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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4213, 21 September 1874, Page 2

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AUCKLAND. August 10.—Arrived : Glimpse, barque, from Newcastle ; Bella Mary, barque, from Hobart Town. LYTTELTON. September 19.—7.30p.m. Arrived: Taranaki, from Wellington. ' POET CHALMEES. September 19. —1.50 p.m. Arrived: Plicebe, 3.3., from Lyttelton. ' ,

Shippers of cargo to Taranaki will see from advertisement, that the s.s. Napier will sail for that port direct, on Wednesday. s The three-mastedschooner, Melanie, Captain Creagh, from Kaipara, via Wellington to Dunedin, got across the Strait to within a few mile£ Northof the Kaikouras, when she was caught in a stiff S.E. bu’ster, which lasted for seventy-three hours, during which the schooner was hove-to on the starboard tack, and was driven over 100 miles up the coast—a considerable distance beyond Cape Palliser—when it took off. The gale blew with very great violence throughout. There was also a very heavy sea, which, with the wind, made the gale one of the severest witnessed on our coast by Captain Creagh, during the many years he has been upon it. The little craft behaved herself in an admirable manner; but was once boarded in a very unpleasant style. A large breaker came over the starboard side, and fell with its full force on the mainsail, splitting it into shreds. Beyond this, however, she sustained no damage. Wreck op a Steamship on the Irish Coast.— On the 3rd nit., the steamer Corinth, from New York, bound to Liverpool, was wrecked off Gallyhead, on the coast of Cork. The crew were saved/ The Corinth was a Sunderland-built iron-screw steamer, of 959 r tons, and was built in 1872. The Corinth had only' two passengers, and was loaded with wheat and corn. She ran ashore in hazy weather. Sinking of the Steamer Tuapeka.— We have already reported another misfortune to the poor little steamer Tuapeka, and may further remark that Captain Bussell inspected her a few days ago, and found her submerged in about ten feet of water in the branch of the Molyneux, opposite to Kaitangata. She has, as usual, come to grief through running :on a snag. The work of raising her was at once com menced under the supervision of Mr. Mason, who recovered her on a former occasion, and when Captain Russell ■ left the scene, she was in a fair way of miking the surface again. This latest mishap to the Tuapeka is to be attributed to the exceptional dryness of the winter season, which, reducing the depth of the Molyneux to much within the ordinary limits, has had the effect of bringing near the surface many snags, which, as a rule, are submerged out of the way. It would be well if some action were taken to, during such seasons, clear av/ay snags that at other times are out of reach. Instead of one little steamer, half-a-dozen boats of good capacity and power should now be making safe running on that river. —Otago Times. The Dismasted Iron Ships. Now that the clipper ship John Kerr is once more “a-taunto," and all her sails bent, it may be as well to show the advantages she has gained over those that were * dismasted at the same time, by having her repairs effected here, instead of getting the spars and gear sent out from Home, as the chips Loch Ard and Cambridgeshire are having done. ’ The John Kerr is ready for sea again, and at an expenditure of a fraction or so more or less than £IO,OOO ; and the work is pronounced by the surveyors and all concerned in the vessel to be equal in workmanship and material to anything that could be turned out in Great Britain ; in fact, they could not be-surpassed. The ironwork was done by Forman and Co., Yarra Boiler Works, for £2037 10h,, and consists of new fore and mainmasts, new fore and main lower yards, new lower topsail yards, newmizentop, and requisite repairs to crossjack and mizentopsaii yard. The Loch Ard’s masts and gear have arrived in the ships Loch Tay and America, and the Cambridgeshire’s arc daily expected in the Oberon,.so that fully .two months will bo yet taken up before these two can be ready for sea: and it is very uncertain if, when the reckoning of the expenses is arrived at, the John Kerr’s has not been much less than the other; and, to'add to the outlay, a gentleman came out by the last mail' steamer to supervise the fitting-out of the Cambridgeshire.— Age.' Steam Competition in the-North Atlantic.