SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 106, 15 February 1873, Page 10

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

AERIVED. February. 7, Nebraska, p.s., 2143 tons, Harding, from San Francisco via Honolulu, Napier, and Auckland. Passengers—Mr and Mrs-'Hath-away, Dr Tucker, Hon J. L. Dunn and Mrs Dunn, Mrs Casey, Miss "Williams, Mr and Mrs Nathan, Mrs Hughes, Mrs M. Grace, Mrs Oilman and son, Messrs Chiairini, Pearce, Grace, Young, Troupe, Hamlin, and fourteen in the steerage. 8, Wellington, s.s., 262 tons, Carey, from Piclon, Nelson, Taranaki, and Manukau. Passengers—Mr and Mrs Krull and three children, Mrs Lehaupe and two children, M**s Handside, Miss O'Neill, Mrs Harris, Color.el Russell, Messrs O'Neill, Roskruge, Bishop, Gibbs (2), Bohas, Small, Creagh, Murray, Nosworthy, Jotterns, Small, Hon Mr Stafford ; and four in the steerage. 10, Phoebe, s.s., 416 tons, Capt. Worsp, from Lytielton and Port Chalmers. Passengers Mrs Murphy, Mr Waddell, Mrs and Miss Russell, Mr Dane, Mrs M'Lean, Mtb Hart, Mr Smith, Mrs and Mrs Ashton, Mr Fleury, Mr Hooper, Mr and Mrs Howard, Mr Aveling, Mr Keogh, Mr Hyde, Miss Anstead, Mr Rayner, Mr Newton, Masters -Hyde and Keogh, Mr Warburton, Miss Nice, Miss Herbert, Mr Steel, two Sisters of Mercy ; sixteen saloon for the North ; four Bteerage for Wellington, and fire for the North. 11, Napier, s.s., 44 tons, Doile, from Wanganui. Passengers—Miss M'Namara, Messrs Cowell, Allison, and Grill. 12, Patea, ketch, 18 tons, Williams, from Havelock. 12, Rose of Eden, schooner, 30 tons, Grieve, from Havelock. 12, Wanganui, s.s., 179 tons, Linklater, from Wanganui. Passengers—Mr and Mrs Drake, Mr and Mrs Pycroft, Mr and Mrs M'Masters, Mrs Bowler, Miss Gray, Mrs Aamodt and child, Messrs Hurley, Bowden, Pash, Captain Irvine, and one A.C, 13, Alhambra, s.s, 497 tons, Pearce, from Melbourne, Bluff, Port Chalmers, and Lyttelton. Pasßeng9rs—Mr and Mrs Sewell, Miss Gibson, Mr and Mrs Cameron, Mrs Haines and son, Mrs Cobb and two children, Messrs Granger, Thompson, Menzies, Leathers, Capt Baldwin, Sherman, and Wilson. SAILED. 7, Nebraska, p.s., 2143 tons, Harding, for Lyttelton and Port Chalmers. Passengers— Hon John Hall, Mrs Hall and three children and three servants, Mr C. C. Bowen, Hon Mr Bathgate. 9, Wellington, s.s, 262 tons, Carey, for Lyttelton and Port Chalmers. 10, Foldin, barque, 268 tons, Dan, for Newcastle. 11, Phoebe, s.s., 416 tons, Worsp, for Picton, Nelson, Taranaki, and Manukau. Passengers —Messrs Standen, Castels, Kilgour, and Clapham. 1.1, Aspasia, schooner, 45'tons, Thompson, for the East Coast. 11, Celestia, barque, 225 tons, Smith, for Lyttelton. 11, Enterprise, schooner, 84 tons, Campbell, for the East Coast. 12, Napier, s.b., 44 tons, Doile, for Wanganui. 13, Alhambra, 497 tons, Pearce, for Nelson, Greymouth, Hokitika, and Melbourne.

