DISASTERS ON SEA.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 254, 13 October 1911, Page 5

DISASTERS ON SEA.

TOTAL WRECK OF A STEAMER. RUNS ON A ROCK DURING A FOG. [ PRESS ASSOCIATION -COPYRIGHT.] Sydney. Oct. 12. Tlie steamer AlaeLeay is ashore on Broughton Island. The particulars are meagre, but it is feared that she is a total wreck ami that some lives have been lost. Tm'o sailors came ashore on planks and stated that they feared she was Breaking up. Wreckage coming ashore near Newcastle is supposed to bi* from the MacLeay. Two tugs were despatched to Broughton Island. There were no passengers aboard the MacLeay, but the crew numbered twenty. Only two are known to have been saved. The MacLeay was a vessel of -Hto tons, which belonged to the North (. oast Company. She was bound ii’oin Newcastle to the Clarence river, and is supposed to have stranded in a fog. A disaster in connection with the MacLeay appears certain. A message from 'Pea Party, a station near Port Stevens, states that the body of .Jones, a steward on the MacLeay, has been washed up. Two of the survivors, named Swanney ami Peterson, aide seamen, declare that at. eight o’clock last night in a fog. the first officer being on the bridge, the vessel struck :t rock. The impact was terrific. The steamer heeled over and practically turned turtle before she sank. The survivors accompanied a search party, which is not expected to lie back before morning. A SURVIVOR'S NARRATIVE. NO TIME TO LAUNCH THE BOATS. (Received 13, 9 a.m.) Sydney, Oct. 13. The MacLeay was en route from Sydney to Clarence River with a small general cargo including horses. Petersen, who had the wheel at the time of ihe disaster, states that the chief officer had just, relieved the second officer. He called the officer’s attent ion to something white abeam, and the officer declared 't was only a shoal of fish. In another instant, the steamer going about, nine knots, struck. The captain rushed on deck and ordered an attempt to beach. The helm swung round and the vessel slid sideways off the rock. Water commenced to pour in forward ami in ten minutes she heeled over and sank. The beats had been swung out preparatory to launching, hut they swung back as she heeled over and could not be launched. All aboard were thrown struggling in the water. Petersen got on a hurdle. Everyone was crying out, and the excitement was increased by the number of horses struggling in the water. Seaward got hold of a horses’ tail and afterwards climbed on a hurdle. Petersen was thirteen hours in the water. All through the long cold night he hung to the hurdle.

When the moon rose he saw Swanney and another man on some hurdles tied together. When morning broke he was close to the surf in the breakers. Two men were washed off 'Swannev’s raft, too exhausted to help themselves, aril were drowned. Two survivors, terribly spt nt, managed to struggle ashore.

The scene of the wreck is the One Cabbage Tree rocks where the steamer Oakland v, as lost some years ago. LIST OF MISSING CREW. The following are the names of the missing: - Captain Donald Keith. ( 'hit f officer. - Mr. Goldsmith. Second officer. Mr. McLean. I’irst engineer. Mr. Tarleton. Second engineer.- Air. (.lowing. Lamp trimim r. Jones. Steward. Meet-han. 'Cook. Jablin. A.B.’s. Drevar, Tabele, Hansen, Joy •(•(*. Fii'cmeri. Monks anti Killen. NORTH SEA TRAWLERS FOUNDER. ELEVEN LIVES LOST. London, Oct. 12. Three Ramsgate fishing vessels with eleven hands foundered in a gale. STEAMER CAPSIZES. IN THE HUMBER. (Received 13, 10.10 a.tn.) London. Oc . 12. The steamer Eastern Counties capsized in the Humber. Four pet sons v. t re drowned anti eleven others had remarkable (-scapes. FISIIE RM E N I) RO WNE D. (Received 13, 11.15 a.m.) London. Oct. 12. Fourteen Yarmouth fishermen have perished in a gale. COST OF REPAIRING THE OLYMPIC. London, Oct. 12. Repairs to the White Star liner Olympic will cost £200,000.