THE WRECKAGE ON THE AUCKLANDS.

Evening Star, Issue 9833, 23 October 1895, Page 3

THE WRECKAGE ON THE AUCKLANDS.

Captain Thomson, local surveyor to the Underwriters' Association, inclines to the belief that the ill-fated vessel is the Maria Alice, a steel barque of 1,114 tons. The lower topsail yard which Captain Fairchild brought back with him is 60ft long. This yard on the Timaru, Captain Thomson thinks, would be larger, that vessel being 1,363 tons; and in the case o{ the Stoneleigh, which is 2,243 tons, it would Be still larger. The ship Auckland, 1,308 tons, now lying at the cross wharf, is built on very similar lines to the Timaru, and her lower topsail yard measures 6Sft. This leads to the conclusion that the spar belonged to a smaller vessel than the. Timaru, The absence of charcoal, which would almost sure to be washed into the crevices of the rocks, and of carcasses of sheep, which would also be washed in, is another factor in leading Capta i Thomson to think that the wreckage is mot that of the Timaru. It is mentioned in the Christchurch telegram, published on our first page, that there arc evidences of new decking and new ironwork. The Timaru is twenty-one years old, and the Maria Alice only six years, and after the lapse of the latter period a vessel would ■still show signs of its recent origin. It has also been stated that some of the paint is new. Captain Thomson docs not think there is anything to support the view that the wreckage belongs to the Stoneleigh. Assuming, he says, that the latitude of 146 W. is correct, and that the Dunsyre spoke the Stoneleigh there, it fits in with the speaking by the Rotomuhana of the same ship on the 3rd March, when the steamer was four days out from Melbourne. And if the Dunsyre spoke the Stoneleigh at that time, the latter was then close on 1,600 miles east of the Auckland Islands, steering for the Cape. When trading between Australia and New Zealand Captain Thomson’s ■experience was that there was asouthcrly current running down the east coast of Australia, and also on the west coast of New Zealand, which had a tendency to put vessels to the southward. On the Home voyage a captain would naturally steer a mid-channel course between the Snares and the Aucklands, but this current might take a vessel out of her way and send her south—towards the Auckland Islands. This is a matter which causes Captain Thomson to regret very much that the Governments of the various colonies did not, a few years ago, proceed with their intention to erect a lighthouse on the Snares. The Maria Alice is a French vessel, Captain Laueelin, and the French, not being regular traders in these seas, might not know tbe currents.