A SHIP STRANDED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9403, 9 January 1894, Page 5

A SHIP STRANDED.

I THE JESSIE REDMAN ASHORE AT THE CHATHAMS.

ol'i X* - ■ 1 jr.f 'A ; -?T . •' .0 HO LIVES LOST.

Some excitement was caused in the city yesterday morning on it boinft announced on the H«ram> bulletin Board that the ship Jessie Re&dman had gone ashore at the Chatham Islands. - The following telegrams give particulars of the disaster

ii/r» -»' . ! ••/• Chbistohitbch, Monday. j • The steamer Kahu, which arrived from Chatham Inlands at Lybtelton last night, ; brings news of the stranding of the Shaw, Savill. and Albion Company's ship Jessie Roadman, Captain Burton in command. , The ship was , loaded with a complete cargo of wool at Napier, by Murray, Roberts, and Company, and left > Napier on December 20. • ■ She experienced strong north-west winds after leaving the New Zealand, coast, and on the morning tof December 23, at four o'clock, in thick dirty weather, the ship took ground,! and was soon hardc and fast, for the mishap took plaoe at dead high water. The vessel was being driven along by a strong wind on the starboard tack, and she was sent ashore at a good pace, *No lives were lost. . { It appears that the captain considered his vessel was some distance to tho southward; of Pitt's .Island,: but the current which, as Captain Romerill of the Kahu has experienced, sets strongly in to - the northward, would account for the ship'? position. . i.'v • ; ' The spot where the vessel is now stranded is high and dry, with her shore line fastened to a tree, is called Taupeka, and is two miles and a-half from the spob where the ship Ocean Mail was wrecked •somryears ago while on a voyage from New Zealand to London, .if , .«"»?•; i Captain Romerill states that the offioers and crew of ; the ■ ship' have been actively engaged discharging the cargo of wool, of whicn the vessel lias between 4000|and 5000 bales, valued at £60,000, ;«. ; \ When the Kahu; left the islands on Thursday last, about 400 bales had been landed by means of wire rope from the vesseli and then carted to Taupeka, where it is being stored. The vessel is :. making water, but the ordinary force pump commonly used on board-ship has so far been able to keep it from rising in the hold, and . the; only visible damage done to the hull is to one of the gudgeons of. the : rudder, which is smashed. ; ■ j

As to the probability of the vessel being gob off the beach, Captain Romerill likens the spot very muoh to the Otaki Beach, where the barque Weathersfield lay so lone with a good steel hawser and mushroom anchor. - She may possibly £»et off after all or nearly all the wool has been landed. The steamer Kahu leaves Lyttelton tonight, and ib is possible that some gear will be sent down in her to assisb in making an attempt to float the vessel. ' She is in a fairly.sheltered position, as far as- the weather is concerned, beint; very high, and exposed only to the north-west wind.

;v j ; , , v. h > Wellington, Monday. Captain Babob, marine superintendent of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company for jNorth New Zealand, lefb for Lyttelton by the 8.8. Waihora this afternoon. He proceeds to the Chatham Islands by the e.s. Kahu in connection with the mishap to the ship Jessie Readman.' f , ;

Christchdroh, Monday. The Chatham Islands cot respondent of tjie Lyttelton Times furnishes the following particulars of the wreck of the Jessie Readman:—"On December 23 the ship Jessie Readman, from 'Napier to London, ran ashore on Taupeka Beach, on the north Bide of the island. At the time of her stranding (3,40 a.m.) a dense fog prevailed. How she came to be so much out of her latitude (those on board, I am told, believed her position to be about 90 miles further south) will, of course, form the subject of an enquiry. She has commenced discharging: her wool, but the process is very slow, only some 150 bales p9r day being landed. The Islanders have mustered 26 teams, .which are far "in excess of present requirements. However, more expedition will probably be used when everything gets into working order. The ship liea high and dry, that is to say a man Can drop on to dry ground from her bowsprit. . She lies in a hole, and is making water, which necessitates, keeping the pumps going. I hear she has three feet of water in her. She is believed to be perfectly safe, and it is anticipated that all the cargo will be landed uninjured. Had the ship gone ashore a few miles further to the east or west, she ihust have become a total wreck, and then the crew would have had a poor chance for their lives, if they had to trust to boats. Of course, everybody who can go has gone to the wreck, leaving the other side or the island quite deserted. We can get no labour to harvest the crops. No one thinks he is earning wages unless he gets ab least £1 a day," THE SHIP. The Jessie Readman is one of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co.'s line of New Zealand traders. She was built at Greenock by Scott and Co., in 1869. This was the second voyage of Captain Burton in the ship. L. v . THE CARGO. The cargo consists of 4184 bales and 76 pockets of wool, shipped at Napier; and 60 casks of pitch, shipped at Wellington. Of the wool Messrs. Williams and Kettle shipped -2193 bales; Messrs. Murray, Roberts and Co., 1137 bales Dalgoby and Co., 751 bales and 76 pockets; and Mr. White, 103 bales. •• - * ! INSURANCES. *;'' So far as Is known the insurances on the barque are as follow British and Foreign Marine, £8000 ; Victoria, £7066; United, £2830; National, £915; Straits, £925. The bulk of Williams' and Kettle's shipment is insured in London. \ ,