THE WAIRARAPA'S WRECK.

Evening Star, Issue 9534, 3 November 1894, Page 4

THE WAIRARAPA'S WRECK.

A SAILOR AMONG THE PASSENGERS.

Patrick Nicholson, one of the Wairarapa's passengers, says: I have been a seafaring man for upwards of seventeen years, and there is no foundation for the report which bas got about since we were brought to Auckland that the officers and crew looked after themselves, leaving the passengers to do as best they could. I myself was in boat No. 5. There were the fourth officer, one sailor, two stewards, two firemen, and the second cook. That was all out of thirty all told in the boat. In the next boat, No. 3, I saw the third officer, one seaman, three firemen, stewards, and the butcher, out of twenty-seven altogether. I was on deck at the time the vessel struck. It wa3 very thick, foggy weather ; you could not see 50yds ahead. The look-out was changed at midnight, and as the look-uut man was going forward 1 said to him, friendly like : " Keep a good look-out ahead." That was because it was so foggy, and having had experience at sea it was a natural thing to say to the look-out man. He had not been at his post more than four or five minutes at most when the crash came.

Then you think no fault lay with the officers and men ? —As 1 have said, I was for years at sea. I myself was wrecked when going to Melbourne some years ago ; and I think the officers of the Wairarapa did everything in their power.

Did you see the captain when the ship struck ?—Y'es; I saw him on the bridge. He was there, as far as I remember, every time I noticed the bridge during the day. Of course I was not on deck tiic whole of the time.

Did you hear the captain give any instructions when the vessel struck ?—Yes, to clear away the boats. How long would that be after the striking? —Not more than from six to eight minutes. When the instruction was given I helped to clear away the boat-falls. I knew we had no chance from the first by the crash. . When you struck could you see anything of the land ? —We could just sec the loom of a big mountain. It would no!; be more than ten yards away from the ship. Did the man on the look-out report anything before striking, did you hear?—Y'es ; about a minute before he reported " land," and then I heard the engine room telegraph go; probably that was the order to go astern.

