"NARROW ESCAPES."

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVI, Issue 7, 22 April 1857, Page 2

"NARROW ESCAPES."

TO THE EDITOE 01 THE 'NELSON EXAMINEE.' Sir—ln reference to the paragraph headed as above in your paper of Saturday last, I beg leave to contradict that portion which states that the " Necromancer " went to sea without a single seaman on board, and to avouch that there were two; which is the same complement carried by any other craft trading to the Aorere. That the Necromancer is in better condition than any other, and well found in every essential to make a safe and expeditious passage, I challenge any person to dispute, and I see no reason why I ought to have submitted to an unreasonable and exorbitant demand, which it might have been supposed I could not avoid. That the accident was unavoidable, and might have happened to any other vessel, is incontrovertible, and I do consider that it is quite sufficient to have incurred the loss occasioned by the delay, without any interested person endeavouring to create a prejudice against the vessel to my injury by a highly-coloured and garbled representation. Trusting to your sense of justice for the insertion of this in your next issue, I am, &c, R. Askew. Bridge-street, April 21, 1857. [Our correspondent appears to have misunderstood what we did say in the paragraph above referred to. The words used by us were—"while the Necromancer, which was manned by only one seaman," &c; and further on—-" The accident to the Necromancer," &c, "is attributed to the helpless state in which her master fouud himself when the gale sprung up, without a single seaman on board to assist him" &c. Upon further inquiry among the passengers, we find that our original statement was correct; the man who was engaged to assist the master in working the vessel having proved himself utterly incompetent to perform the duties he had untertaken.—Ed. N. E.~\