FROM LONDON TO NEW YORK

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 48, 20 August 1917, Page 8

FROM LONDON TO NEW YORK

THREE LIVES LOST.

<II TBLEOIUrn.— PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

CHRISTCHURCH,:;This Day,. Advices received hero state thalt the Turakina was sunk last Monday on the voyage from London to New York, having safely landed her New Zealand Reinforcements in Britain. The casualties ■were the loss of two trimmers and, a, baker otft of total complement ■ of about a hundred men.

In these days it is, perhaps, a;little ambiguous to refer to any particular vessel that has met with .trouble as illfated, but a glance at the history of the Turakina shows that she has experienced her. full .shara/of .mishaps. jThe .Turakina was a steel, twin-screw steamer of- 8492 tons, and was built in 1902 by Hawthorn, Leslie, and Co., Ltd., Newcastle, England, for the New Zealand Shipping Company^' Ever since she was handed over by the builders she had been engaged in the run from New Zealand to London, via Monte Video and Teneriffe, and- was particularly noted for' her' speed., - She ;to, three years in commission before anything hap- ■ pened to besmirch her record. On 27th September, 1905, a fire occurred in the vessel's No. 4 hold as she;lay alongside the Glasgow Wharf, Wellington, but this was extinguished by tjie crew after 90 bales of wool and flax had been damaged. Two years later, almost to the day—26th September, 1907—a .serious fire broke out in the vessel's forehold soon after she left Auckland for London. The officers and crew were unable to ii.cppe with;;the.^outbreak, ajfd the;:, vessel was headed for Wellington,'! and arrived here on 4th October. She.ijivas. brought alongside the Queen's Wharf, and it was only after strenuous work ;'on the part, of the Wellington Fire Brigade, assisted by the tug Terawhiti, that 'the outbreak was suppressed. The damage on this occasion amounted to about £100,000.- - ,another.-fire_ broke out while the vessel was at Rio de Janeiro, en route •^froi^-Wellington'Jo^wndort-i^ia^jjprts^ '"In" March7~l9l3. On'lHat "occasion"sho ; had to be beached, and it was some " considerable. time..before?shercPi}ld.be l ;r^-, ■-floated. - The Turakina wasi-carrying'-a" '■• large'cargo, comprising but-tei'-, cheese, , and. jneai, ahd'.the.damage suffered'was: " very.heavy:", ;;,"" '". .".1 .'.' "''. ~ "~" '.* ■' : --The Turakina.-was- last in -Wellingtononi 30th" March last, when-, she was-in- ,. command "of' ~Captaih" WliTfe-Farsons,* R.N.R., cousin of Captain White-Par-sons (harbourmaster at Napier). As far .. as can be ascertained the vessel wa6 en ' route.: from".'London.'. to-New York' when she was .sunk;- ;" .", ;; '„' '.* ".'' ™ It has been ascertained that-when the Turakina was last in Wellington the chief engineer was Mr. Woodall, and the second engineer .Mr. Cprby., Mr. Charles Hales West joined the vessel as-an extra , engineer.