— It is said that strenuous efforts arc being made to reestablish the North Atlantic Steamship Conference, by which a fixed rate of freight and passage money may be maintained between Liverpool and New York. It is conceded that the Regular line of steamers now engaged in the 5 Liverpool trade are losing money. Fine goods which paid forty shillings freight are now . brought to New York from Liverpool for ten and twelve, while dead weight, such as rails, soda,. &c., which used to pay twenty shillings, is now brought for five and six shillings. Steerage passenger rates have also fallen In like proportion, yiz., {xom £5 to £2 10s. It Is reported that should no arrangement be made by October next, it will be indefinitely postponed, as all the steamers in New York will have plenty of cotton to carry Homo to England. Meanwhile some steamers ‘ are coming here laden with ballast. It is impossible to imagine the bitter rivalry and ill-feeling existing between the different Liverpool Hues at the present moment. The dissensions, however, are advantageous to steerage passengers, who can now travel to Liverpool for 111, and to merchants in this country, who can Import their goods at the lowest rates of freight ever heard of by steamers. The arrival of emigrants to this port is now about five thousand a week.—New Ywk Herald. Explosion op a River Steamer. — A correspondent of a Victorian paper gives the followin' particulars of the recent steamboat explosion on the Murray Elver;—“On Tuesday news flow up and down the river that a fatal explosion had occurred on' board the .steamer Moolgewanke, at James Long's hut. Big Bend. On visiting the place it proved .only too true. The steamer had arrived before daylight in the morning, and had blown the whistle to let Long know she was there. Ho got up, crossed a small lagoon that lay between his place and the ship, and could not have reached her many minutes before the dreadful explosion took place.' It is supposed that he, the cook (a Chinaman, named Sam Son)/ and a Robert Rust (a stoker)/were taking coffee when they were thrown into the air. The last-named two fell side hy side on the bank, about four or five yards on the shore, while poor Long was carried, with a large piece of the boiler, between seventy and eighty yards, and was only pre - vented from going further by coming In contact with the upper branches of trees, and falling down through them, broken all over, and nearly undressed—his coat, waistcoat, braces, and comforter being left at different distances from the ship’s side to where he lay, showing plainly the line in which he was thrown. The Chinaman had no limbs broken, but was scalded and bruised all Over, and was seen to be alive by others of the crew . for a few minutes after they were turned out. The engineer was blown into the river with the whole of his cabin, and awoke in the water, but managed to swim and get hold of she ship’s side/and is only bruised In ’ the tnigh. Captain Fuller and the rest of the crew, with one passenger—eight in number-including the engineer, were in bed, and would have been on deck a few minutes Later. ' The ship at a distance looks nearly All-right/ except that her funnel is lying 1 ‘ ‘ott the -top of the deckhouse, but on looking into her she presents a strange, torn appearance as far as her woodwook is concerned. The land is covered

for about an acre in extent with portions of decking, bulwarks, and boiler; some large pieces of the latter 120 yards distant.” Narrow • Escape op the Schooner Pearl.— The schooner PearLwhich arrived at the AVaikato Heads from Lyttelton ou Thursday week, with a cargo of grain and potatoes for Mr. Lamb, of the Ngaruawahia flour mills, had a very tempestuous passage. On September 3rd, a heavy westerly gale blowing, the schooner was off Karehoe mountain which bore E. about ten miles at 7 a.m. AVoro the ship throe times to keep her off the land unsuccessfully : she would not fetch off on any tack. Finally, as a last resource, Captain Urquhart determined- to run the Waikato bar, although it was being swept by a tremendous sea at the time. While on the bar the schooner was in great peril Three seas washed over her in succession. The captain, who was at the wheel, was knocked do\yn by one and severely injured. On the deck everything moveable was swept clean away. Both companion hatches .were smashed, the companion itself was very much strained, two deadlights were smashed in, letting a lot of water into the hold, bulwarks were carried away, and finally the mate, Mr. D. Sutherland, was washed overboard. Being a powerful swimmer, ho succeeded in reaching the shore. At half-past eleven the bar was crossed.— t\ ucklaml Star.