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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1929, 12 October 1874, Page 2

The brigantine Sea Bird is loading timber at Hokitika for Wellington, at which p >rt she will take in a cargo of iron pipes. The brigantine Mary Bannatyne arrived in the Hokitika roadstead on Friday. The three-masted schooner Alma, which has been in the roadstead for over a week, after riding out the heavy weather on Tuesday night, and had since been dodging in the offing, hoisted sail on Saturday morning after speaking the p.s. Dispatch, the captain announcing his intention to run to Westport. The schooner Gleaner was in the offing on Saturday morning. The brigantine Zephyr made a quick run from Melbourne, which port she left on the 3rd, and arrived in the roadstead on Saturday morningr She brings a large cargo of general merchandise consigned to Glenn Bros. We learn from the " West Coast Tunes " of Saturday that the Waipara arrived at Wellington on Friday at noon, from Westport, making the trip in 27 hours from that port. The p.s. Dispatch had an involuntary and rather eventful trip after leaving Hokitika on Tuesday morning last. A passenger furnishes us with the following particulars :— "I, with a number of fellow passengers by the Albion, and others from Hokitika, left at about 11 o'clock on Tuesday moruing. The day was bright, and the bar was so good that the Dispatch had made three trips that tide for towage purposes before we started. There was little sea on the bar, and outside it was almost calm, and we all calculated upon being landed on the Greymouth wharf early in the afternoon. We had been at sea hardly an hour when symptoms of a southwest gale set in, the sea in anticipation rising rapidly. By the time we were approaching the Grej the break had extended very considerably to the westward, and the state of the sky and other indications presaged bad weather. We arrived ofl the Grey in about the usual time, but the bar was evidently impracticable, and the captain anchored, the sea rising every minute. After riding uneasily for some hours, the chain cable carried away, and nothing was to be done but to put to sea, which Captain Kitchingham promptly did. As we proceeded the sea increased, until towards dusk it rolled mountains high — in fact I may say for myself that, during not a limited experience of ocean travelling, I never saw anything approaching to the Bize and malignity— if I may use such a term — of the huge waves which threatened momentarily to overwhelm our small craft. But thanks to the skill of our captain and the buoyancy of our vessel we mounted and descended the hills of water without taking in a drop of water, except in one instance, when, whilst the captain and men were bending on the tow-line to the spare anchor, a sea came over the bow and literally tore Captain Kitchingham's waterproof clothing clean off him. As the day closed in the weather became worse. The night was pitch dark ; one could ozHy hear the rush of water and the howling of the wind. Keeping under easy steam head to sea for a few hours Captain Kitchingham resolved to run for Westport, for this was our predicament : — We had lost one anchor and 60 fathoms of chain, we had only coal enough for about 24 hours, there were do provisions on board, and there were four women, three children, and some six or seven male adults cooped up in the cabin. Had anything happened to the machinery, the loss of the vessel and of all aboard of her was inevitable, but luckily no such accident occurred, aud we arrived off Westport early in the morning, and entered as soon as the tide served. We were compelled to remain there for want of coal until Friday evening, when the Kennedy brought us _a supply, and we started at 8 p.m., arriving off the Grey in due course, and came in at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday. I am not inclined to exaggerate, but I may simply say that a more terrible journey was never made on this coast, and the passengers owe a deep debt of gratitude to Captain Kitchingham and his crew for their extreme kindness and attention Everything that could be done to alleviate their discomfort was done, and a re-assuring word now and then prevented what I believe would have been a panic."