SALVING A DERELICT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, Issue LIV, 15 June 1920, Page 6

SALVING A DERELICT

BARQUENTINE RETRIEVER PICKED UP BY THE TALUNE Particulars of the salving of the barquentine Retriever by the steamer Talune have arrived in New Zealand. The Retriever, a wooden three-masted barquentine of 517 tons, was abandoned on March 31 in a water-logged condition off the Marquesas Islands, in the Eastern Pacific while en route from Puget Sound to Peru with 500,000 feet of timber. She encountered very bad weather, and laboured very heavily, the continued chafing of the standing rigging on the deck cargo resulting in the masts . carrying away. The master and crew then abandoned the vessel and took to the lifeboats, reaching Tahiti safely on April 15. Nothing further was heard of the barquentine until May 15, when the Talune, bound from Raiatea to Papeete, sighted her. She was water-logged, and wreckage was strewn everywhere. The foremast was still standing, but the mainmast and the mizzen-rnast were both carried away. The deck cargo was awash, and it was evident that only the timber she carried was keeping her afloat. The chief officer and six members of the Tahme’s crew boarded the derelict and the steamer took it in tow and proceeded to Papeete. On the following night heavy weather set in, and .the towline broke. The, conditions were too bad to* allow another towline to be made fast, and those on board the barquentine were compelled to remain there until the next day. A fairly big sea was running and during the night part of the deck cargo was washed overboard, while the miz-zen-mast, which was hanging over the side when the barquentine was. picked up, broke adrift. On Monday. May 17, another towline was made fast, Papeete being reached without' further mishap that evening. The captain and the mate of the Retriever were at Papeete when tae Talune left, but the crew had all been sent back to San Francisco. The hull of the barquentine is badly damaged. She had drifted nearly 400 miles. Four steamers had been searching for her, but all gave up the task as hopeless. -