THE OVERDUE PERTHSHIRE.

Evening Star, Issue 10931, 13 May 1899, Page 2

THE OVERDUE PERTHSHIRE.

Tho Qjeen Eleanor, which sailed from Sydney yesterday for Auckland, will keep a look-out for the Perthshire; The Marine Department has requested Australian-bound vessels to keep a sharp look-out for the overdue steamer. Our Wellington correspondent' wires : The theory of, nautical men is that she has been carried northwards towards Howe Inland, which is the direction of the prevailing winds.”

As already stated, the agents and underwriters are satisfied that there is no cause for alarm, and that the protracted voyagei ia due to an accident to the Perthshire’s' machinery, The only real danger, it is, generally admitted by nautical men, is in' making a bad landfall on the New Zealand' coast. Recognising this, the local agents took prompt steps to make sure that the Perthshire had not come to grief on the rockbound west coast of the South Island, and a very careful search has been made, frem the Bluff to Five-fingers Point, near' Dusky Sound. Having satisfied themselves on this point, those more immediately concerned are confident the Perthshire will turn up or be picked up in a day or two as a “ lame duck.” Meanwhile, steps have been taken to make further search for the steamer. The Hinemoa, now on the West Coast, will make an examination from Hokitika to Big Bay. Tho captain of the Hawea, which is making the passage from Greymouth to the Bluff, has been instructed to keep a sharp look out, and: if necessary make a close search of the shoreJ Further, Mr James Mills, managing director of the Union S S. Company, has instructed tho captain of the s.s. Wanaka, leaving Newcastle for Lyttelton on Tuesday next to follow the line in which it is supposed the Perthshire would drift, and to cruise for two or three days in a zigzag course in the hope of picking her up. The Wanaka is putly laden with coal, so will be in good .condition to help the Perthshire; and she is also supplied with a goad ste l hawser and extra rocket signals to attract attention during the night. Other vessels have also been instructed to keep a sharp look-out for the overdue steamer, and the owners and underwriters are convinced this search is quite as certain of success as if a steamer was specially chartered and sent out.

The Perthshire loaded cargo at Rockhampton and Brisbane, and called at Sydney to coal. She left Sydney on April 25 for the Bluff. The distance is about 1,107 miles, and it should have taken between five and six days. The Perthshire is therefore eleven days overdue. A telegram from the Bluff states that the Hawea, which arrived there this morning from Weatport, closely examined the coasi oh the passage round, bub taw no traces of any wreckage which might have come fiom the Perthshire.

i The second engineer of the Perthshire's a son of Mr Alex. M'Ketjzie, of Barkley Village, in the Winton district.

Consequent upon the non-appearance of the Perthshire large stocks of frrzen mutton and rabbits awaiting immediate shipment are held by the Southland Frczm Meat Company at Bluff and Mataura. As a matter of fact the works at both places are practically blocked with stocks, and it will ba compulsory to close down for a time in a few days, as storage accommodation is fully taken up. This is a most unfortunate circumstance for exporters and the company,' aud if the block continues for any length of time the loss to both will be considerable. The intake of mutton and rabbits at the Mataura works is already being “ tapered off” by the authorities in view of the shutdown that will ensue if the Perthshire does not soon arrive.— * Ensign.’

