WRECK OF A VESSEL AND LOSS OF TWENTY-FOUR LIVES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 15

WRECK OF A VESSEL AND LOSS OF TWENTY-FOUR LIVES.

On the'nu*ht of the 3rd inst. the smack Cygnet, of Yarmouth, landed at that port five of the crew of the iron four-inafited ship Falls of Bruar, Glasgow, the other part of the crew, consisting of 24 men, having been lost in the wreck of the vessel on 'the previous day, when some £5 miles off Yarmouth. The vessel, which was 1742 tons register, was laden with salt frpm Hamburg to Calcutta. She encountered a heavy gale, and during a squall some of her sails were blown away, her cargo shifted, and she was borne down on her beard ends and sank. The crew had only time to cut away two of the boats, one of which was instantly smashed, and the other drifted away bottom upwards. Three of the crew swam to the upturned boat. They got on to her keel, and subsequently, as she righted, got into her and baled out the water as well as they could. Two others floated on pieces of the wreckage. For six or seven hours they continued in this perilous position, when they were seen by the smack Cygnet, which bore down to them, reselling them with great difficulty. Tbey were landed in an exhausted condition at the Yarmouth Sailors' Home. The rest of the crew, with the pilot, who was on hoard, were doubtless drowned, as no othev vessel was seen by the smack near the wreck, and no one else was picked up, although the smack remained on the spot for several hours.