FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 111, 12 May 1934, Page 23

FIFTY YEARS AGO

I The wreck of the steamer Kangaroo I was reported in "The Post" of May 5, 1884. The vessel foundered off Cape Campbell at noon on May 3 of that year, and the passenger and crew of fourteen were brought in by the When on a trip from Westport to Lyttclton with a cargo mainly of coal, the vessel, which was 185 tons gross, grazed a rock off Cape Campbell. When it was found that she was leaking in the forward ballast tank, she was headed for Clifford Bay, but quickly went down by the head. One boat with nine men made Clifford Bay, and the other-was picked up by the Ocean, of Nelson. It was thought that the rock struck was the same one as the Stella had previously touched. The steamer India, which left Newcastle on.April 26, 1884, for Lyttelton with a cargo of coal, foundered five days later without loss of life. She was a sister ship to the Ferret, whoso attempted seizure by her officers and crew occurred some months before, and had a gross tonnage of 880. The steamer State of Florida, trading between Glasgow and America, was several days overdue, and lifeboats bearing the vessel's name had been picked up in mid-Atlantic. Much anxiety was felt regarding the fate of passengers and crew. She was later reported to have collided with a barque and to have foundered. Only forty-four of the 167 people on board were saved. ! Pho torpedo boats ordered by the Ivow Zealand Government arrived in , Dunedin by the Lyttelton on May 9, 1 18S4. Their hulls were described as bomg G3ft long, with a breadth of 7ft 6m. They were built entirely of steel, and weio designed to float flush with the water. There were no decks, and the boats presented a very peculiar appearance, being completely covered by a.steel turtlcbaek. Aft, there was a small steel tower, above which, on a flat roof, a Nordenfelt gun was to be mounted. The boats had two funnels, and on the forepart was fitted a lonf pole on the end of which was an explosive, charge. The purpose of the boats was to run this charge against the side of an enemy warship. Au order for the construction of one ot the largest iron steamers up till then turned out by the colony was given to the Te Aro Foundry, Wellington. The ™sscl was to be capable of carrying JVO tons of cargo, and would be powered with compound surface-condensing engnios. She was for the Black Diamond lino, and was to be engaged in the West Coast trade

Ihc Zoalanaia arrived at Auckland on May i, ISS4, from San Francisco after tlio fastest mail trip recorded up to that time.. She had left San Francisco on April 14 of tllat yeai ._ An experimental shipment of apples was taken Homo from Tasmania hv the Orient steamer Warwick.

Fifty years ago the steamer Victory arrived at Gravesena. after a long passago of sixty-ono days from Wellington. She carried 6000 carcasses of mutton in good condition, and her captw ?, ttributGcl' tlio delay to the fact tnat the refrigerators used up nearly ail his steam. . The Victory was late in sailmg for New Zealand again, and the company had to board the 200 emigrants at its own expense, as well as paying a tine ot £25 a day to the Government.