WELLINGTON.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 38, 28 February 1877, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

February 24. A fatal accident occurred about one* o'clock this morning, when the hulk Eli Witney, with eight hundred tons of coal aboad, sank m the harbour m deep water, about a hundred yards from the wharf. The man m. charge (Dayey) was aroused by his wife, a young women . r only sixteen years old, hearing a rush of water m the hold. He got his wife and baby hurriedly on deck. There was no time to dress, and he had just time to place them and himself on alar^J^fonk when the hulk disappeared:' \Sg2iey drifted on the plank to the baths*at the south end of the harbour, wh^jfTSe man, much exhausted, dragged Myself to a neighbouring house for assistance. The wife was found dead, but the baby was missing, no • doubt having been drowned* A furious northerly gale was blowing at the time, and it was intensely dark. The hulk carried no lights. A report is current that the steamer Taupo, which left for Kcton a little after midnight, ran into the hulk. The steamer was seen very near it, and appeared to remain alongside for a few minutes, and then steamed away. The hulk sank about twenty minutes after the supposed collision. The hulk was not insured, and belongs to Capt. Williams.