THE PERTHSHIRE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11921, 19 June 1899, Page 6

THE PERTHSHIRE.

'V ; »■ . ■;■ ■■ PICKED.TIP BY THE TALUNE; BEING TOWED TO SYDNEY. ALL ON BOARD \WELL. - ...United Press Association—By Electric 'Telegraph—Copyright. ■ VK -" - SYDNEY, June 17. ...... The, ship.. Yerajean. ’has arrived at, Newcastle. She spoke the Perthshire on June 7, in latitude 29.38.-south, longitude 165.1 <WSfc> all (.well, , A;:strong north, to. northi viwet' .‘gale was blowing, with heavy cross • *eaa.’’' • After' leaving ; the; steamer the' ;Vera(jean spoke the French steamer La Perouse, •jteund from Sydney to the 'lslands.-' ’She reported thePerthshire’s position to the captain, .and it. is. believed that the La tOW; • ..... The Duckenfield resumes-the search for . the Perthshire. Her captain is.of opinion : that she is now drifting, between Lord, Howe and Norfolk Islands. SYDNEY, June 18. i The Verajean spokei.the La Perouse five days later. The-tug Hero left here a day, - before the La Perouse, with the intention of' seaclling the locality-where the- ship , sighted -the. steamer. .Among' the "passengers by the Perthshire are Mrs Burnett, five children and-a governess. The-Perthshire, when" sighted, was making good, weather. i rSbe’ whs "headed east, and apparently had outi . :yj j J * . - SUCCESS OF THE TALUNE. THE PERTHSHIRE "PICKED UP LAST ' " TUESDAY. ' ; ' •' SYDNEY-Jiine 18. ■The Perthshire - , in tow of the Talune, was sighted off Newcastle to-night, coming on to Sydney, She is expected to arrive early tomorrow. morning. A tug which went but •from Newcastle reports all well on the disabled steamer. -The. Talune picked up the Perthshire -on, Tuesday last, < off -Norfolk , "Island;

- EXCITEMENT IN NEWCASTLE. . THE CAUSE OF THE BREAKDOWN. -.'l;. ' ’ ' SYDNEY,’June 18. There .was great excitement in Newcastle when , the-Perthshire was. first sighted. ;The cliffs/ were lined with spectators with ■ jf|asse«. /. The captain iof . the Perthshire informed ’ ’the tug that he required no further assistance,vr the, Talune being sufficient. The •vessels were'coming along dead slow, so as not to make Sydney before daylight. The Perthshire-is being tugged by her own chain 1 , cable,.■.,*, , | , It- was ascertained that the shaft, did not - break in- - the' ;tube. The engineer endea- ' voured to repair 'it by means of a .coupling,; ■ i &tt'thifi was not strongjenough to startd the ; /-strain;'. ■ -- ■ ’ ; ~jfo ■ further- details are available to- '., night.

[Per Press Association*.] , ' , AUCKLAND, June 18. s. ■>Xhc local manager- of the Union SteamCompanyhas;received a cable message ■ frtun' Sydney that the Perthshire was sighted; ■..■.on June 7, by .a, sailing vessel in latitude' . /29.3fJ,.longitude 165.1. On June 12 the sailing vessel spoke the steamer La Perouse ' and.gave , her 1 the Perthshire’s position. Whether, the. La Perouse -was inward or outward bound,” or whether she. intended /. .searching for the,Perthshire, is not. mentioned. ,As the Mararoa will .leave for Sydney to-morrow afternoon, she may. be in, " , the.” running, yet. DEPARTURE QF THE MILDURA. t [Per-Press Association.] ■ ' ? - DUNEDIN, June 17. H.M/S.Mildura sailed for Auckland di- ■ ‘recfat ten o’clock last night, and from, that port goes in search, of the Perthshire. FORTY-NINE DAYS ADRIFT IN THE ' * ■ TASMAN'SEA. ’ The steamer Perthshire, 5550 tons, of the Shire Line, left Sydney, on April 26 for London, via the Bluff. She took several passengers and a valuable cargo. Days passed, and,her non-arrival at the" New Zealand .port" gave rise to.' -much concern'in this colony and New South Wales; * The general ’■ >opinion was that some of her machinery '' had ’broken down at sea, though the' fear , .was expressed that she had come to grief on /the iron-bound shore in the vicinity of the •i--‘ Sounds.. A careful search ' of the coast • from Hokitika southwards showed this fear ■... .to be groundless. Masters of steamers trad- ’ - ing. between Australia and ; New Zealand '. were instructed to keep asbarp look-out for . . f.lin 'tnififlino' vessel, hut, it, was not, till Ma.v

21*that any definite news was received. On 1 “ that date Captain Cozens, jof the schooner $ v.AVhahgaroa,. which hadjust arrived at Sydu ney, from JFoxton, reported that on May 12, when he was about four hundred and fifty miles;to the east Sydney; lie saw on the horizon distress signals from some vessel. \,Tbe, blue lights,"flare-ups and rockets were "shown, continuously, :and ; , there ' is * littV wonder that the minds of those aboard the