The Forfarshire, Captain Fox, from London, is ninety-five days out, and may therefore bo looked for daily. She brings about 450 emigrants. Messrs Turnbull and Co are her Bgante. In the list of vessels loading at home for this port we observe that there are two at present on the berth at Glasgow, viz, the ship Brechin Castle and the three-masted schooner May. The Brechin Castle is a splendid com-posite-built ship, of 1000 tons register, Al 17 years, commanded by Captain James Smith. This vessel was constructed with a special view to speed, and has proved herself a very fast sailer. She is one of Messrs Gregor, Turnbull, and Co's line, from Glasgow to the Indies. The Brechin Castle was to sail about the 14th December, and may therefore be looked for early in March. The schooner May, following the Brechin Castle, is built of wood, 237 tons. Al 11 years, and was to sail about the 23rd December. This vessel has been purchased by Messrs Turnbull and Co, of this city, for the Mauritius trade, for which she is well suited. We trust that Messrs Aitken, Lilburn, and Co, of Glasgow (the ship agents loading the above vessels) will see their way clear to continue sending out ships from that port by meeting with every encouragement from shippers. The American barque Chattanoogo, Capt Freeman, is due at Dunedin from New York. On discharging the Dunedin portion of her cargo, she will come on here with the balance, there being about 500 tons of notions for this port. We hear she is consigned to Messrs Turnbull and Co. The steamer Ladybird, Captain Daniels, may be expected on the coast shortly from Sydney. The St;. Andrew's Castle was-to leave London for this port on the 16th December. The Lucerne is on the berth at London for this port, to follow the St. Andrew's Castle. The United States frigate California, Admiral Pennock, the United States gunboat Beneeia, and Her Britannic Majesty's frigate Scout, were lying at Honolulu when the Nebraska left. The barques East Lothian and Thames have both arrived at New York from Auckland. One of the seamen on the ship City of Delhi, named James Messop, who was working his passage out to Melbourne as a shilling .a month man, met with a fatal accident on the voyage. On the 11th of November, Messop was engaged aloft on the maintop*

gallant yard, when he was observed to slip, and get his neck caught in the bight of the gasket. He was quickly l-escued from the position and lowered to the deck, when it was discovered that his neck was broken and life was extinct. Her Majesty's ship Dido left Auckland for the Fijis last Monday morning. The schooner Esther is in Auckland harbor for sale, freight, or charter. The following has been handed to the Nelson " Colonist" for publication, being an extract from the log of a ketch commanded by J Hamilton, and which shows the narrow escape of the ketch and those on board. No doubt the mail steamer was the Dakota, on her trip from Wellington to Lyttelton : " Saturday, 18th January, 2.20 a.m., when standing off the shore, with the wind S.S W., the Kaikoura Peninsula bearing S.W. by W. £ W., 5£ miles, we saw a large steamer bearing down upon us, with full steam and all sail set. We saw his masthead and side lights distinctly ten minutes before he passed us. Our starboard light was towards her, and burning brightly. We hailed him with all our might, but to no purpose. She passed our mizzen boom within three yards, and never eased her engines. I am cei'tain she had no look out, or she must have seen us. She was steering in a N.N.E. direction. We took her to be one of the American mail steamers. We saw her beam engines. I heard some one speak just as she passed us. I should think she was going at the rate of fourteen miles an hour. It was blowing hard at the time; I was under double-reefed canvas. —J. HAMILTON, master."

