WRECK OF THE TARANAKI.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 822, 30 November 1878, Page 2

WRECK OF THE TARANAKI.

(Mill IMiKSS AGENCY.) TAniANi.'A, November 20. The Taranaki has been totally wrecked on the Karewa. The passengers are safe on. the island. The Stafla has gone to fetch them. No cargo will be saved. Later. No further particulars are as yet obtainable respecting the wreck of the Taranaki. A dense fog has prevailed for the last three days. Karewa Island is five miles outside Tauranga Heads, in a N.E. direction. The rock is very rugged, about 350 feet high, is in deep water, and is about three miles from the main land. It is said the Taranaki was insured altogether for L 10,500. The only insurances obtainable at present are—South British, L2OOO ; New Zealand, L 750. 10 p.m. Great excitement was caused in Tauranga by the receipt of news that the Taranaki, due early in the morning, had been wrecked in a fog on Karewa, a small island five miles outside the harbor. The news was brought by a part of the crew, headed by the mate and purser, who rowed up in a ship's boat. The following is'the fireman's account of the disaster :—" I am a fireman on the Taranaki. We left Auckland at 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, with about SO passengers. The weather was very thick, and at midnight the ship came to an anchor somewhere near ' The Hole in the Wall.' About 4 a.m. the weatjfer cleared, and we proceeded, Ojut later it thickened again. I was on duty from four to nine o'clock, at which time I turned in. I had been asleep about an hour and a-half, when I heawl someone shout out ' Stop her,' and then 'Full speed ahead.' Almost immediately afterwards the steamer struck—there was no great shock. The engines were then turned on ahead for a minute or two. When I went on deck there seemed to be no confusion ; everyone kept quiet, the passengers behaving remarkably well. Captain Malcolm told us to lower the boats directly. In a few minutes this was done, and we then proceeded to land the passengers on the island. At eleven o'clock all the passengers were landed, and a portion of the port watch, under the mate, was despatched to Tauranga for assistance. The Taranaki lies on her beam ends, only a small portion of her nose being out of the water. The hatches are of course battened down, and being under the water it will be impossible to save any portion of the cargo." Wellington, November 29. The cargo per Taranaki, for Lyttelton, consisted of nine cases and four packages. The insurances, so far as ascertained, are— South British, L2OOO, on the hull. The Colonial Office has a general risk of LIO.OOO distributed on all the Company's vessels. The New Zealand has a risk of L 750 on the hull, and the Union LSO on the cargo. The

Union also has L 750 on the hull, insured in Christchurch. Duxedin, November 29. The Taranaki is worth L 16,000, and the following are the local insurances on her : South British Office, L 25,000, mostly re-in-sured ; Colonial, L 750; Union, L 750; National, L 750 ; New Zealand, L 750.