SHIPPING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 38

SHIPPING NEWS.

COLONIAL AND FOREIGN.

Arrivals.

May 24.— Invercargill; 136t, from Timaru. May 25.— Pukaki, 917t, from Westport. May £6 — Te Anau, 10281;, from the north.— 'Taupo, 408t, from the West Coast.— Matatua, 3322t, from London (April 2). May 27.— Tutanekai. 412t, from Wellington, via The Brothers. May 28.— Waikare, 1901t, from Sydney, via the north.

DEPARTURES.

May 24. — Invercargillj 136t, f or v Preservation Inlet.— Westralia, 1819t, for Sydney, via the East Coast. 1' May 25.— Napier, 48t, for Invercargill, via Wai-" 26.— Taupo, 408t,-for West Coast ports. — Pukaki, 917t, for tbe Bluff. ' May 26.— Te Anau, 1028t, for Eyttelton and 'Wellington. . May 29.'— Mararoa, 1658 1, from Sydney, via East Coast. . '

May '30.— Waikare, 1901t, for Melbourne, via the lilnff and Hobart.

THE DIRECT STEAMERS.

The Duke of Portland sailed from Capetown for New Zealand, via Hobart, on' Wednesday, 25th

The Gothic ssiled from Lyttelton for London on Thursday with a very large number of paßsenBers. The Tokomaru, from Wellington (April 4), Arrived at London on the morning of v rid ay, )J7th inst., with her meat in good condition. v The Ruahine, -f or Wellington and Ljttelton, Jeft Plymouth on the 28th inst. The Otarama, for Port Chalmers and Lyttelton, feft London on the 28th. Hobart, May 25.— The s.s. Waikato, bound for New Zealand, has put into Sandy Bay with her "taachinery damaged. ' Hobakt, May 26.— The Wsdkato has been repaired, and resumed her voyage to New Zealand Yesterday.

SHIPPING TELEGRAMS.

Aockiand, May 26. — The barque Leon, bound for San Francisco with Newcastle coal, put into .Whangaroa in a leaky condition. Her crew refused la proceed on the voyage. i Gisborne, May 30. —The heaviest sea known for many years is raging on the coast. A young man bamed Thompson, a son of the harbourmaster, was Washed off the breakwater this morning, and had a' narrow escape, being over half an hour • immersed. ' He was pickad up by a.boat's crew, .which went" to his rescue, in an exhausted condition. The boat, which had proceeded beyond jthe shelter of the breakwater, narrowly escaped swamping. ! Wellington, May 28. — Arrived: Miowera, from Sydney, eft ronte for Vancouver. She experienced a strong -gale-' with high seas for two Says. ~ She has 79 through passengers, . and left again to-day. May 29.-r-Arrived : Warrimoo,' * from Vancouver.

Wellington, May - 3,0. .— Heavy southerly weather has interfered. -greatly -with shipping movements. The Penguin's trip south was abandoned, and. the Taka'puna'* 'departure for-Nelson^ Taranakf.and Onehunga was delayed until this afternoon. - - ~

fICHE UNION STEAM SHIP COMPANY AND COAL FREIGHTS. Mr James Mills, in a letter to the New Zealand Times, in reply to oxl, article published by that paper wrote :— "Shortly put, your article charges this company with causing the colony to lose the execution of an order for 10,000 tons Weitport coal for the East— first, because of our not having sufficient tonnage/ available ; second, through quoting prohibitive rates of freight ; and, third, because we have contracts with the New South Wales mines which prohibit our undertaking the work. " With reference 10 count No. 1, we do not profezs to run steamers to the East, nor can it be lupposed that we keep steamers lying idle merely on "the chance of picking up an order for the Eastern seas. We aim to provide plant sufficient tor theprospective requirements of our own trades, "jluA. are only able to take advantage of a chance charter elsewhere when our own trades fail us. Besides, it is open to anyone to take up the carrying of coals from New Zealand, and I am quite lure the Westport Coal Company will be only too pleased to supply coal to the full extent of their capabilities to anyone who likea to come for it. "As regards the second count, that our rates were prohibitive, it is quite impossible for steamers owned and manned in New Zealand to carry freight on equal terms with steamers owned else- . where Our rates of wages are higher, and as the steamers must necessarily return to New Zealand they cannot count upon securing back freight. Our quotation waa therefore^based upon our estimate of the cost of the work, and I may fairly ask hovr it happens that if our quotation was prohibitive the business has not been taken up by someone else-prepared to quote, lower ? "Now »s' to the third' count. The. statement that we Iritve relations with -New South Wales ..mines .which prohibited our undertaking the work and deprived New Zealand of the order) bssides being absurd is utterly untrue. As a matter of fact, we have no agreement or understanding of any kind with New South Wales mines, either for taking coal from them or carrying coal for them.- " Now. what are the facts ? We were asked to quote a rate of freight for 20C0 tons Westport coal to an eastern port, and both the inquiry and our reply were supposed to be absolutely con- . Jfidential. Even now the Westport Company have no knowledge of the rate we quoted, so that the information given the Premier could only come from one source. The inquiry for 10,000 tons of coal did uot come to us, but to the Westport Company quite Independently, and I understand B steamer was secured at what was considered a inoder.+te rate of freight, but for some reason or other. <.f which we are quite ignorant, the business fell through. I am inclined to think the whole iuquiry waa the result of a temporary klarm, and that as the feeling subsided the business was allowed to drop." The New Zealand Times states that It did not jefer to, or intend to refer to, the Union Comi'*ay specially, or, indeed, at all.

THE RECENT STORM.

