FURTHER PARTICULARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5395, 3 March 1879, Page 6

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

The news received on Wednesday (Feb. 10) from the scene of the wreck fully corroborated our late telegrams respecting the critical pcsf. tion of the steamer, and it is evident from thp more recent despatches that she will become a total wreck. She is gradually settling down and as she is reported to have 21 feet of water under her stern, she may disappear alto -ether Captain Worsp, on behalf of the insurance companies proceeded to Tauranga same ci »h: 6v the s.s. Rowena, aud took with him a centrifugal pump and portable steam ec*ine • but he holds out very little hopes of doing any good. The matter of pilut.ve jn connection with these steamers at Tauranga and other ports was the subject of gcce-r.il debate and a general opinion was expre ' w^ the duty of the company to take on board a pilot at most of the harbours. Captain Cromarty held an exemption certificate, bat his knowledge of the Tauranga Harbour could not have been very great, inasmuch as this w.-s only his third or fourth trip there as master of the steamer. The Union Company have been very fortunate with respect to their wrecks, safaras regards the safety of passengers, but it will ouly be in the natural order of things that some day or other these casualties will be attended with a great sacrifice of lite, it is therefore the duty of the company to take every possible precaution in the navigation of vessels in the harbours on the Kast Coast. It cannot be denied that the steamers are well officered and manned, and in every respect a great improvement upon the class of boats that were previously engaged in the trade* but it can hardly be expected that a master who has only been six or eight timss in a tortuous harbour like that of Tauranga can be so fully acquainted with the set and rip of the tides as a pilot, who is daily 011 the place watching the changes that ever and anon take place ; and under such circumstances the general opinion is, that no exemption certificate ought to be granted to a master unless a more extended training under a piiot has bce-n received than apparently has been the case in several instances of late. The following telegrams have come to hand on the subject of the wreck Taukan-ga. Feb. *20. The s.s. Taupo is formally abandoned. There is very little chance of getting her efr. is p.m. The following particulars of the wreck of the Taupo, and her present coudition, have been collected to-day by tbe special reporter of the Bay of Plenty Times At G. 40 a.m. on Tuesday, the Taupo rounded Mount Maungonui. Engines were put at half-speed as a course was made for tho red buoy on the starbcard side, and shortly after passing the black buoy on the port side, the tide or an eddy caught her, and carried her broadside towards the shore, and she immediately struck on the port side. She made first three bumps, then two more, as though she were going over a sharp point and being ripped up, and then stopped dead and began to fill, the water rushing into the stokeholes and engine-room. The engines were put full sj)eed astern, but this was without effect, as the fires were out almost immediately, and in three minutes the engine-room ha.l four feet of water in i*. T s i less than h .If-an-hour all the passt' • - re landed, some few however, remaii. ... ...oir own accord to assist the crew. At tL.-s time the engine compartment was quite full, tho fore compartment being quite dry, and the after one having seven inches of water. A gun was fired as soon after striking as was possible, and a reversed ensign hoisted as a signal of distress. When the passengers were safely landed, tbe pump was shipped, and kept going all the morning, and the mails and luggage were got out and placed in the lifeboats alongside, in order that they should be safe in case of a capsize, or if, as was at one time feared, she broke her back. At 8 a.m. the s.s. Katikati came alongside, and the contents of the lifeboats, as well as the remainder of the luggage, was placed on board of her, and the passengers brought from off the shore. With them she proceeded to town. When the passengers were landed on the mount * one was desired to go round the rocks to the » pilothouse, and to acquaint the pilot with the I mishap, but he did not arrive until 7.30, three--1 quarters of an hour after striking. At D a.m. t the lighter came alongside, and all hands pro- * ceeded to discharge the cargo from the afterI hold, the men working up to their middle > in water. At 10 a.m. a boat was lowered and i soundings taken all round the vessel, and a depth of from 14 feet to 13 feet was found in > different localities, but no appearance of rock I could be made out through the water. At 4 ■ p.m. the depths were from 17 to 22 feet. At * noon two lifeboats were lashed together by means of a heavy spar between them, and on tho spar was slung the lower anchor, a f nine-inch Manilla haw ser being run out from the starboard quarter. The anchor was dropped some distance astern at 2 p.m. No lighters x being alongside, and all hands being conse--1 quently free, they were set to work pumptog 3 and bucketing to keep the water down. It was y found that the water gained two inches an hour, B and it continued to do so until 5 p.m., when, it being then the of high water, all the r cargo not already out being damaged, s and there being evidently no possibility a of floating her, the compartment wa3 allowed a to till. The crew, with additional labour from _ the shore, were employed in discharging from the fore hold and keeping the fore compartj ments dry with the pump 3. At 0 p.m. there 2 were fourteen inches of water in the fore hold, . and at 9 p.m. five inches. The pumping was then discontinued, and all hands employed in j discharging until 11 p.m., at which time I all cargo was out but - some damaged B in the after hold and a number of cases 3 of tinned meat, which were allowed to remain in the water. In all there were on ' e board one hundred tons of cargo, of which E ninety were saved. At 3 a.m. to-day the main e deck was covered to a depth of about three a inches, it being four feet deep in the saloon. r In the morning coal was discharged from - the fore compartment, and the saloon \ stripped of its fittings, the plate having 0 been already sent on shore in a lifea boat in tow of the Katikati. The Taupo is 1 now lying about 150 yards from the shore, 1 between the black buoy and the beacon, nearer r to the latter than the former by seme 50 yard?. 2 The beacon lies three points in her port bow, I the black buoy two points in her port quarter, B and the red buoy three points on her s;ai board quarter. She appears to be fairly in the channel, for a line drawn in continuation of her i>ort side, would clear both buoys and beacon by a cerc tainty of 40 feet, and if, as is asserted, deep F water lie 3 close to each of these, it is difficult e to understand on what she has struck. It is ® possible that a rock may have been displaced I by the action of the water, and rolled into the a channel. But no rocks are visible, the tide at '* the time of striking was two hours ebb. It has also been suggested that a sunken anchor may e have been the cause of the disaster, for many of those on board are of opinion, judging from the ripping sounds made, that the vessel struck oc e a very sharp point. When she first struck she e listed over to starboard, but after a quantity of e cargo was discharged she moved her position and r listed slightly over to port, as she now lies; 3 but, had it been a rock on which she struck, 3 it would have liad to go right through het bottom from port to starboard to allow her to II list over to The eugine-room. main, and ir after-holds, are quite full of water, and the ebb a and How of the tide run freely through, so that 1 either the bulk-heads separating the compartu ments are broken, or other holes have been made in the bottom. She is severely strained n right amidships—the deck planks having - started where the staunchions support the main d deck by the hatchway. The keel abaft the forea mast touches the ground, only the fore part is d floating. No view can be got of the hole or >- holes, and their shape aud the exact size o are at present purely coujec* red. Beyond d the slight straining amidships, no damage d is visible to the hull or rigging, but what has t been effected by the water and by the c stripping. Judging from the appearances, n there does not seem to be any possibility :1 of floating her, but she may perhaps bo hauled is on shore. It certainly looks as though her 1- head should be made fast to the shore, for if tho wind were to blow it would drive her toward the channel, and the vessel would sii;k right in the fairway, and entirely block it up. c As ic is, the position of the wreck will render | navigation iliilicult to large vessels. It ! will be remembered that some months ago Y the Hawea touched something in exactly the same place, and a search was made by the harbour-master and the Collector of Custom?, but nothing could be fouud. The chief cflicer of the Taupo states that he has frequently been much closer in than the present position of the wreck.