MARITIME DISASTERS OFF COAST OF OTAGO

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7098, 21 December 1929, Page 15

MARITIME DISASTERS OFF COAST OF OTAGO

Some Previous Wrecks

The Manuka is the second of the Union Steam Ship Company’s vessels to be wrecked on the coast of Otago without loss of life. On January 4, 1910, the Waikaro was making one of the popular Christmas excursions to tho liords on the AYest Coast when she struck an uncharted Tock in Dusky Sound. The steamer, which had 150 passengers, was beached and most of those on board wero able to save their belongings. Camps were established on the beach and in the bush, and a launch was despatched to Puysegur Point lighthouse to summon assistance. H.M.S. Pioneer, which was coaling at Bluff, was sent to the rescue by the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph AVard, and brought all the crew and passengers back to civilisation. The Court of Inquiry exonerated the master, Captain Newton, and after congratulating him on his conduct, returned his certilicate.

The most serious maritime disaster on the Otago coast was the wreck of the Tararua, with the loss of 131 lives, on AVaipapapa Point on April 29, 1881. The Tararua was a popular steamer of 570 tons on the Dunedin-Mclbourne run via Bluff, and after clearing Otago Heads on April 28, the master, Captain Garrard, set the usual course to take him clear of all points on the coast, Unfortunately, ho turned in toward Bluff too soon, and at 5 a.m. on April 29 tho steamer .ran on to the rocks of Otara Beef. The boats were lost in the heavy surf, but some passengers got ashore. Tho remainder and crew were huddled on the forecastle, where the pressure on the rail became so great that during a roll of the boat, it gave way, 16 persons being thrown into the breakers and drowned. During the day others wero swept off by the waves. A r essels which was des-'' patched to the scene were unable to render assistance owing to the heavy surf and the darkness of tho evening. In the night those ashore heard

agonised cries; and their worst fears were realised when daylight revealed that the vessel had been pounded to pieces. Another wreck in the neighbourhood of the Nuggets was that of the ship Surat, bound for Dunedin from London, with 807 passengers, mostly women, and a cargo of machinery and rails. On December 31, 1873, the Surat struck the rocks south of Chasland’s Mistake Point; and next day she was beached on the bench now bearing her name near the mouth of the Callins river. No lives were lost, but tho vessel became a total loss. The Marino Court of Inquiry found that the wreck was due to “wrongful acts and default” of the master and his mates.

Akatore Beach, a few miles north of the Nuggets, was the scene of the wreck of the French barque Marguerite Miribeau, which ran ashore in a fog in 1906. No lives were lost. Fog was also responsible for the loss of tho Houldor Line steamer Tyrone which, after cruising round outside the Otago Heads without being able to obtain a bearing, was piled on AVahine Beach, a few miles south of the heads, on September 27, 1913. The greater part of the cargo and the best of the vessel’s fittings were salvaged.

The most recent wreck on tho Otago coast was that of the steamer Konini, which became a total loss, with a cargo of timber on Ocean Beach, near Bluff,

while making her maiden voyage from Glasgow to Bluff, via Edithburg and AVallaroo.