A SENSATIONAL VOYAGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 55

A SENSATIONAL VOYAGE.

THE BARQUE ITATA ARRIVES. MAN LOST OVERBOARD. STRANGE MEETING AT SEA. The barque Itata, which arrived at Wellington on Sunday from Liverpool, besides losing one of the crew at sea. during a gale, had a sensational experience which resulted in damage to the vessel. A meeting in mid-ocean with a tiny craft bound for Australia, and the neculiar eccentricity of the Itata’s compass were incidents of the voyage. Captain Balfour reports that the Itata sailed from Liverpool on October 3rd with a general cargo for Wellington and Dunedin. At the commencement of the voyage the vessel had a head wind, and had to beat about till clear of the Scilly Islands. \ strong north-westerly wind immediately changed to a south-westerly gale with heavy south-westerly sea. Just before clearing the Bay of Biscay a short but hard north-easterly gale, with high swell and a low barometer, was experienced. The ship laboured heavily under two topsails most of the time. This was the last heavy galo north of the Equator. Light north-easterly trades then took the Itata to the line, which was crossed on November 10th. On November 2nd the crew of the Itata- was astonished to sight the little

SEVEN TON YAWL. Brighton, which left England last August, bound for the West Australian pearl fisheries, via Capetown. She was manned by Captain Napper and his mate Langford. The meeting of the two sels occurred in the celebrated doldrums immortalised in the “Ancient Mariner.” The Itata was “like a painted ship upon a painted sea,” while the little Brighton, in a light air, went slowly around the larger ship.- Captain Napper went aboard the Itata, using a small flatbottomed punt. A dog, which had accompanied him, was left alone, alongside the Itata in the punt. The dog, in a vain endeavour to follow his master, fell overboard, but was rescued. Books and magazines were exchanged, and the Brighton, which had last called at- St. Vincent, enlightened the Itata’s people with the latest Russo-Japanese war news. On board the Brighton was a third party not mentioned in the ship's articles; —a black boy who had stowed away at St. Vincent For three days the vessels kept company, but the Brighton eventually dropped astern as the wind increased. Favourable southeasterly trades followed by some days of head winds from the south-south-west gradually carried the ship down to the latitude of Tristan d’Acunha and Inaccessible Island on November 28th. Thence onward the STORM KING smote the vessel fiercely and frequently. On Saturday, December 10th, there were forebodings of a gale. The wind, which had been north-easterly, freshened to a strong gale with heavy rain. From midnight till 4 a.m on the Sunday all hands were employed in stripping the ship of canvas. Meanwhile the wind had increased to hurricane force from the north-west, with lightning, thunder, and torrents of rain. At 6 a.m. the weather seemed to have broken, and the cun was shining brightly, so once more the yards were squared, and the ship continued on her course. At noon the rain re-commenced, and at 1 p.m. the wind shifted to the south-west, and raised such a tremendous north-westerly sea that Captain Balfour decided to heaveto. At 1.30 p.m. the ship was brought to the wind and lay-t-o. When coming up to the wind - a heavy sea was shipped, which broke over the fore-end of the poop. It smashed the companion ladders and poop stanchions, besides tearing away the weather-cloths. That day at about 2 o’clock an A.B. named Hyland was lost overboard after re-stowing the outer jib. He was on the jib-boom as the vessel dived into an enormous seai, and the water washed him away. The occurrence was startlingly sudden, and the huge wave poured over the vessel. The decks were full of water for some minutes after, and the ship lay with her lee rail under. All hands turned out at- the cry of “man overboard,” but nothing could be done to save the unfortunate man. No boat- could have lived in the sea that was running, nor would it have been possible to pull to windward and reach him. For three minutes the seaman was visible, then he disappeared. Hyland was one of the crew of the barque Northern Monarch, which was wrecked near Patea about sixteen months ago, whilst- bound from Newcastle with a cargo of coal for Valparaiso. Another man, who was with Hyland out on the jib-boom, had his ribs badly bruised. THE FINAL STAGES. After this gale light winds were experienced up to arriving in Cook strait on last Friday morning. Variable winds and calm kept the vessel from making much headway, and on Saturday night when a breeze did come the weather w as too hazv and thick to

proceed. On December 29th the steering compass became suddenly affected, and it was impossible to steer by it. The officer in charge was compelled to stand at the compass on the bridge and direct the helmsman. This occurred in latitude 43 degree 55 minutes south and longitude 123 degrees east, or in other words in longitude somewhat east of Albany, West Australia, and latitude a little south of Hokitika. For 24 hours the compass was useless.

Otn Sunday there was quite a strong breeze to a moderate gale in Cook Strait, which gave the captain some anxiety, as this is his first visit to Wellington. The tug Duco shortly after midday went out and placed Pilot Dawson on board the Itata and towed the ship up to the stream, where she dropped anchor at 6.20 p.m. The vessel has 1257 tons of general cargo to discharge at Wellington, and 672 tons for Dunedin. Johnston and Co., Ltd., are the local agents. The Itata is a steel barque, built in 1883 t>v Messrs R. and J. Evans and Co.. Liverpool. and the owners are the Newark Shipping Company, Ltd. The principal dimensions are—Length, 202 ft • beam, 35ft ; depth, 19ft 9in; tonnage, 950 gross, 927 net.