WRECK OF THE STEAMER SOUTH AUSTRALIAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 801, 6 April 1867, Page 8

WRECK OF THE STEAMER SOUTH AUSTRALIAN.

(From the Daily Timbs, Aptil 4.)

The splendid steamer South Australian left Port Chalmers for Melbourne, on Tuesday afternoon ; the weather had remained calm and clear here; and it was, therefore, with great surprise, as well as deep regret, that the news of her having run ashore near Coal Point was received yesterday. The later news, confirmed by Borne of the passengers who returned overland to town,- that the South Australian was a hopeless wreck, caused a very general feeling of sympathy for Captain Hugh Mackie, who has so long been known as the commander of the Gothenburg. The South Australian had just been purchased and refitted by Messrs M'Meckan, Blackwood, and Co. of Melbourne, after long lying idle at that port ; and Capt. Mackie having been chosen to command her, he was, we believe, heartily congratulated on his eood fortune, by his many friends here. We are told that L 25,000 is a low estimate of the fair value of the South Australian, as she- was when she left Port Chalmers on Tuesday. She has always been famed, as probably the swiftest steamer in Southern waters ; and her new owners having spent fully L3OOO in her refit, she was in most excellent condition throughout. Except her compasses ! We believe that that will he the substantial verdict, when an inquiry comes to be made as to her loss. But that point should not be too much discussed for J the present. The first news of the wreck was a tele- J gram from Tokomairiro, to Messrs Royse, Mudie and Co., the agents of the steamer, ■which was dated at noon :—: —

" South Australian-* ashere four miles north Coal Point. Better 6end down small steamer at once. Sea calm. Passengers all safe. Mr Edward Boyd, settler, has brought news." We received from our Tokomairiro correspondent a substantially similar telegram, dated 12.17.

Mr E. B. Cargill received further condsrmation of the safety of the passengers, in a message from Mr F. Dillon Bell, also dated Tokomairiro, about noon, and which stated — •' All safe at Molyueux. Arranging to get them home." This referred to relatives of Mr Cargill, who were passengers for Melbourne ; the list being — Mrs Kempthorne, Mrs Finlay, Mrs Taylor, Mrs and Miss Cargill, and two servants ; Messrs Kempthorne, Hay, Haines, Prince, J. R M'Kenzie, Burton, Thomson, F. D. Bell, C. Hoyt, Livesay, Bedgood ; and 27 in the steerage. Mr Bell and Mr Hoyt intended to land at the Bluff, for Invercargill.

Mr Mudie, on receipt of the new?, arranged to send the Geelong ta the aid of the stranded vessel; and as a preparative, to unload all the cargo with which she was loaded at Port Chalmers, ready to start for the intermediate ports and Lyttelton. Mr Mudie as soon as possible started overland for Coal Point ; but near Green Island, he met Mr Charles Hoyt, whose account induced tim to turn back, and to go to the scene of the wreck by the Geelong.

Mr Nutt, the chief engineer, with Messrs Kempthorne and M'Cracken, and two or three ot the steerage passengers, arrived in town by Hoyt and Chaplin's Tokomairiro coach at five o'clock ; and we have thus been enabled to compile the following imperfect account of the melancholy wreck of so fine a steamer : —

The South Australian left her moorings at Port Chalmers, about twenty minutes after four o'clock ; and she ■was soon outside the Heads. The evening and early night were beautifully fine, and the sea was calm. "Until about half-past seven o'clock, full speed was kept up, and the South Australian slipped ahead at the rate of fully twelve knots an hour. From one who was not a passenger, we learn that, before starting, Capt. Mackie had declared that as soon as he had got a good clear offing from Cape Saunders, he meant to run his vessel "almost dead slow," as even then he should be at the Bluff by early morning. At half-past seven, being no doubt well off Cape Saunders, Capt. Mackie seems to have commenced to carry out his intention ; for from halt- past seven until a quarter after nine, the engines were working half-speed. Then, they were further slowed ; and until the steamer struck — which was about half- past ten o'clock — the engines were making but twelve revolutions a minute, or equal to a speed of about five knots an hour. Even at that speed, she struck so heavily, that, as one of our informants states, she seemed "literally to knock her bottom in:" which, as facts proved, she must, in effect, have done. Capt. Mackie, who had been on deck for some time, had entered the engine room — he had spoken about everything working "so nicely" — he had said that the Bluff •would be made before daylight ; and he was on the companion, just leaving the engine xoom, when the crash came. The blow, we have been told, sent a terrific shock through the ship; and it jeemed to have been struck within the line