INTERVIEW WITH MR MOORE. f C*llicg to-day at the offices of Turnbull, Marlin, and Co., agents for ihe Shire Line, one of our reporters saw Mr W. A. Moore, who, diviuing the object of the visit, handed for perusal a telegram to which ho was writing a reply. The telegram was from the Secretary of the Marine Department asking whether Turnbull, Martin, and Co, would join the Government in the expense of sending the Rimu on a search aslar round the coast as Milford Sound. Mr Moore’s reply was as follows:—“ Having already ascertained, so far as the Morayshire could find out, that there are no signs of the Perthshire on the coast between the Bluff and Five-finger Peninsula, we surnvso the vessel has broken down a considerable distance from Lnd, and are therefore not prepared iu the meantime to incur expense on a coast search without authority from London.” “That,” said Mr Moore, in the course of conversation which ensued, “ represents the position. The owners are not seriously anxious about the Perthshire, or they wcu’d have sent instructions before this to make further search. From their cable to me they evidently feel no anxiety about her safjty. And I may say that I do not either, an j I naturally feel much annoyed at the imputation of callousness. There is no call for such a suggestion. Why should it bo supposed that we are callous ? Pat the case on the very lowest ground ; We have a substantial interest in the vessel, as He company take part of the insurance risk ou every sh’p iu their service. I deprecate very much, as uncalled for, such hystericalremarks. The thing should be looked at squarely and fairly, from a common-sense point of view. There are only two possible cruses of danger, looking at the blackest side. One is collision, and that chance may be disregarded on account of ii.B remoteness j the other is fire, and such a risk is very small on a vessel like the Perthshire, as everybody will concede. My people evidently conclude that she has met -with a mishap similar’to that which has befallen o’her vessels at various times. She has probably dropped in for bad weather, and in the racing of the screw it has either been stripped of i;s blades or dropped off altogether by an accident to the shaft. In either case the mishap might bo unrepairable at sea, or take a long time. We ourselves have had such experiences. I have already told you of the Buteshire’s affair when off the Manritius on her way out from London, and it has since come to my mind that the Banffshire got into an awkward predicament only last year. She was bound in ballast from Sydney to Townsville, and when a little distance past Moreton Bay she lost her propeller the whole concern dropped clean iff, with the boss. She simply went on as a sailing ship until she came abreast of Barrier Island, when word was sent ashore by a boat, and a vessel came out and towed her into Keppel Bay. If in the case of the Perthshire the accident is one that has left the propeller on the shaft, she cannot have got any great distance- her progress would, at any rate, fee very slow, since the propeller would act as a drag. If on the other hand, the propeller has been suippea or has broken off, sho would have a chanced making some headway in a favorable wind. And it is here that I feel some comfort. One of my reasons for not being uneasy is that the winds have been variable, and the probabilities are that, being compelled to go the wind, she has gone first in one direction and then in another, losing to-day what she made yesterday, and hanging about practically in one place. Speaking under a solemn sense of responsibility, I give you my belief that there is no need for uneasiness even though she should not turn up for another week or two. Captain Wallace, if he is able to control the vessel, will naturally try to make his way northward so as to strike the trade tracks, and ho will know perfectly well that if he has the option it will be better to head towards Australia than to make for New Zealand, since it is on the Australian coast that there is the greater traffic, therefore the greater chance of being picked up, also the greater likelihood of being found as a mere matter of salvage, for there will always he some vessels about that might go out ta chance, there being a show of making a big haul. I mention these things to show the unlikelihood of the Perthshire being on our coast. Besides, she has two anchors, and these surely would save her at the worst from going ashore if driven dangerously close. Above all this, I repeat that we have searched as far as Five-fingers Point, which you will observe is north of the West Cape and constitutes the outer edge of Resolution

Island, luregard to-ther-possibility of a breaking of;the: shaft I may tell you that each 0! our ships carriGs.Thoimon’a patent couplers, aud Iheso would probably bo if use to repair the shaft if the break has taken place anywhere between (he engines and the tail-end compartment. Further, in evtry engine-room, there are plenty of sp fa •p_arw.;' But a!break of any sort is often a dong .job in « seaway ; rand there is this thought; of, that if a fracture' has occurred in the last length of the shaft, in the watertight compartment, the damage 0 mid not possibly be repaired at sea—the vjssei would be helpless so far as the screw was concerned. It has been suggested that the end of the cylinder may have blown out; but in such a case, her engines being tripleexpansion, they could , be compounded, and she could be thus brought along. Oaecanmt possibly guess, what has happened. All I feel sure about is that the Perthshire is afloat and more or less disabled.’'