A wholesale case of desertion from H.M.B. Dido occurred just before the ship left Auckland for the Fijis. Eight seamen and three stokers quitted the ship on the quiet, and pulled to the Wynyard Pier. After making the boat fast, they " made tracks," and were seen no more until four o'clock the next morning. The men and the boat were soon missed, and the master-at-arms was at once despatched to the police office. Here, after some little difficulty, eight trusty policemen were obtained to go in pursuit, and obtain the reward of merit—which is at the rate of £3 per head for each deserter. In company with the master ac-arms, the police made a sparch throughout the city, Newton, Parnell, Newmarket, Remuera, and many other places in the vicinity of Auckland, but without gaining any clue of the fugitives. At length, about four in the morning, thoroughly tired and fagged out, they fell across a " party," who gave them information which at once cheered up their spirits ; and, on the " information received," they started straight for Auckland again, and made their way to a public-house in Freeman's Bay. This they quietly entered, headed by Sergt.Major Pardy. Three rooms were pointed out to them. They entered one. Two of the missing men were calmly sleeping, dreaming, doubtless, of a speedy capture. Their dream was realised,- and the handcuffs slipped on them before they were fairly awake. In the next room two others, yet asleep, were secured in the same way. The third room contained the remaining seven men. These were all awake, and at first appeared inclined to show fiVht. The first appearance was followed by an actual attack, but they were overpowered by the police, and beat down. They then quietly yielded, but expressed a decided disinclination to have the handcuffs placed on them. Their scruples, however, were soon overcome, and the eleven were brought to the guard-room about dx o'clock in the morning. They here -stated that they had no intention to desert —that they had merely come on shore for a spree, intending to go on board again. They said that liberty had been refused them by the officer in command. As the whole of them happened to be on the black list this is not to be wondered at. As the boat containing them and the police passed the Blanche, on its way to the Dido, the men of the former vessel gave expression to a good deal of ill feeling in the way of sneers and hisses. The recapture of the men cost the ship £33. The Sarah Pile, on her passage from Sydney, which had a portion of the Fijian loan on board, in specie, met with a terrific hurricane on the 6th ultimo, when about 250 miles froth Levuka, Nothing was ever experienced like it before by the captain or crew of the vessel. The Sarah Pile was all but literally blown out o f the water. Topmasts and yards went by the board, every sail was torn to ribbons, whilst dense masses of heavy sp"ay ran up the vessel's sides, reaching her mainmast head, and threatening to swamp the hull. At one time the vessel had her lee bulwarks and a portion of her deck under water. By great exertions a tarpaulin was set on the weather rigging, which had the effect of keeping the vessel's head to sea. A strong, well- built craft, a skilled captain, and a willing crew, brought the vessel out of the hurricane, and she shortly made her destined port with only loss of sails, spars, and rigging. The Honolulu " Commercial Advertiser" of the 23rd of November contains the following report, furnished by Captain Bauldry, of the whaling barque Arnolria, giving"' some particulars of the whaling fleet abandoned in the Arctic Ocean last season :—" Arrived off Icy Cape on the 23rd of July. Here the natives had just taken four whales, but we saw none. We understood by signs from the natives that there were but three of the abandoned ships left. We could not proceed any further at present, as the ice made clear to the shore. Provisioned two boats and eent them as far a 9 they could go, thinking they might come up with the whales and catch some before they got round Point Barrow. On "the 26th took up our anchor and proceeded ten miles further north, the ice having worked to the northward. On the night of the 27th the boats returned and reported no whales, they having gone as far as Point Belcher. There they found Captain Smith, of the brig Uranie, two boats from the barque

