THE WRECK OF TEE ELINGAMITE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12973, 14 November 1902, Page 5

THE WRECK OF TEE ELINGAMITE.

REPORT OF THE CLANSMAN. A FRUITLESS SEARCH. NO SIGNS OF THE MISSING BOAT AND RAFT. BODIES PICKED UP. [Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, No* 13. -- The following message was received! *K 2 a.m. from the postmaster at Mongon.mil —The Clansman has just to Hahoura from a search for the Elingwnß**'* boat and raft, and will leave Hohoura fotf Auckland at nine or ten o'clock to-morro«l morning with the survivors from Honour** She reports having communicated with, tiM other vessels, and nono of them hava bbbhl anything of the missing boat and jwft» H.M.S. Penguin has gone sixty miles norta of the cape to make a further search. Thel Greyhound picked up three corpses, twoj of steerage passengers and ona of a firem*o« There was not the least sign of any mail* anywhere. THE SEARCH. WORK OF THE PENGUIN AND CLANSMAN. [Per Press Association.] AUCKLAND, Nov. 13. The Clansman arrived off Hohoura Head* last night from the Three Kings, havingl found no trace of either boat or raft. Sh*» met H.M.S. Penguin thirty miles east of the Three Kings on Wednesday morning.i The warship also had not eeenl anything. After conferring the two: vessels zigzagged to the Three) Kings on parallel courses. Then the! Clansman went round the islands from tftej south and H.M.S. Penguin from the'north.. Large quantities of wreckage were seen, but no living person was encountered. OfS the south-western island of tho Three Kanjjß the schooner Greyhound was spoken, and! reported having picked up three dead bodies floating off the rocks, each with at lifebelt round it. Mr Birkett, ■ the chief officer, who went on board the schoones to attempt to identify the corpses, could! not definitely do so, but believes that they were those of a fireman -and two steerage! passengers. The first body was that of * young man apparently about thirty, with! a li"ht moustache. One of the others was an old man with a bald head and grej\ whiskers, and the third a young man, ap-i parently about thirty, with sandy and moustache. It was decided to bury the bodies at sm. The Clansman continuing,, circumnavigated the Three Kings. The! wreckage passed included the capjazwi dingey, the boat in which the purser and carpenter left the wreck. H.M.S. Paw miin, which was again spoken, reported having found nothing. She -.then steere* away north-east, intending to go sixty miles off. After' leaving the Three Kings the Clansman spoke the Omapere, whichi was searching, steering for the Tare* Kings. THE CHIEF OFFICER'S EXPERI- \ ' ENCES. Mr Birkett, the chief officer, whose boaio saw another under sail heading south fourt hours after leaving the wreck, thinks that possibly it may have ran down the westi coast. It could not hold more &an thirtyi persons safely. Mr Birkett's boat, which reached He-houra,-was the last "to leave the Someone in the hurry had cut the falls, an* consequently they could not launch ihd boat but it floated out safely as the swama* sank, and they then went round pickuig up survivors. The chief officer, it smbm„ took to the water from the flying bridge,, and was pulled by the captain and second mate on to some wreckage on which they, had clambered after being washed off thei steamer. A TRIBUTE TO THE CAPTAIN. , Thirty-seven of the, passengers picked ap( by the Zealandia signed the following:-? "We desire to express our appreciation of Captain Atwood's coolness, and consider ho did everythinginhis power to save the shrfl and the lives of the passengers.'