FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1936, Page 27

FIFTY YEARS AGO

LAUNCH OF THE MANA

■"The screw steamer which has been ■in course of construction ..at Captain Williams's yard, on Te Aro foreshore, for several months past, was launched shortly before 6 o'clock this morning, in the presence of a>■ number of people," said "The Post" of September1 30, 1886.- "The launsh was not quite as successful as could have been de-

sired, but those who were concerned in it are quite satisfied with the manner in which it went off. Immediately the shores were knocked away-the steamer, glided down the ways, .and before she touched the water was christened the Mana, the ceremony being performed by Miss Daniel, daughter of Mr. J. Daniel, superintendent of the yard; Before the vessel's stem had cleared the, ways her .stern stuck in the sand,' owing to the lowness of the tide." ' - ' ' ■■-

. During a heavy thunderstorm which struck Wellington on September 27 a flash struck the main top-gallant mast of the barque Sophia R. Luhrs, lying in the harbour, and cut off about two feet of the pole bearing the weathercock. Three men who were on deck were knocked down by the lightning and rendered insensible.

A cable message received in Auckland and printed in "The Post" stated that the Sovereign of the Seas, in which the Breat Barrier murderers escaped, had been wrecked off Port Macquarrie, New South Wales.

Information was received in Wellington on October 1 that the s.s. Lyttelton, from Ferntown to Wellington, struck on the Beef Barrels the previous nicht and sank in ten minutes in deep water, going completely out of sight. The captain and crew took to the Boats and went to French Pass, where they were picked up by the steamer ■"""■way and taken to Nelson.

. During the passage of the Himalaya from Glasgow the coal in the main hold ignited, and it was found necessary to jettison some of the general cargo and 50 tons of coal.

The s.s. Hauraki, which arrived from Lyttelton on October 3, brought up thecaptain and crew of the ketch Janet, which was wrecked off Cape Campbell the previous day.