of the tn^ine-room 'compartment. ' The rastantact of the chief engineer was to stop the engines; but this waMnstantly followed by an order from the captain to " Go ahead." The doomed vessel forged ahead somewhat; but thecrasbing 'ripping of the bottom plates told unmistakably that she wa* but tearing her way more firmly oa to a bed of rocks; and the en girfe's were again stopped. It was speedily the opinion of those on board who realised the full effects of what had happened, that had the South Australian been driven ahead off the rocks, she must have foundered within half an hour ; and then, but few on board would have been saved.

All our present information is from those who would not be likely to note' keenly weather or water appearances ; but it is to the effect, that for some time before the ship struck, the weather had been getting thick; and that not until after she bad struck was there asy thing like a "break" to he seen on the water, nor was there what could be called a heavy swell". The one was seen, and the other wa9 felt, when the ship was stuck, and yet heaving and terribly rolling, on the rocks. In ten minutes from first striking, the water that was rushing into the engine room was over the cylinders ; in from twenty minutes ro half-on-hour, it was over the crank -shaft ; in half-an-hour, the engine-room was filled.

The night was now very dark, and the ship wag rolling heavily on the reef. Some of the ladie?, who were passengers, were at first dreadfully alarmed ; but they soon became calm, and there was nothing like panic or real disorder on board. There were five boats, and they were all safely got out, but not without the lap3e of ja considerable time. ) The first boat out was one of the lifeboats. No woman was assisted into it. The boat was heavily freighted with crew and passengers ; and Mr Nutt found himself in command of her. The orders were that all the boats should lie alongside, as near as was consistent with safety, and this was done. The women were got into the second and third boats, we believe ; the i fourth was filled with firemen and crew ; | and the fifth was kept alongside for some ! time, ready for Capt. Mackie ' and the j officers and men who remained with him.

All the boats were kept near the ship until about half- past one o'clock, shortly before which time, Mr Mullin, the secondmdte, was put on board the life- boat in which Mr Nutt was, and he took command of her. Mr Mullio brought with him a compass. There were in all 25 persons in this boat, with no food or water, and nothing in the way of clothes, but the ordinary dress of each. About halfpast one, Mr Nutt hailed Captain Mackie, and proposed that an at tempt should be made to reach the Molyneux, in the hope that a small steamer (the Taiaroa) might be found there, and assistance thus secured. Capt. Mackie assented ; but he suggested that, for safety, a landing should, if possible, be effected round a small point which was dimly visible away northward, and some of the 25 persons be temporarily put ashore there. Capt. Mackie also suggested that the boat should be kept about until daylight, so that this lightening of her might be effected. The life- boat then parted company. There seems no doubt that the officers believed that the rocks on which the steamer had struck were south of the Nuggets, instead of being some 15 miles northward of that point. Soon after daylight, a point was seen ahead of the life- boat; and after a wearying pull, the point was reached, which proved to be the Taieri Heads — and that river, not the Molyneux, was seen. On a beach there, Mr Nutt, Mr Hoyt, and two other passengers landed ; and after a while they found a boat and got up the river to the Ferry, thinking to be the first to send assistance to the wreck. Some others of the passengers landed on the Taieri beach, and stated that they would make their way inland ; but the crew, and a few of the passengers, resolved to stick by the life-boat, and to make the voyage on to Dunedin in her. Fortunately for them, the weather has remained calm. It was about twenty minutes after nine yesterday morning, when the landing on the Taieri beach was effected.

