DOUBLE SHIPPING DISASTER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 22 April 1907, Page 3

DOUBLE SHIPPING DISASTER.

[United Pbess Association. — CopxbiohtO A BARQUE RUN DOWN. A STEAMER WRECKED ON TH' WRECK. ONE LIFE LOST. (Received 9.11 a.m.) . ADELAIDE, Monday. A serious double shipping disaster oc CU mv y est erday morning . The shiu Arden Craig, inward boun< irom London, with a full mineral car go, in the first instance collided witl and sank the barque • Norma at th Semaphore. The Norma was lying a the anchorage ready for sea, with 31,001 hags of wheat aboard. All hands with the exception of the watchman were below at the time. Ou the ap proach of, the-vessel the watchman, af ter calling the - crew,, tried"- to warn th( Arden Craig, but apparently was nn heeded. The incoming ship struck th< Norma a heavy, blow on- the port- rich amidships, cutting her below the waterime. The Norma. immediately* heeled over and rapidly filled within. ,1C minutes, and rank in 7£ fathoms oi -water. . The crew got out .the lifeboat, and, with the exception- of the carpenter, Johnsen, a Norwegian, left the/ship as she was disappearing.- 7 .. Johnsen's absence 7 was not' noticed till the boat reached the Arden Craig. A. boat from the Arden : Craig went in search of Johnsen, butvthe man could not be seen owing to the darkness and tne heavy sea running;* *■*■•■-■ ■ The boat got into a: leeward position and the crew found it impossible to row b a ck *<?- windward, and the craft gradually drifted to the outerharbour works, where she. was picked 7 tip byr a ■ steam launch. .*•-•-' -'ir'v;-v--:*' . Later on the JessiV.Darling, inward .bound with a wheat cargd, approached - the Arden Craig. Tie;- master, Captain Ronald, .-noticing that .a spar' of the Norma .was standing out of-the water, bore down under the impression that someone was clinging to it. Those on the Arden Craig -isaved frantically to the steamer to stand off, bnt "owing to a misunderstanding the Jessie Darling steamed over the wreck of.- the Norma, and one "of the spars pierced her. In five minutes she was resting on the submerged Norma, and the master and crew had barely time to get into a boat launched from the deck before the Bteamer foundered. The _ double disaster is probably unique in the annals of shipping casuali--ties in Australia. " ;'. (Received 9.47 a.m.) .-., ■'-. J . ADELAIDE, Monday. Although the. disaster occurred early in the* .morning, and notwithstanding that blue lights were burned on the Ar- - den Craig, nothing was known until 8 o'clock, when the Health Officer went •off to a signal from the Arden Craig, " "which indicated that there had been- a collision, being taken to mean that there had been a collision during the voyage. The details of the collision, therefore, did not reach the city till late in the day. The Arden Craig is only slightly damaged. She lost her foreroyaj . mast, damaged some plates ni the. port bow, and is making water slightly. The Jessie Darling had 20,200 bags of wheat aboard. * • The accounts of the disaster are very conflict in --j. 7 The captain, and the chief mate of the Arden c'raig declare that no lights were visible aboard the Norma until the Arden Craig was too close to avert a collision; while the Norma's crew assert that proper harbour lights were burning all night.