FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1935, Page 30

FIFTY YEARS AGO

COLLISION AND WRECK

•k&vxeport from the keeper of the 'Tjera^hitr station ofia vessel on Tom's i&p^&fej-'a.in. on May: 4, 1885, was c^nftrm'eSlSwhenthe steamer Huia ar- : r|y;eii^fiE'bip; \Wahganui that afternoon i Mthf; the crew, of ; the tirirguet'dceania.: '. The,, captain-.stated, thiat had -left; Adelaide on Ap^f^w^thtaicargo of bark; for1 Wet lin^toiui^She; had experienced head winds) until the previous night, when she was 30 miles from Kapiti, and then ran down the: coast with a favourable wind. In the morning >slie struck while going at 9 knots and drifted off? I filling rapidly. about a Quarter bf:ah hour later. The boats put off just as the ship settled down. She was a nine-year-old wooden vessel of 320 tons net, and was only partly insured. A collision occurred in Manukau Harbour on the morning of May 3, 1885, between the steamers Herald and Gareloch. The Herald was seen to be bearing straight down on the Gareloch, which was coming in from Waitara, and she at once reversed engines, but the Herald drove full into the GarelQch/s gtacksajd, fewfr Sfiflj'iiei:

plates cracked and dented to the water's edge arid her forecastle head raised, the Gareloch made for Onehunga Wharf, leaking badly. The Herald continued her voyage to Greymouth.'-

The steamer Wellington returned to Auckland early on May 5, 1885, and reported that she had been in collision with the steamer Macgregor. She had left Auckland the previous evening, and was near Kawau in a strong southwesterly gale, when a vessel was sighted. It later crossed : the Wellington's bow. Although her engines were reversed, the Wellington struck the Macgregor amidships, and cut her down to the water line. The Macgregor made for Kawau in. a sinking condition, and was beached just in time, her passengers having transferred to the Wellington. The Wellington had several of her .bow plates stove in. An attempt to raise the Macgregor was made unsuccessfully by the steamer Glenelg and the sailers Waitemata and Gazelle. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion steamer Arawa arrived at Hobart from London en route for Port Chalmers with a case' of smallpox aboard. A speed of 10 knots ; was maintained by 1 the. Wellington steam launch Gordon when on trial. The.ketch Comet, of 50 tons net register, 'was reported ! ashore at' Gisborne. It was reported from London that the British Government had purchased the Italian 10,570J ton warship Dandolo, one of the two largest ironclads afloat.. Two large steamers with unknown*official letters were sighted off Bluff during the week. Twenty-three men were arrested on May 3, 1885,., for refusing to take fhe [Coptic to sea, . After having loaded 4000 tons of coal for Guam, the Coptic, I which was at 'Wellington, was to pro-jceed-under the or.ders of the Government. It was admitted that the captain's orders were sealed. Volunteers ; speedily filled the men's places, and

th£ ship left on the morning of May sv" ''' '- » "A new and important trade was opened up by the arrival at Wellington from the South Sea Islands, via Auckland, of the steamer Janet Nicoll on May 10, 1885, with a cargo of fruit. She was a steamer of 762 tons gross and a carrying, capacity of 935-tons, and had-a speed of 10 knots. The vessel had been chartered by\ Messrs. Donald and Edenborough, of Auckland, for the South Sea Island-New Zealand fruit trade.

The schooner Nightingale arrived at Sydney on May 3 from Auckland in a waterlogged condition, and in charge of five seamen. She had been abandoned 32 miles from Sydney, but a boatload! of men Jiad returned and had succeeded in sailing her in. The captain, mate, boatswain, cook, and two passengers were missing.