It is very probable, from Ihe telegrams published above, that at daylight, Captain Mackie at once recognised the real position of the reef on which his vessel had been wrecked; and that he directed the boats with the passengers to go southward to the Molyneux. _ The second' and third engineers are said to have been in charge of the life- boat into which most of the women were got. One of them did not reach the boat without an accident. She fell into the sea, but was almost instantly helped on board the boat. One of the firemen got a similar fall, and he was for a while in danger ol being drowned. The rolling of the steamer, and the heavy breakers which frequently went over her, must have rendered it a most difficult task for all to reach the boats*

Js'o the" South Australian struck on a reef about four miles north of Coal Point, which reef is very clearly' shown on some of the larger maps of the coast. The reef is, by ' rough measurement, about 44 miles FOiitherly from Cape Saunder?, and 15 or 16rnile3 almost due north of the Nupgsts ; the marks on land between which it lies being Cook's Head and Coal Point- Capt. Tall,, of the Taiaroa, says that he has, from Nuggets Point, many times seen a break on the reef, at a point fully two miles from the coast line ; but at high tide, there is from 12ft. to 16ft. of water over the greater portion of the reef. The opinions we have heard as to the petition' of the wreck of the fctouth Australian, place it fully three miles from the shore. ••

Captain Mackie was so thoroughly acquainted with the Coast, that he must have been fearfully misled to have got his vessel where she now lies wrecked. We have heard it suggested that a probable explanation of the wreck is this : — A current sets northerly along the coast, and is at times very strong. If strong on Tuesday night, the slow rate at which the South Australian was steaming would make her extremely susceptible to the current ; and if the compasses were sufficiently wrong to lead to the course of the vessel having an unsuspected inclination shoreward, there is an explanation of how the reel north of Coal Point was struck, when Capt. Mackie must have thought that he was considerably to the east, and at least a score of miles to the southward, of it.

It is satisfactory to know that, at present, there is no reason to fear that any life has been lost; and it is to be hoped that, today, all the passengers and most of the crew will reach Dunedin.

The South Australian had on board over Ll 3,000 worth of gold— 2l4ooz. shipped by the Bank of New Zealand, and 1138oz. by the Union Bank of Australia. Mr Nutt believes that this had been got into one of the boats, before the life- boat in which he was left the neighborhood of the wreck. About 40 tons of general cargo, of no great value, represented the whole of the ship's other freight. Mr Nutt started in the Geelong, last evening, for the wreck ; there being also on board, the Harbor Master (with his boat and crew), Mr Mudie, and plenty of, hands and material for getting as much as possible from the wreck. There can be no doubt that the wreck will be formally abandoned and sold, before the Geelong returns ; but a good deal of passengers' luggage, and many things belonging to the ship, will in all probability be saved, should lair weather centinue during to-day. A telegram wae sent to the Bluff yesterday by Mr Brodrick, agent for the P N.Z. and A.R.M. Co., directing that the TaraTua, on her way from the Bluff, shall call at the wreck.

The steamer Geelong, which, as soon as possible after the receipt of intelligence of the disaster, had been despatched to the Ecene of the wreck of the South Australian, returned to Port Chalmers at daybreak yesterday, bringing with her Capt. Mackie and those of the crew and passengers who had remained by the ship, or who had been accommodated in the houses of settlers in the neighborhood of the locality at which the wreck occurred. She also brought with her about thirty tons of ships' furniture, passengers' luggage, stores, and other material, which, by active exertions, had been saved from the wrecked vessel while the Geelong remained in attendance until the tide suited for the conveyance of the crew and passengers from the shore. The transhipment of these articles, and the removal of the crew and passengers were all that could possibly be effected, and fortunately the weather was sufficiently favorable to enable them to be effected without difficulty or special danger, although not without hard work and careful supervision. The vessel herself is a hopeless wreck. AH possibility of saving her was at an end in a few seconds after she struck the reef upon which she has foundered ; and her hull, gear, goods, and all that is within and upon her will be sold without delay, v for behoof of whom it may concern." The sale of the wreck, it will be seen, takes place to-day; the sale of the salvage on Wednesday next. The GeeloDg left Port Chalmers for the scene of the wreck at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, and shortly after midnight was outside the Heads steaming her course to the southward. To prepare her for the expedition, active work had been necessary in discharging the cargo which she. had received (or Oamarn and other Northern ports, and she shipped from forty to fifty tons of coal for her service during the trip. Mr Mudie, agent for the South Australian, accompanied her, and Mr. Nutt, the chief engineer, who bad arrived in town, returned to the vessel by the same opportunity. Two of the whaleboats belonging to the Harbor Department were put on board of her, as aids to the transhipment of cargo and passengers; the Government diving apparatus was also taken ; and Capt. Thomson, the harbor master, Capt. Louden, chief pilot, and the diver, Mills,

