WRECKED AT CHATHAM ISLANDS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 26, 30 July 1918, Page 8

WRECKED AT CHATHAM ISLANDS

CRJEW AND PASSENGERS SAFE

!A; wireless message was received from [he Chatham Islands yesterday afternoon by Mr. E. G. F. Zohrab, manager \i tlie Chatham Islands Fishing Conaiany, Ltd., announcing, that the steamer limitangi had struck $ reef .and would irobably become a total f lbss. vThe.mesage stated:—Himitanjfi ' wrecked '. on jtfonau Reef, Waitangi %estf; ai'-4M-this; morning. Probable total loss. VcsjseUfull of water. All hands safe. Full ireport later."

A Press .? Association telegram^ from Christchureh, received. last':evemngi: coniSrmed the wireless message, arid added that the Himitangi (which is owned by fhe' Chatham Islands Fishing Company) was on her.way from Waitangi tcrKaingaroa and Owenga when the mishap occurred, and that the passengers and Icrew were saved. The Himitangi arrived at Waitangi on Sunday morning from Lyttelton. The Himitangi left Wellington at midday last Tuesday for Lyttelton, from iw'hich port sho sailed at 10.15 o'clock Ipn Thursday night- for Waitangi, the main port and settlement at the Chatham Islands. After discharging, the vessel jwas to have loaded frozen fish at Kaifcgaroa and Owenga for Wellington. The {Himitangi was to have returned via Lyttelton to Wellington, aud was exJiected here about next Sunday. Captain Charles Thompson was mas(ter of the Himitangi, and he had with ihim:—Chief officer, Mr. J. Muirj secpnd, Mr. W. M'Kinnon; chief engineer, |Mr.' N. Walker; second, Mr. W. Ozamis; isteward, Mr. J. White; cook, Mr. A. JMotz. The vessel carried three firemen &nd five seamen. The; majority of the 'above belong to-Wellington. !.;v .'; : ! The Himitangi was built at Paisley, ISeotknd, in 3899, for Levin and Co., ilitd.,' Wellington, under the personal (supervision of Mr. W. Signal, that comjpariy's. engineer, by J. Fullerton and !C6:j .The Himitangi was a steel single Iscrew vessel of 323 tons gross, and 149 itons net, of the following dimensions :?— iLengfch, 156 ft; beam, 24ft lin; depth, J9ft.' Her engines were manufactured by IMuir and Houston, Ltd., Glasgow. She 1.-was- fitted with electric light, and was [considered one of the most up-to-date I vessels on the^oast. There was accomjmodation for,about 26, passengers. After.; (being purchased from Levin and Co! in' iMay, 1911, by the Chatham Islands Fishjing Company, she was fitted' with a reifrigerated hold. The Himitangi ■■ had a cargo-carrying capacity of about 250 jtons. . ! Monau Reef, Waitangi West, where i'the Himitangi has come to grief/:,is:on |the north-west end of the larger Chat. ham. ■. " '■ ..'■ •; ": '. :' ■ ' The Himitangi met with a,'previous.; I mishap at the Chathanvlslands. 1 On-11th' February, 1912, when anchored in Wai-' Jtangi roadstead, the ship7dfifted.bn iio" !the beach.in.^a, strong,'breeze.and/heavy^ jsurf, through the "cables" parting.*"- Capj.tain Cowan, now of the Canterbury ; Steamship Company's Breeze, was then i in command, but when the fact that the i ship was drifting was reported to him it iwas too late to prevent the vessel from . grounding on a sandy -bottom. • For. I nearly seven weeks the" Himitangi rer I inained'there, hard and-fast.- Tt-was ! at 1 p.m.\ on 28th March that, assisted by Messrs. Levin and Co. 's steamer Gertie, the Himitangi Refloated. The dam-* .age comprised a few slackened rivets in i ' the keel plates and the keelson in 'the stokehold. Temporary repairs were effected, and the Himitangi returned to Wellington, under her own steam.