THE KAKANUI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8482, 5 February 1891, Page 5

THE KAKANUI.

NO TRACE OF THE STEAMER.

BELIEVED TO HAVE FOUNDERED. ALL ON BOARD LOST. [BY XELKGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Bluff, Wednesday. The Government steamer Hinemoa arrived from the Macquarie Islands at half-past six p.m. to-day. Captain Fairchild reports that the steamer Kakanui arrived .there on the 2nd of January, and left again on the 3rd, taking away eight men from the island, and leaving Mr. Mellish (the

manager), and his wife. Two days after she left tho Macquaries a fearful westerly gale was experienced there, and it is most probable that the Kakanui foundered in that gale. Tho people on the Macquaries had plenty of rice, 1 flour, and biscuits, and also eat the penguin's eggs, and part of the birds. Mr. Mellish refused to come away in the Kakanui, preferring to await the arrival of the Gratitude', ketch, from Invercargill. A thorough search has been made of the Auckland, Snares, Solanders, Traps, and all outlying islands, bub no trace of any sort has been found.

The gale experienced at the Macquaries after the Kakanui left was so violent that casks of oil were blown along the beach and a hut blown down. Captain Fairchild, fears that it is only too likely that the Kakanui experienced that gale and foundered, as when she left the Macquaries she was very deep, and had apparently a good stock of coals on board. Dcnedin, Wednesday. So far as can be ascertained, the names of those on board the Kakanui are :— Captain William Best, married, with four children. Captain Jacob Eckoff, mate, married, with six or seven children. Morris Erickson, mate, married. _ Robert Steward, engineer, married, one child. . , r William Morgan, fireman, married, four children. William Raister, cook and steward, married. . , George Ludwig, seaman, married, two children. Charles Silvester and another seaman whose name is unknown, and a fireman also unknown. James Stewart, Customs officer, son of Captain J. Stewart of the Big Dredge. The eight men taken off the island were :—

C. Gaamble. H. Couzens. A. Watson. G. Godfrey. W. Dow. H. Lewis. And two lads. W. Cowan and W. Ralph Couzens, and Dow are Dunedin men, and Lewis was a fisherman at Port Chalmers. The Hinemoa's news has cast quite a gloom over the place. No one ever dreamt that the Kakanui had made such a smart passage down. As to the statement that she was deep in the water, that can scarcely be correct, as she only had about 65 tons of coal on board, and about 25 must have been consumed on the trip down. She oushfc, therefore, to have been in the best possible trim. The news greatly shocked Mrs. Best, who is in ill health. Invercargill, Wednesday. Alexander Watson, the only man from this quarter on board the missing steamer, has a wife here. He was second mate in Circe, and afterwards mate of Mr. Hatch's schooner Awarua, but joinod the shore party in March last. The probability of so many lives being sacrificed for what proves to have been an unfounded rumour that the people on the Macquaries were starving, has caused a fearful sensation here.

The Kakanui was an iron screw steamer, of 83 tons gross register, and 22-horse power. She was built in Dnnedin in 1579, and was owned there by Messcp. K. Rantsay, C. F. Sundestrom, and two others. The cause of the Kakanui's trip to the remote little group of the Macquaries is well known. She was sent down to ascertain the condition of a party of sea-elephant hunters, who were supposed to be short of food, and to afford them relief, and if need be, a passage back to Invercargill. She left that port on December 24, under charge of Captain Best, and had about TO tons of coal on board, a supply sufficient for about 15 days steaming. Her trip of 1100 miles to the Macquaries was en route the Snares and Auckland Islands, and it was thought probable that the Kakanui has sought shelter at the latter place, which is only 24 hours' journey from the Macquaries, but the visit of the Hinemoa disproves this theory. The Kakanui bore the reputation of being a good sea boat, and her master, Captain Best, is known as one of the most careful and experienced seamen about the Southern coasts.