When the order was given to clear away the boats did the men go to their stations ? —Yes; each ellicer and man went to his place at once—that is, as far as three boats I could see were concerned. There was not the least scurry. They could not, however, yet the starboard boats out, for the ship went at once on her beam ends. The passengers were in awful terror, and "wanted to jump into the boats in spite of sailors. I heard the fourth otliccr ask the male passengers to let the women and children go first; but in spite of that some of them rushed the boats. We took into our boat many that were floating overboard. Then you are sure order w<*3 maintained amongst the otliccrs and crew ?—Yes; perfect order. THE CAPTAIN'S STEWARD.. The captain's steward (Mr Allen) said that during the day preceding the disaster the captain never left the bridge except for a few moments at a time. In his position as steward to the captain he was able to speak with authority on the captain's movements during Sunday, and, from what he himself had observed, any relied ions on the condition of mind in which Captain M'lntoshwas at the time of the wreck is devoid of the slightest foundation. As soon as he became aware of the ship having struck he immediately rushed on deck to ask the captain for his orders, and found that the only persons on the bridge were the captain and one of the officers. Captain M'lntosh had a little lunch at noon, but refrained from taking any dinner at six o'clock owing to nnxioty about the safety of the ship in the <lense fog through which it was passing. He had a drink at eleven and another at five, but beyond these he had not touched liquor of any kind during the whole of Sunday. Mr Allen further states that one of the two boys M'Donald, who are amongst those missing, was standing near the horses at the time when the ship heeled over on her side, the boy being trampled down by the horses and killed by a case of oranges which fell upon him as he lay on the deck. THE CARPENTER'S STATEMENT. Thompson, the ship's carpenter st.ites : I was in bed at the time of the accident, but us soon as the steamer struck I rushed along to sound the forehold, and then went to report to the captain. At the first sounding there was no water in the hold. Four minutes afterwards I sounded again and found 15in of water. I once more went to the bridge and reported the matter to the captain. He seemed quite cool and collected, and calling mc to the ship's side showed me the cliff. He said : "Go and get the boats out as soon as possible." I went at once to carry out his orders. Some people wonder why we did not wait and take more passengers in the boats ; buo the truth is that when fifteen were in it the boat was washed clean oil". As soon as we lauded at Whangapiwa Bay the third otlieer, the chief engineer, several of the crew, and myself walked over to the settlers, who guided us over to Maori Bay, and got the Natives to come and try and rescue people in their boats. If we had not told the Maoris they would not have known where to go. At first the Maoris wanted to pick up the dead, but the oilieers got them to go oil' and rescue those who were still living. NEWSPAPER COMMENT. The 'Lyttclton Times' says: "The damuing facts appear to be that the Wairarapa was pushed "along at a high rate of speed through a fog thick enough to cause auxiety; that this high speed was maintained in spite of doubts that prevailed as to the exact position of the vessel, and in spite of the fact that there could be no reason for hastening into port before daylight. A prudent seaman with a full sense of the responsibility of his position and the v;duc of the -GO lives under his care would have gone cautiously or stood out to sea till daybreak. Captain M'lntosh was an experienced mariner, and had the reputation of being a careful one. He has died at the post of duty as becomes a brave and fearless man ; but we should all have preferred to be able to contemplate his courage apart from a suspicion that there was in it an element of rashness. It may seem ungenerous to hint at faults in the dead, but in the interests of the hundreds of our ejlonists who daily place their lives in the hands of master mariners we must condemn the envr (whether committed by Captain M'lntosh or by one of his subordinates) which caused the loss of a well-found and splendidly equipped vessel on a comparatively calm night and on a safe coast, with which every one of the otliccrs was doubtless familiar. Over-confidence was probably the vain error that led to such a terrible sveriiice of life. Have not some of us heard ' cipUins boasting how they have ' felt their j way* into it harbor during a thick fog, and have not we sometimes applauded the feat '>. We do not wish to prejudge the case of the otliccrs of the Wairarapa; but we do hope that the judicial inquiry will be searching and satisfactory, and that there will be no hesitation in apportioning blame, and, if need be, punishment among those responsible for the awful blunder."

It is, of course, impossible at this stage to account for the calamity ; to attempt to do so would belike prejudgment. It seems, unhappily, only too obvious that someone has blundered. The ship was twenty odd miles out of her course; the fog, therefore,, must, as Captain Fairolrild observes, have been so dense that both the Van Diemen and theMokihinaulightswereniissed. Apasscnger states that in the afternoon they only caught occasional gliinp3es of the coat,l< through the fog. The steamer, therefore, must have been steering by log and compass merely through a dense mist, Why, th'cn, such a speed as thirteen and a-half knots'—almost the vessel's limit speed—unless the captain believed himself well clear of the k'ld? This for the present must rcmai'i a mysto ry. . . . . We are very, very far from wishing to blame anyone ; but it is impossible for a layman to shut hb.eycs to the fact that the captain was the only oflicfcr wlio Jost his life.—' Prese.'

GENERAL. Messrs Howland and Bailey, who were drowned, were miners, living at Livingstone, and had gone to Coolgaruie, but were returning by the Wairarapa. The relatives of both live at Maerewhenua. H.M.S. Royalist leaves for the Barrier to-morrow. A lady who was on the bridge near the captain corroborates Mr Harris's statement that Captain M'lntosh dived off the bridge before it was washed away. Just previously to going over he said something, the first part of which she could not distinctly hear, but the termination of the sentence was "the last watch." He had no lifebelt on. She had gone from the saloon with the two stewardesses to the bridge for safety after the vessel struck.

