Lascar firemen made their escapo as soon as the water began to rise, bub they <md tho remainder of tho coloured crew on tho wholo behaved coolly and well. Tha P. and O. Company has run its own insnrnnco for fifty years, and for that purposo created a largo r&servo fund. When the four expensive, vessels of the Moldavia typo were built a special sum of £250,000 wa« placed to the reserve fund, bringing it up to £1,250,000. Tho company's wreck and casualty list is na follows: — Great Liverpool, wrecked off Finisterre, 1846 ; Nepaul, wrecked ol| Plymouth, 10th December, 1890 ; Home, pnrlly burnt at Giconock, 27th September, 1891 ; Aden, wrecked off Island of Socotm (itevonty-cight lives lost), 9lh Juno, 1897 ; Sobraon, total loss near Soochow, April, 1CD1 ; CKrnittic, wrecked off Shadwan, Gulf of Suez, twenty-fivo lives lost, 13th September, 1869; Singapoie, stmck a sunken rock and went down, no lives lost, 20th May, 1867 ; Rangoon, wrcoked at Kndir Rock, off Point do Onlle, no lives lost, Ist November, 1871 ; Tasmania, wrecked ab Monachi Roekn, Corsica, twonty-three lives lost, 17th April, 1887 ; Indus, wrecked on const of Ceylon, Bth November, 1884; Bokhara, from Shanghai to Hongkong, caught in a typhoon, wrecked off Sand Inland, about 125 lives lost, 10th October, 1892 j China, from Australia to London, went ashore at. tho Island of Porim iv March, 1898, got of September, 1898, £57,000 paid for salvage expenses ; Bombay, ran down and sank tho American ship Onoida off Yokohama, 24th January, 1870, about 115 lives lost ; Rome, flro in No. 3 hold, whilo on tho voyago from Australia to London ; Formosa, on fire in Royal Albert Dock, May, 1903. Another wreck, which took placo at Point Nopean, was that of tho Petriana, on 28th November, 1903. At Point. Lonsdalo, near Point Nep<Mn, the following wrecks have occurred i— -George Roper (total loss), 4th July, 1883 j Rodondo, struck, afterwards benched, 6th November, 1883 ; Glaneuso (totnl loss), 2nd October, 1886 ; Gango (total low), 23rd July, 1887 ; ship Holyhead (total loss), 12th February, 1890. For Bronchial Cough, tako Woods' Groat Peppermint Cure, Is 6d and 28 od, ovoiywht'ro. — Advt. For children's hacking cough nt night tako Woods' Groat Poppormint Curo. It 6a and 2s 6d.— Advt.