150-tou timber-laden craft were filled with ■' ' Apprehension >X- said akrinf'Tearing some ' ’ ocean’ tragedy was ' taking ■ place! ‘Quickly the course of the sailer 'was Altered, and <- hauling - round she - stood in the direction -of ■ ’r-tho ;ehip. While going about, Captain 'Cosensi signalled, Will'stand"by you till daylight.”. This, was seen from the distant ship, a reply coming,' “Thanks.” The ; .'schodner came close enough to discern the ' .loom of a huge steamer, her sides up from 'the sea level, like a! mountain compared ' with the 150-tonner, and'as the night was ■ dark, and the barometer not the best, it was decided to, heave-to" and wait for daylight, or, should anything happen before, reply - ' to night signals. The schooner’s boats were ' ’ made ready to render help at the first glimpse of a signal. Nothing happened throughout the night, and at the .first .streak of daylight the master of the

n schooner put off to what he had before this . suspected toas a crippled steamer.’He found the Perthshire and her people, some 50 or 60,

- including passengers and crew, quite comfortable, pitching and tossing about- Of "* food for the people, as well as fuel :for the ; furnaces of the vessel, there was an abundance,; but the mainstay of the motive power, the propeller, had broken off, ‘ ‘ and • though' l ' duplicate gear is >V> carried,' repairs could not be’-ef-v, '.iecled", partly owing to - rough-- weather "''and’ partly to the' extensive' nature l of the damage, and t,he position of the ship in'midoeean. The accident happened ‘on April "28. "

The news brought by’fhe Whangaroa led to the despatch of several tugs from r 'Sydney, and it. was confidently expected 'that within a few days the disabled liner would be towed into port by one of these oi* by , an' intercolonial steamer. Thick, Stormy ' weather,; however, prevented ' the \search being successful, and' nothing more

■ ‘ was' heard of the : Perthshire till 3’jluhei ’l,i when. the', sailing vessel Northern- Chief,' 'oh her /; arrival at ■Sydney from New Zealand, reported , that she had seen the steamer over '• iJHwo hundred" miles to'the north-east of the ' spot where she was found by the Whangaf roq. Another search by steamers, though 'guided by the later information, was as fruitless as the first. . ■ On Saturday night information .jvas received by cable that another sailing vessel, the third, had fallen in'-with the broke.r- -- down liner, this time in ; the neighbourhood '■‘'■‘"of Norfolk Island, and 1 that there was a prospect of a French -steamer picking her Up, out early this morning'news came to

hand that the Union Steamship Company’s Talune had the Perthshire in tow, and was making ; fori Sydney, ■■ which.port she was expected to-reach/at,- daylight-.this 1 morning.' ' “‘‘l/" ,' ’ .. .... • The Talune-left 'Wellington bn'. June 9 with the intention-of making a search in the„ vicinity, of Island- and -Lord Howe Island,- and,’ aS the" cable’ states', she succeeded in. her quest on Tuesday, picking up the Perthshire, near Norfolk Island six days after she ;had been sighted by the Verajean. - ■;

A reference to the map published this I morning, , which _ indicates with, sufficient exactness the positions ’of the Perthshire, ; when spoken on May: 12, May.’2s and June I 7, will show, that. apparently she , steadily almost in a line north-east from the spot .where she broke down. ' ; Several Sydney-shipmasters have' expressed the view tHat.it would have assisted the searching steamers had the commander of the Perthshire, when spoken by the AVhangaroa and the Northern Chief, stated that he would endeavour to make as nearly east- or west as' practicable. When asked as to that opinion, XJaptain Richardson, of the Waikare, coincided with It, Ho thought ■ that it would have helped , the searchers to have said, I rintend/making the New Zealand Coast, if possible,” or will run as much north, or west, or-south as possible—-anything which would give an idea of intention as to course. ..Another matter which has been commented upon is that of the sending of one of.the Perthshire’s lifeboats but to make; say, the New Zealand coast when the steamer was within four hundred miles of it. “ Would that be practicablewas asked. “Quite, practicable,” said the captain of the Waikare, “unless the weather,was very severe indeed. But ■ such a proposal would, of a certainty, have been discussed by the master ( of the Perthshire and his officers long ago, and there, must have been good reasons why they : did not do so. As, I remarked; the Perthshire has .come through a. lot of unusually bad weather since, she broke her shaft, and we cannot judge as to. what considerations influenced the commander since* then.” ,

Some ’ days ago the representative of a Sydney newspaper remarked, to Captain ‘ Richardson on the irony of fate that with all the advantages that steamers possess over sailing vessels, two small timber-laden stragglers in gales had then been -the-bearers of the, only news of the Perthshire’s whereabouts' dnr--ing, the Tong iperiodthhab she .-had' been out from Sydney, then forty-three days, or as long as she would be on a voyage to Eng-' land. “ That’s ;true,” replied the Captain. " It’s a case of the unexpected and unlookedfor happening. We make a' search based on probabilities, of position, the action of winds and effect of currents, though in the Perthshire’s case the influence -of the current would, in my opinion, bo lessLhan that: of the Wind, and still we.fail.-” y j