WAITING FOR THE ORDER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 24 September 1909, Page 1

WAITING FOR THE ORDER.

IN THE MAORI'S iJNGINE-ROOH A NAPIER BOY'S EXPERIENCE. ' •A graphic' account of- the wreck ot the steamer Maori near Capetown ja Aug. last is given by Mr Fred 80..---ler, one. of the engineers, in a letter to his fatheri resident in Napier. I-.i.r Bowler. ' writes:— "Fe.left Table Bay on my watch (11.30; at .night), all the engineers being below: ; -At 12.15; the second, . flfthV.. atidi. myself,:'' came -off watch leayfog'^h^ the 'en_^er,r 4 o6'm. ;^kiEyer7thing'went well tmtil 12.40, :>na. l had' just turned in for .the .nighty when crash— she had struck something. Jumiping out of bed and- slipping -on- a' "pair-of- — sHtj^ — - persj" I made' for the engine, and as I'-was telling the chief .she was '. on 'the'-.rocks: the telegraph rang 'Pull astern;' , The ship began to bump '- frightfully, and' water •■to- pour into ' -the-';engin»-rppm. TAfte'r some very heavy: humping, and .-. crashing the order 'was; given .'FuU ; 'ahead,' and the - engines 'were : reversed.!. 7 That was ".' the -last order we ever got,: and the telegraph,' now at the- bottom of the sea, stands 'Pull ahead.'. The fire- - men cleared out, and I took the fires to keep the steam up and the engines ! goingc I shall never forget those minutes that I spent in the stoke- '. •hold.'by myself—the ship was rolling and 'bumping frightfully, water rushing in; shovels, 'barrows, and coal flying around the stokehold, ad she "must have- been going ' 'Ful' •ahead". for about 15 minutes, and th water was justgetting. into the lo>, fire . ashpits, when Thomson (secow freezer) came down to us, saying: *I is no use you fellows staying dow here. - The captain, mate§, and th» boats have ' gone, and the ship is o. the rocks.' That was' not. very pleas- ' ant news after the, way. we had stuck to the engines,' doing. pur best: Of course we ; were waiting for the order, 'Finished with engines,' which we never got.- ■We now made ' for the deck' but "Thomson -and I went back .to ease the safety valves and let the steam go. Arriving on deck we found eight men and.a boy huddled'; together These men, with Thomson, had got into their boat (No. 3), . but she struck the ship's 'side so heavily that they jumped out again. It .was after getting ont of- this boat that Thomson noticed the engines were still going, and running down the "engine-room to stop them ha found us- "all ' there waiting for the nest order. ' 7 '■''-. ffiWe tried to launch . another, the last boat, flint tire steamer was settling down so fast that we had not time, and as the' seas were, breaking over us yre Tushed : for .the -poop or stern of the ship., I won't attempt to describe that night. Fourteen of us stood huddled up together, with wind; seas, anil. Tain beating on ns. I was-- the;. worst off.' A lot -of the men were fully dressed, r some had trousers, and shoes, -but all I had was a suit of pyjamas * and ; a pair of slippers. One man tried to swim ashore, but it was madness, and the poor fellow, was drowned. ' '".When day brok ewe saw anothi er man ; clinging to the .foremast, but it was -Impossible for him to get to as, as the seas were breaking right over us at times. There was a quantity, of cargo, .stowed on the poop, and some gunpowder and dynamite. ' -We broke open some cases while, looking for. food, but, could not find 'any.-. We found some clothing, however, .and I exchanged my. pyjamas for a-, suit of clothes. There were enough suits, of clpthes .to, go all round,; so ..we. 'wOTej'aTjiej.to^eep^.pnr . selyies warm ; fo ! r "'tlie "time-being Pour ships passed -.ns during that : day, also a tug, which had-, been" sent . out to look, for us, -and although we waved and shouted, they "did not see. us, so we had- to : spend another night on' that wreck -with the -seas getting worse. . .We ,had no food but got a little water, by catching the rain. This night was- even worse than tha previous one^-in ' fact, -it seemed n year instead of a. night. When- daylight came we. were seen by threo fishermen, on the shore, and. one man. went into -Capetown with the news. "We now- got a- thin wire (lead line) reXdy, > and, making -a sinker with- some nuts, we tried tp throw it to them. Two of the strongest men tried, trat could .not throw it halfway. 'After two. failures I managed: to get it over a "rock.. (I think the fishing I Used to do, on' the Napier beach years ago stood, me- in good stead then, as I threw the line as I swo'iild a fishing-line.) .•■.. We then tied a rope to the thin line, and the fisher- . men pulled .it -ashore and made it r fast. Two , of the men got-- ashore' : safely o'nftiiat lineVby putting;, their liegs 'through a loop •„ and working themselves {along, the rope; but'each man . had left his .loop ' on the line, and. when the thiriL man went he could not get past these loops, and we- had to: watch the poor fellow drown- before our eyes.. He could not get to' the "shore or "back to the , ship, and a b^ig wave .coming in car- ' ried him away. -It was ''about this time that the poor fellow on the , nmst.jump'e^'intpythe. water and tried j to: siwimi md then we stood helpless and watched him drown, thinking it would. be" 1 our turn at any time. We , were desperately hungry^- not- having had any ; food' for two days and nights. '•• y'The.; rocket now arrived. J.Tlre. first -rocket fired' missed us altbgetieri; ' . "The . second^ • howevor, j fell. right across the ship, i The first a ' tbijjgVthey 'did while - ; waiting for 1 their large, lin»;wa.B to send off I b6ttle7of brandy "andT some biscuits. ' ThatXput new; iife; into, us.;' ' They B "then- sent the* "basket" or breeches f buoy, and we' were .pulled ashore one J at a". time.. It'-waS-now'daTk, and the 6 country was very wild, so. we all Bat I round big fires- arid;- waited? until day- ' \ -light: before -we ;<yould make a move 9 for. Capetown;'' ' "■< ; '--*7- : *'-' 9 i " ; . : 7"- - -'--.p: ; - ." '" 7 ' '' 1 ■■: - - '•■ ■---7. ■:'...' ■--■-.:•■ s ; ■ i" ." ; i» . . i.i-