The Message From The Sea.

Hastings Standard, Issue 163, 4 November 1896, Page 3

The Message From The Sea.

Our •• special- " yesterday from Wellington related an improbable story anent the - UK- -a-_e from the s« a j iel. i up on theClr.e Beach. further particulars are culled from the New Zeal;'ml Times as follows : - •- Yesterday Mr T. shields, tailor, Lambton Quay. in conversation with one of our reporters, gave the following information, the facts of which cover a number of years, but are still in the bounds of credence. •• When in Scotland some l~> or 10 vt ar-s ago Mr Shields remembers at that time a vessel known as the Mo':awk. which traded, carrying timber, i'eiv.ll n the p :of Troon, in Ayrshire, and tjuebec. *1 he vessel was mantled by Tioon peojde, several of whom were married. The Mohawk left Quebec about 15 or 10 years ago for Troon, loaded with timber, hut has not r-ince been heard of. '• When the vessel was considerably overdue, the good people of Troon never despaired, and for over a year her arrival w„- anxiously waited for by in-•liars, wives and relations. " •• Mr Shields intended writing home to Scotland by the last San Francisco mail, also >eiming copies of the New Zealand Times with the article referred to in. to his people, so that tidinys, although mo : .- id ones, could he convey, d to the people who-- relations were on the ill fated ship. Hut, thin Uimr that there might h ■ other boats bearing the same name he lvitatned from-0 doing. On seeing the _paragraph in Monday morning's Tunes, however, stating "that there was only one vessel bearing the name of Mohawk, he was eominced that it was the same vessel he remembers. -• The month, it will be seen, is given in the note found in the bottle as July. This is one of the months of the Quebec timber season. Isut it will also he noticed that the year is nogiven. So that our correspondent's statement that the bottle c-omd not h.ue travelled from the latitude given in the note in the iinie would probably j be correct, assuming that the moist us I referred to in the note were of this year. If. however, the bo!lie was cast m the sea by the crew of she v* r -el Mr Shields sp- aks about, it has had ample time, and has taken it, for fuoiiling it - mi—ton.

-As far as Mr Shit-Ms memory sf-rves him, the name of the captain of the Mohawk is lhe same a.s is written on the note. •• Ace Minting for the latitude given in the note i• it -o far south. Mr shields offers as an explanation that the voyage from Quebec to Troon is one might say. accomplished in a straight line, but that generally vessels go southward to obtain fair winds. Through stress of weather, however, the vessel must have become waterlogged. ami was driven so far out of her course that the captain took to the boats, thinking he might reach the land, and then sent the message ill tlie bottle which has taken such a number of years before living found. bottle should drift about in the ocean for l-"> or IG wars carrying a message that was at iir-t no doubt meant to be ; of good cheer, but now be only taken as one of ill tiding-. There can not be the least doubt thai the captain and crew of the Mohawk went to a resting place at the bottom of the ocean vears ago, and it is only left for us to hope that they had not to sutler from that most terrible of all deaths—- | a lingering one at -ea." i "