A COLLISION OFF THE COAST.

Evening Star, Issue 8084, 7 December 1889, Page 2

A COLLISION OFF THE COAST.

CHRISTCHURCH, December 7. The steamer Rotorua, bound for Lyttelton, and the steamer Orawaiti, bound for Westport, Collided in a thick fog off the fonkonras, at a quarter to three o'clock this morning. Neither Vessel Is seriously injured: The Rotorua left Wellington at »i» last niehtf a»d kept her fog-horns going all th 6 night. Captain. Nellie, wliile on the bridge, saw a light jusfi ahead and heard a fog-horn. He instantly slowed the effgines of the Rotorua, and had brought her almost to a standstill, when a collision occurred. Several passengers rushed on deck, and for a time there was sotee excitement. In fifteen minutes it was fonnd that there was no occasion for alarm. The boats were got out and all preparations made for saving life. The vessels remained by one another for an hour. The Rotorua's bows were cut down from the decking to near the waterline for a distance of 13ft, through four plates. Some seamen were shaken out of their berths but not injured. The Rotorua arrived at Lyttelton about 12.30, and the Orowaiti is now (1.30 p.m.) coming in. The Rotorua goes to Dunedin on Monday to be docked. Latch.

The Rotorua's injuries are on the starboard bow; the Orowaiti's on the port bow, and she is the more seriously injured. She was in light trim. Ali her injuries are well above the water line. Her plates on the port side are rent away from the deck to 4ft or sft from the bow, while her plates and beams aro started for about 12ft, and her foretopmaßt is carried away. No personal injuries are reported. [Fkom (Job Own Correspondent.] CHRISTCHURCH, December 7. A serious collision occurred last night between the s.s. Rotorua and the s.s. Orawaiti. The former left Wellington at six, and the latter Lyttelton for the West Coast yesterday. AH went well till three o'clock; then, in a dense fog, the Orawaiti struck the Rotorua forward, and cut her down to the water's edge, displacing about 20ft of the bulwarks. The Rotorua began to make water, but the hole was plugged and the pumps set to work, and the water did not gain. The fog was dense, and for an hour both steamers moved round to ascertain the extent of their injury. The captain of the Orawaiti said his boat was injured, and that he was returning to Lyttelton, and they could not get intro closer communication owing to the dense fog. Both steamers came on for Lyttelton. The water did not gain in the Rotorua as the sea was very calm, and the injury went but little below the water-line. The boats were promptly got ready on the Rotorua for an emergency, and the passengers behaved with the utmost coolness.

The Orawaiti arrived at 1,30. Her first and second plates are completely broken, and driven 3ft into the vessel under the forecastle head, and the lower part of the deck can be seen from the outside. The Orawaiti was in ballast, and was therefore very high out of the water when she struck. Had she been laden with coal Bhe must have carried the Rotorua's bow clean away. The Rotorua's davit is on the Orawaiti, whose stem is completely smashed for lift, and in all five plates arc badly damaged. The Orawaiti's people will gwe no information.