Florence, and six of the hulls of the fleet which was left in the Arctic last season, being badly used up. The natives had burnt the best part of the fleet, some of which were smoking when Captain Smith arrived there. The following are the names of the ships that are left: —Barque Minerva, off the mouth of Wainwright's Inlet, taken by the barque Florence, not ashore; Thomas Dickason, two miles further north, taken charge of by Capt Smith, and is ashore and bilged, water flowing in and out of her ; brig Kohola, high and dry on the beach ; ship Reindeer, five miles south of Point Belcher, bilged and full of water, taken charge of by barque Florence ; barque Emily Morgan, one mile north of Point Belcher, ashore and masts gone, claimed by the Florence ; barque Seneca, three miles north of Point Belcher, ashore, and taken charge of by Captain Smith. For the purpose of saving life from shipwreck there were, at the end of 1871, on the coasts of the United Kingdom, 281 sets of rocket and mortar apparatus, wholly provided and paid for by the Board of Trade out of the Mercantile Marine Fund, and there were, at the same time, 264 lifeboats. Of these life boats, 233 belonged to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and 31 to harbor authorities, beachmen, &c. Nine volunteer life brigades and 129 volunteer life companies have been formed for the purpose of enabling persons residing on the coasts of the United Kingdom to acquire a knowledge of the rocket apparatus, and of the method of using it in cases of shipwreck independently of, or in co-operation with, the coastguard and receivers of wreck. The number of lives saved during the past year from shipwrecks on the British coasts was altogether 4336. The life boats of the National Lifeboat Institution materially assisted towards making up this grand total, the boats being mostly called on to render their invaluable aid when all other kinds of succour would be utterly hopeless.^ Among the momentous questions that are likely to arise before long is that of the sale of the Suez Canal ; or, at least, of the neutralisation of this famous " short cut." Already the subject has been discussed. The idea of purchasing the canal from the shareholders by contributions of maritime nations, and of placing it under an Intermediate Syndicate, was lately put forward in the Italian Parliament. Stimulated by this circumstance, the Chamber of Commerce in Vienna applied to the Austrian Government for information on the matter, and obtained certain particulars, among which are the following:—The toils of the Suez Canal produced about six hundred thousand pounds per year, and its management and sustentation cost the company rather more than a third of that sum. The four hundred thousand pounds remaining are absorbed in meeting the claims of the debenture holders, and it results from this, with all the inexorable logic of arithmetic, that the shareholders proper draw no dividend. These are, as a rule, unfavorable to the idea of a sale —not an unnatural attitude for persons who are looking forward to a bargain with rich buyers, and who would obviously there fore avoid the appearance of any precipitate desire to sell. The Austrian Ministry seem to have learned that no European Government is at the present moment actively con sidering the question ; but it is added that the Cabinet of M. Thiers would by no means refuse to examine any such project if it were put formally and practically before them. These statements are not without, general interest; and certainly we, of all European people, can least afford to leave the matter to speculators. Other countries have a lively interest in the canal, as being the gateway of a new commerce ; but for us it is the half-way house to India ; while the traffic through " the Ditch" of British vessels equals that of all other flags together. Without any boasting, therefore, it may be remarked that, if business is meant by M. de Lesseps and his company, the views of England will of necessity be an important factor in the transaction. On an average, one vessel is totally loat every week on and near the coasts of the United Kingdom, from unseaworthiness, unsound gear, and other causes, solely due to the miserable parsimony of some shipowners. Only one in every twelve of the wrecks for 1871 was attended with loss of life, the risk run by seamen in such cases is very great, and the careless and improvident manner in which some ships are allowed to go to sea is culpable and wicked in the highest degree. A terrific storm raged at Queenstown,. accompanied by heavy rain, on November 22. A boat belonging to a Norwegian vessel was capsized in the harbor; one man was washed ashore, aud it is supposed the others, have perished. The captain of a Norwegian vessel, with four men, left Queenstown in the evening for their ship, and it is"feared that all have perished. ludeed, the gales have caused sad work along the Irish coasts, and from every quarter we receive accounts of casualties more or less serious. The most melancholy, however, is the loss of the Kinsale, a large screw steamer belonging to the Clyde Steamship Company. She was bound from Cork to Glasgow, and ran into Waterford Harbor on November 23 with a broken shaft. She struck on the Broom Hill and became a total wreck. Twenty-six lives were lost, including nine passengers (one cabin and eight steerage). Captain Hunter, the first mate, and three sailors, were all that were saved. The Re d'Espagna, barque, bound from Bartalloni to Cork, with wheat for orders, stranded the same night in Bonmahon Bay and has become a total wreck. Three of the crew were drowned, seventeen were saved by the rocket apparatus. About the same hour the schooner Dee, of Chester, foundered at the mouth of Belfast Lough. The crew took to the boat and were picked up by the screw steamer Sanda, and are now in the Sailors' Home. On November 26 the barque Juliana, of Rigo, Weschmann, n?as:er, bound from Buenos Ayres to Antwerp, with a cargo

of hides, tallow, bone», and horns, was totally wrecked near Dundrum Bay. All the crew were happily saved —eight by means ot the lifeboat Reigate, belonging to the Lifeboat Society, and two by tho aid of their own long boat.—Home paper.

ENGLISH SHIPPING. Sailed :—From London—For Auckland— Warwick, on October 31 ; Durham, Edinburgh Castle, and Louisa. For Canterbury— Himalaya, on Nov. 21 ; Cissy, and John Bull. For Nelson—Echo and Joyce Philips. For Otago —City of Bombay. Charlotte Gladstone, on November 22; Euterpe, Satterwortb, Naomi, and Saltan*. For Wellington —Agra, Chattanooga, Forfarshire, on November 15 ; St. Andrew's Castle.