A TALE OF THE SEA.

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1911, Page 8

A TALE OF THE SEA.

TELEGRAMS.

THE BURNING OF THE PAPANUI

HOW THE IMMIGRANTS REACHED THEIR DESTINATION.

WELLINGTON, November 30. The recent M story of the •Papanui is a rather extraordinary one. Grig- , inally she belonged to the New Zealand Shipping Company, and some two years ago she ran ashore on a rock off the Tasmanian Coasti She was sold cheaply in her damaged state to Mr. Sleigh. Some 300 ft of her lower bottom had been ripped out by the rock, and Hundreds of mattresses had to be lashed around* her with wire ropes before she could bo got to Melbourne. After, some slight repairs the owners! wished to send her out of Melbourne,! dht the authorities objected. The owners, however, sailed her out of Mel- j bcnrne with a Filipino crew, under tho Nicaraguan flag, in defiance of the I authorities. Hay they a gunboat at their command they might have stopp- I ed her. However, she got away and steamed all the way to Japan on the inner bottom. There she was repaired and put on the run between England and Australia. On her la.st voyage she . was taking about 363 immigrants to ' Australia, Captain Moore being in ' command. About a week after she had left London it was discovered that the coal in one of her bunkers las on j fire. After a time it was believed that the firo had been extinguished. When gettingtnear St. Helena, however, it was fouflkl that No. 3 hold which was filled with coal, was on fire. The firemen and volunteers from amongst tho , immigrant? turned over the hoaxed j coal, and threw it down to the stoke- j hold floor, so that it should be used as quickly as possible, but tho deeper thev duo; the hotter they found tke coal. After some time the ship's course was altered, and the ship steered back towards St, Helena, which they had by this time passed. But the vessel did not stop there. She was turned round again for the Cape of Good IHop?>. This operation was isuibsequently repeated, and eventually the third time the ship turned back for St. Helena, and on this occasion" anchored there. The passengers were ordered to remain on board, it being apparently considered that the ship was not in imminent danger.' The boats from the Eastern Company's cable ship liiit- : tan ia, however, came alongside and took the women and children. The.>e were put on board the Britannia for the night. During th« night tho No. 3 hatches of the Papanui blew off with a loud explosion, due, no doubt, to the igniting of coal gas that had accumulated! The fire now rapid% spread over the whole ship. The remainder of the passengers were hurriedly disembarked in the boats of the Papanui, assisted by the boats of the Britannia. The baggage had been previously got on deck, but the passengers were not allowed to take it on shore. The single men were immediately marched up to the top of Ladder Hill, a steep biuff that overlooks the roadway, and were lodged in tho barracks, which had remained, empty since the removal of the British garrison. That day the women and children were landed from the Britannia. The passengers from the top of Ladder Hill now had the mortification .of watching the flames gradually approach their baggage piled on the deck, and gradually finally consume it. Of the immigrants the single men remained in tho hospital, and the Families were billeted in different households all over the island. As the totsd population of St. Helena is only 300, and food supplies had suffered somewhat from the strikes in England, the sudden and considerable increase of population put a considerable strain on the hospitality of the islanders. The crew behaved rather badly on the island, and the captain had to ask for police protection. The captain went about with a loaded revolver. On Friday, tho 2-lth of September, while the Opawa (now en route from Wellington to Lyttelton) was on the point of 3;iiling from Liverpool, a telegram wais received to hold the ship up, as she might be required to call at St. Helena for the immigrants ex Papanui. i On Saturday morning one of the direc- ! tors of the company, Captain Lawson, tho marine superintendent, and the Agent-General for Western Australia came up from London and conferred with Captain Cameron, of the Opawa. .After studying a plan of the ship and the distribution of the cargo, it was decided that accommodation for all the immigrants could be found on the Opawa. The plan of campaign involved the shifting of all tho cargo out of the after upper 'tween decks. That was done on the Saturday. On the Mondav the space was cleared up and a small army of workers commenced the fitting up of berths and cabins. As many men as could find room to work were engaged, and kept busy till Thursday. The ship sailed at midnight. This work had ! been accomplished with remarkable cej lerity, but much still remained to be done, and the ship took on with her a number of joiners to do> the rest o.' ire fitting up. The coal of a well-filled bunker had to be used before the carpenters could get to work. Half of this space was needed for the accommodation required for the extra stewards and cooks who had to be taken on. Most of the joiners were suffering f. r m seasickness and the ship was '.OOO miles out of her way before a single j nail had been driven in. The work was, however, all done at sea under the superintendence of Captain Cameron who had the satisfaction of .seeing everything to the very minutest detail completed 48 hours before the ship reached St. Helena. The ship was teen by the look-out on Ladder Hill when still 30 miles away, and a gun was fired to warn the immigrants to get ready. All was now excitement on tho island. Tlie embarkation was speedily accomplished. Extra, lifeboats (the Papalfui's) wore taken on board, and the ship sailed for Australia. The passengers were landed all well at Albany, and highly gratified with the arrangements that had been made for their comfort and convenience. They had never ceased to wonder how the accommodation had been provided in such a short time. At a concert held 36 hours before Albany was reached the captain was asked to attend, and the passengens took the opportunity of presenting him with an address for the kindness they had received at the hands of himself and his officers.' Thus terminated in a satisfactory manner an incident of a somewhat unique kind in connection with colonial immigrants and shipping.