FOUNDERING OF THE ELI WHITNEY.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 38, 28 February 1877, Page 3

FOUNDERING OF THE ELI WHITNEY.

Referring to the foundering of the EH Whitney, an acco.unt of wlnVb appears m our telegrams, the " IS T . Z. Times" has the j following : — At about one o'clock (we presume ihat must hare been near the time), Darcy was awakened by hearing the rushing of wafer beneath him m the hold of the vessel. To rouse his wife and got on deck with the children was fcho work of a moment, no time being wasted m putting on clothing, for the sounds they heard were ominous, and seemed to tell of a coming struggle for dear life. They were not a moment too soon. The man and his wife, with their two poor little infants, were scarcely on the deck before the Eli Whitney literally parted m two, and rapidly sank, and this terrifying scene occun*ed m the pitchy darkness of the night, with no one near to lend a helping hand. They were indeed alone. Darey saw that he had only one chance. Giving one child to his wife, lie took the other himself, and getting hold of a large plank, he and his wife with their frail burdens got on it and submitted themselves to the mercy of the sea and their fate. The hulk disappeared from their sight entirely before the force of the wind had driven them away from the place which she had occupied. Then they drifted away towards the shore, passiug <he Adamant on their hazardous way, and it was the voice of Mrs Davey that the watchman heard piercing the night wind. That cry for help would have brought willing hearts and hands to the assistance of the waifs, but, as we have already mentioned, the generous and courageous efforts of Captain Bowling and his crew were rendered useless by the tempestuous weather and the impenetrable darkness. So Davey and his wife were carried away, drifting m the direction of the baths, and on Hearing the fence of them he and his wife parted — exhausted nature could no longer bear up againsf; the fatigue, and all went into the sea together, father, mother, and children. Davey was thrown ashore on the east side of the baths, and he then went as fast as he was able to a house occupied, we believe, by a Mrs Davies, and knocked at the door. Those m the house at which Davey knocked were roused out of their sleep, and demanded who it was that sought admittance at that hour, and on a night so wild ; but poor Davey, with whom it was next door to death, could not speak, and the woman describes tbe attempt he made .-is strange and unearthly. She opened the door, and the half drowned man was discovered to her astonished gaze. He was taken inside, and subsequently the body of Mrs Davey, naked, poor thing, was discovered on the floating stage to the west side of the baths. She also was taken into this house by Mr Meeeh, who found her, and placed her m the back room, the hnsband being m the front on a sofa. She was tended by Mrs. Meech. and Mrs Davis, but there was evidently no hope. It was a pitiful sight, not to be seen and forgotten m a day, or many days. She was n- young woman, and the contact with the salt water had given her face a rosy lint, so 1 hat m death she appeared as m life, the features bearing no traces of the struggle recently made to escape death ; they bore a calm look of repose. The husband was doingwell when we left, or at least as well as could be expected. But nothing had been seen of the two children. Their bodies— for they could not have survived — will probably he found during the morning. The Eli Whitney was an Americanbuilt barque of 540 lons, built at Eoston m 1840 of pitch-pine. She was purchased by Captain Williams about six years ago from Messrs Pickett Bvos., of Melbourne, and was brought down by him to this port, where she has been used as a coal-hulk ever since. She had two powerful steam winches on board, one forward and the other aft, the two being ralued at several hundred pounds. The coals on board were worth upwards of £1200, and the hulk herself about a like sum ; thus, as there was not a penny of insurance on either the hulk or ber contents, Captain Williams is a loser to the amount of fully £3000. Captain Williams states that the hulk was thoroughly ovei'hauled only three days ago by several shipwrights, wlio pronounced her sound m every part. With reference to the collision, we may state that she was built m such a way that a steamer with a straight bow running into her, the chief damage would be sustained below the water-line, [as her sides fall out towards the bottom.