with other assistant^, proceeded in .charge,., of these, aad of hawsers which had been received from the ships City of Dunedin and Arima, lor any contingency that might arise, and especially for the hoped-for but unattainable one* ot tewing the ves?el off. The other passengers were Mr Mon?on, of H.M. Customs. Capt. Alex. M'KinnoD, Capt. Malcolm, Mr A. M'Kinnon, and Mr Davie. The passengers who had shipped by the ' Geelong for Northern Ports were, until the return ot the vessel,, accommodated at the PoTt Chalmers Provincial Hotel. Capt. Hart was in charge, and was occasionally relieved in his dutiesby Capt. Louden. At mid-day on "Wednesday, when the sea began to make a clean breach over the poop, Capt. Maekie, with those of the crew and passengers who had remained by her all night, to the number of eighteen or twenty, had effected a landing at an indifferent landing place, directly opposite the vessel; but on Thursday morning, the chief officer, Mr Regnart, with seamen and stewards, had returned to her to recover any articles that were portable, and he boarded the Geelong when she arrived. At this time the sea was quite smooth, and the weather calm, and, the vessel being perfectly accessible, the work of removing the cabia furniture and such fittings as could be conveniently lowered over the side, was at once commenced by the few of the crew on board, by the Geelong's crew and the Harbor hands, and by the few passengers who were otherwise visitors to the scene of the wreck. Capt. M'Kinnon. and Mr Mudie, at the same time, were safely landed at the temporary camping-place oa shore, and brought off to the Geelong the gold, which had been saved, and retained in Capt. Mackie's personal custody. The condition of the vessel, when visited, presented a sad contrast to that in which she had left Port Chalmers, and it needed but very slight examination to convince anyone that all chance of her ever again being made sea- worthy, was at an end. She lay, with a considerable list to the port- side, her head pointing to the outer Nuggets, and her stern, consequently shorewards. She was boarded, and the work of trani shipment was carried on, at the starboard 9ide, the overhanging maintopmast and gear making the port side more difficult of approach even at low water, and at high water in the afternoon, the sea was usually flush with her deck, and occasionally washing over her bulwarks. The main mast had been shaken out of the perpendicular during the first twelve hours after she struck ; and on Wednesday evening, it broke a little above the height of the funnel, and dropped over the side. It had apparently reached the rock through her bottom, and rose and fell like a steamengine piston, as the vessel lifted with the sea. Clo3e to the ma3t, and from bulwark to bulwark, the deck had bulged up and slightly opened at some of the seams ; and this indication of her damage in the centre increased while the visitors from the Geelong were on board, but towards evening, the deck seemed again to have taken its ordinary "set." But the damage done to her was most seriously represented by the condition of the engine-room. It was full of water, and although the shafting seemed to be all right, the entablature of the strong engine frame was broken in four places, abreast of each column, which were naturally forced up out of their places by the immense pressure brought to bear upon them, and though invisible, the sole-plate was, no doubt, also'gine. The bulk -head of the boiler-room was likewise stove in, and the steam pipe sprung. That this part of the ship should be the first to suffer, and to suffer the most, was easily explained by the soundings around. She was, in fact, eitting on a pivot of rock as nearly amidships as possible, and upon that pivot she moved, not rising and falling so much, as) swerviog like a compass-needle; and dismally the iron-work groaned and creaked in tit accompaniment to this uneasy motion. The engines were oscillating engines, and were constructed, as was the vessel, by " John Key, engineer and shipbuilder, Kirkcaldy, 1864"— at least so read the record upon what was now the coffinplate of the masterly piece of engine-work buried below. The soundings taken along the length of the vessel, when it was three quarters flood, showed a depth of 18 feet at jfie stem, 19 feet at the forepart of the bridge, then 15 feet about three yards aft, and gradations of 10 feet, 9 feet, and 8 feet to abreast of the mainmast, and 6i feet only abreast of the engine-room, 10 feet at the main hatchway, 14 and 13 feet between that and the mizen- rigging, 9 feet at that point, and 12 feet at the stern. Externally all the damage to the bull that was visible was the absence of the stern-post, with the rudder and propeller, all of which had been completely broken off almost immediately after, if not by, the first "bump" which she gave upon the treacherous bottom. Otherwise the admirable contour of the vessel was unaffected, and the beauty of her foTm above the water line, as seen from the shore, made it difficult to suppose that she was so complete a wreck as an examination I of her " vital parts" revealed.