The Fremier has authorised the Mayor of Auckland to expend £IOO to meet the requirements of necessitous survivors, and Mr Seddon has also decided that the Maoris who were so kind to the persons wrecked shall not suffer pecuniary loss, for instructions have been sent to Inspector Hickson to forward goods to the Maoris on the Great Barrier Island to the value of .-£2 O. The following goods have been accordingly shipped :—One ton of flour, five boxes tea, five bags sugar, five small bags oatmeal. A movement is on foot for the ladies of Auckland to act with a view to affording help to female sufferers. James Leavcs(}ite, one of the steerage passengers, had ]ust sold up his home at Geolong to come to New Zealand with his wifo, their destination being Wellington. He was asleep wheh the crash occurred. His wife was amongst the first to be washed overboard. He himself was unable to swim. He was washed to the rigging, and was one of the last to get ashore on the life lines. He finds he lost everything he was .worth—clothes, tools, and money—in all about £IOO. Leavesque informed a reporter that there was something of a presentiment amongst the stccrago passengers during the whole of Sunday that something was about to happen* An undefinable dread was felt, which could not be attributed cither to the fog or speed at which the ship was going, but the unsettled feeling was so strong that some of the passengers did not go below or undress. This statement was to some extent borne out by Mr Chamberlain (a commercial traveller) and a cabin passenger, who said that some of the passengers noticed with dread the speed with which the ship was moving through the dense fog, and some of them went to bed without undressing. Mr E. T. Gillon, editor of the Wellington ' Post,' who is now in Christchurch, m route to Australia to recruit his health, had telegraphed to Auckland to secure a berth in the doomed vessel. He states that he and Chief Steward Judd were, strangely enough, both on board of the steamship Taranaki when she was wrecked in the Bay of Pleuty fifteen yews ago. Mr Judd, who lias now met his death by shipwreck, was a very popularand highly-esteemed officer. Another steward who was saved from the wreck of the Taranaki along with Mr Judd was among those who lost their lives by the wreck of the Tararua.—' Lyttelton Times.'

Staff-captain Annette Paul and Captain Laura Flavell, of the Salvation Army, were returning via Australia from London, where they had attended General Booth's public congress. Both were stationed in Christchurch, Miss Paul being secretary for rescue work, and Miss Flavell-her assistant. On Thursday morning Colonel Bailey received the following telegram from Miss Paul:— " Wairarapa wrecked. Safe. Laura gone heaven. Buried (at) Maori settlement. Pray." A young girl named Annie Howsea, who was accompanied by her grandmother, Mrs Forbach, aged seventy, and W. Baker, a gentleman friend, was the only one saved of the three. When the alarm was given the girl got up and assisted her grandmother on to the deck, where they were supplied with lifebuoys. A few minutes later they were washed overboard. They clung together in the water, and succeeded in getting along for a time until the old lady lost her lifebelt. The young girt was very nearly in the same predicament, but fortunately succeeded in making the belt tighter. The old lady clung to her grandchild and besceched her not to leave her.'saying, if it was to be, they would meet death together, for she was not frightened. She told the girl to take the puree which she had with her, and soon afterwards died in her arms. The girl hung on to her dead relation as long as possible, but ultimately had to let her go. The girl states that when she left the cabin she looked about for the gentleman who accompanied them, but could find no trace of him. Her grandmother wanted her to return to their cabin to get a watch that she prized greatly, but she was too frightened to do so. After being in the water a long time she was picked up by a passing boat. Mr Hawaii, who in the list of the saved was described as Mr Hanna (a saloon passenger), said : When the vessel struck I went on the bridge. There were about forty of us there altogether. I was standing about a yard from the captain, and it was about a quai ter of fin hour boFoie we were washed away that he took a dive from where he was standing. When the vessel struck he was only about four or five yards from the cliff, but then it was too steep to hope to get a footing. On the other side there was a gap of between 60yds and 100 yds. This was the only way to the ledtre a few of us after wards reached in safety. I was with Mrs Brown and her two children. I had taken them from the deck to the bridge. When the great wave came we were all swept away, and I lost sight of them all. After being about three-quarters of an hour in the wat?r I managed to swim to the shore. The children I never saw again, but I saw Mrs Brown about six hours afterwards clinging to a raft, from which she sank with exhaustion. The water was full of my fellow-passengers and horses. One of the latter I saw strike a woman on the head with his hoof and kill her.

When the survivors reached Copper Mine Bay they joined in singing the Doxology, and Mr Varley offered up thanks for their deliverance.

