SHIPPING CASUALTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11692, 29 June 1901, Page 5

SHIPPING CASUALTY.

—— . ... THE JOHN GAMBLES WRECKED. BOUND FROM PERU TO AUCKLAND. ALL HANDS SAFE. The Union Company's steamer avium, which arrived from Tahiti last night, brought intelligence of the total wreck of tho British barque John Gambles, bound from Peru to Auckland, with a cargo of raw sugar for the Colonial Sugar llefining Company (Limited). The particulars of the disaster, as-sup-plied by tho chief officer of the wrecked vessel, show that the John Gambles was bound from Salaverry, Peru, to Auckland, with a cargo of 16G0 tons of sugar, con signed to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. She was totally wrecked at Tahiti on Slay 23, through drifting on to the reef, about a mile to the westward of Point Venus lighthouse, in a calm. All hands were saved. A Naval Court was held at Papeete on June 13 to inquire into the disaster, with the British Consul as president, and Captain Walker, a resident of Tahiti, and Captain F. W. Macbeth, master of the s.s. Taviuni, as assessors. The evidence disclosed that on the voyage frcm Salaverry. to Auckland the barque's fresh water tank commenced to leak, and being short of water the master decided to call at Tahiti for a supply. On May - 23 the vessel was about three miles oft' Point Venus, when a pilot came off to the ship, and at nine a.m. the captain and pilot left in a boat for the shore, leaving the first mate in charge with instructions to keep the ship to the westward. After the captain left the vessel stood to the northward, and the mate furled the mainsail and topgallant sails. The vessel stood off the lanci till between noon and one p.m., when she turned and headed towards the reef again, being at that time about 10 miles oil'. When she approached the land within about three miles, she lost the breeze, and from about two p.m. she gradually drifted closer to the reef till she struck, at five p.m. About an hour and a-half after striking she began to make water, and soon sank. Much of the evidence given in Court was of a contradictory nature. The carpenter said the anchor was not dropped until after the vessel struck, while another witness was as positive that it was dropped some time before she struck. No sail was made when the wind fell light, and rio signal made to the shore, the vessel being within signalling distance during the time she was becalmed. The decision of the Court was that the captaiD committed an error of - judgment in leaving his ship while underway close to a dangerous coast; that after the captain left the ship was not navigated with seamanlike care; and tha.t when the vessel was seen to be in danger proper means were not taken to try and avoid a disaster. It. appears that the master, who left .England in the ship, was drowned in a boa.t accident at Peru, and the master and mate, who were in charge when the wreck occurred, only held provisional certificates, granted "to them in Peru, with which the Court had no power to deal. All the crew of the wrecked vessel came on to Auckland by the Taviuni.

The John Gambles was owned by Price and Co., of Liverpool.