The body of Captain Laura Flavall, of the Christehurch Salvation Armv corps, was recovered by a Maori named Charley White. One of the men at the settlement made a rough cofiin, and the Salvation Army lassie was° buried, Mr Varley conducting the funeral service. Deceased has a father in Feilding, but her mother is dead. Mr Foster Brown, a stereotyDcr in the • New Zealand Herald' office, suffered a terrible bereavement in the loss of his wife pud two children. Brown came over from Melbourne about three months ago under engagement to the proprietors of the ' Heta 1 ,),' leaving his wife and children to follow wl" 1 n he had prepared a home for them. The wife gave a message to a man who was saved for her husband.

A young man named French, who had purchased his discharge from H.M.S. R'ngdove, and who was on the way to Auckland to settle, is stated to have acted with great bravery. He got a young woman on to a ledge of rock only sufficient for both to stand on, and, the tide rising, it was only a question of tinie when they would be washed off. He swam about and cut cords from the lifebelts on the dead till he made a sort of rope-ladder, and got her up on a safer ledge twenty feet higher up the cliff. As some oranges were floating about he passed them up to her, and she was on the rock eighteen hours before being taken off. It is said some gallant deeds were also done by husbands in trying to save their wives and children.

A steerage passenger named John Austin was the last man to leave the vessel. He had previously jumped into the third boat that was lowered, and when it came to grief he managed to get back on board. He took up his position in the rigging, thinking that the safest part of the steamer. He was about to go ashore when he saw two Chinamen who had for several hours held as high a position in the rigging as it was possible to get. They seemed very anxious to remain on board, and did not fancy going ashore with the aid of a rope. Austin did not feel inclined to leave the celestials in sole possession of the ship, so he tried to coax them clown from the rigging, offering to assist them ashore. The Chinese did not savee for a long time, and before they would venture into the water they stripped and sent their clothes in front of them.

Miss Emily Dickerson, of Victoria street, Auckland, says: " Two Salvation lasses occupied the same cabin as I did ; they had been to London, I think, and were returning

home. The Salvation lasses said:''Uon't be afraid, Miss Dickerson, God will look after us; we are prepared to die." Miss Flavall offered up a prayer in the cabin, and we parted. I went on to the main deck along with the Salvation Army lasses, who started singing hymns. I then hung on to a rail near the captain's bridge. When I met Dunlop, the second engineer, I said to him " Look after me." He replied " You stick to me." The ship was fast filling at this time, and I said to Dunlop " We had better make for the mast." We then went to the mainmast. At this time one had reached the mast. Dunlop helped me to the mast, and told me to stick to him. . I clung to the rigging with very little apparel on, and was in this position for twelve hours. When the welcome dawn appeared I saw a woman, evidently young, and a young man. The man was swimming and endeavoring to make for the mast with the woman, but a huge wave came and washed them out to sea. The sons of Mrs M'Donald, of Cumberland street, Dunedin, were named John and George. John was the saloon boy, and George belonged to the deck department. The names of these lads have been hitherto given incorrectly. SYMPATHY. In concluding his sermon in the Christchurch Cathedral on Thursday night, Bishop Julius referred to the disaster. There was, he said, a shadow on the heart of everyone, and the cry of pain fell upon the can The church must weep with those that wept. The lamentations of many a sorrowing home were deep in the hearts of all. The one overwhelming thought was one of sorrow for those in trouble. He asked the congregation to lift up their hearts in prayer with pleas of intercession for every mourning soul left desolate. In St. Joseph's Cathedral yesterday morning reference was made to the disaster, and sjjecial prayers suitable to the occasion were recited. Father Lynch said that Bishop Moran was much grieved on learning last evening of the occurrence, and deeply sympathised with the friends of those who had been lost. The Auckland Auxiliary to the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society express tender sympathy to the friends who have been plunged into bereavement. Yesterday being the Feast of All Saints, mass was celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland, and reference was made to the disaster by Bishop Luck. He asked the congregation to pray for the souls of those drowned, especially for the Rev. Father M'lvor, of the Passionist Order, who was coining to Auckland as administrator of St. Patrick's Cathedral.