Shipmasters all - agree that the recent gale on I'ihe New South Wales coast was the heaviest that lias swept the coast for many years. A prominent insurance' manager puts the loss of shipping down at about £20,000, and the loss of life exceeded 30 all told. IJp to the present six wrecks and 13 Dther casualties have been reported, as follow :— The steamer Maitland, owned by the Newcastle End Hunter River Steamship Company, in which at least 18 lives were lost (the fate of four persons being still doubtful) ; vessel insured for £8000 in the South British.

Steamer Merksworth, owned by Mr C. Parbury; foundered off Newcastle, nine lives lost ; vessel Insured in the South British for £2050.

Schooner Isabel, owned by Mr A. Settree; ■wrecked on Crowdy Head ; insured in the National Insurance Company. Coral, ketch, owned by Mr Driscoll, wrecked in Nelson Bay ; insured in the British. Ethel, a small steamer, owned by Mr Peter Caller, wrecked in Nelson Bay. Hcreward, ship, blown ashore 9,% MftroubrH

owned by Measra Potter Bros., London t insured in London.

Albatross, schooner, driven ashore in Botany Bay ; badly damaged by collision. Hally Bayley, scho oner, driven ashcre in Botany Bay ; since floated. Amalia White, schooner, driven ashore in Nelson Bay. Merlin, ketch ; owned by Mr P. C. Christianson, driven ashore in Nelson Bay ; insured in the South British.

Lena and Lilian, ketch, owned by Mr M. S. Qulgley, driven ashore in Nelson Bay ; uninsured. Landsdowue, ketch, partly dismasted, owned by Mr A. Heesh, put into Richmond Hiver. John Gollan, tug boat, ashore at Manning Heads.

Victor, harbour tug, sunk at Balmain, ow.ned by Mr Wilson. Barque, uame unknown, partially dismasted, spoken by steamer Wodonga off Port Stephens. Lighter and launch, owned by Mr Chester, stranded at Manly. Sea Flower, schooner, owned by Mr M. A. L»rigley, driven ashore at Port Macquarie. Venture, lietch, arrived at Clarence River in distress.

Of the steamers which weathered the storm the Victoria, from Noumea to Sydney, fared the worst, arriving in a terribly battered condition. The steamer Ihickenfield lo3t all their boats and after-wheel.

The s s. Westralia steamed down to Port Chalmers on the morning of the 24th. and left in the afternoon for Sydney, via the East Coast ports. Information in reference to a. long tow has been received at Bhield3. It seems that the Tyne steamer. Duffield, while on the pa-sag j from Shields to Philadelphia picked up a disabled steamer and- towed her for* 6J days, covering a. distance of 1000 miles before reaching Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Russia is rapidly increasing her navy, she is building three war ships on the Neva of the battleship class, and three in the United States Many torpedo boats are nlso being constiucted, and seven battleship's with six cruisers are iv course" of completion. Since the new graying dock has been opened at Halifax, Nova Scotia, during the list 10 year 3, theie have been no less than 32 disabled steamers towei in there, besides a number of sailing vessels. This year, so far, five vessels have been towed there, and in the previous 10 years there were 13 ocean steamers, aud seven or eight disabled sailing vessels towed in there.

The Shaw, SaviP, and Albion Company's steamer Matatua, from London, arrived on Thursday. She was berthed at the George street pier shortly after 5 p m., when she at once commenced to discharge cargo into the railway trucks, she haviDg on board 2700 tons for Dunedin and the balance — 1000 tons— being for Lyttelton. After discharging her cargo for this port and taking on board a quantity of frozen mutton and general cargo, she is expected to leave again at the end of next week for Timaru, aud from there to Ljttelton. The Matatua, which comes into port in grand order, is under the command of Captain ICvans, whom we welcome back.

The s.B. Waikare, from Sydney, via Wellington and Lyttelton, arrived, alongside the Bowen pier at 1.10 p.m. on Saturday, and commenced to discharge cargo into the railway trucks. She left the company's wharf, Sydney, at 2.35 p.m. on the 21st in-t.

During the week ending May 29 the following vessel* have been, at the Dunedin wharves :—: — Arrivals : Elinor Vernon, hulk, 545 tons ; Invercargill. s.s., 123 tons (twice); Te Anau, s.s., 1028 tons ; Taupo, s.s., 408 tons ; Tutanekai, s.s., 412 tons ; Napier, s.s., 4S tons ; Mararoa, s.s., 1381 tons :— total, 4088 tons. Departures : Westralia, s.s., 18S9 tons ; Invercargill, s s., 123 tons ; Blinor Vernon, hulk, 545 tons ; Napier, b.s., 48 tons ; Taupo, s.s., 403 tons ; Te Anau, s.s., 1028 tons ; Tutanekai, 412 tons :— total, 4387 tons.

The s.s. Mararoa steamed up from Port Chalmers on Monday forenoon and landed cargo at the tongue wharf. She - left Port Chalmera on Tuesday for Sydney, via the East Coast ports. The s.s. Waikare discharged and took in cargo at the B # owen pier on Monday, and sailed for Mel' bourne, via. the Bluff and Hobart.

The s.s. Matatua was busy on Monday discharge ing cargo at George" street pier into the railway trucks.

The s.s. Invercargill had a terrible experience on her last passage to aud from Preservation Inlet. Leaving Invercaigill at 4 p.m. on Thursday, she did not arrive at her destination until 4 p.m. on Friday, and, as 10 hours is about her usual time for the run, a good idea can be formed of the stormy weather she encountered. The return trip was just as unfavourable. Preservation Inlet was left at 5 o'clock on Saturday, but owing to the heavy seas running Captain Marks was obliged to run over for shelter to Stewart Island and anchor, arriving afthe Bluff at 9 a.m. on Sunday. ' There were a few passengers on board, and great were their feelings of relief when Bafely landed. — Southland Times.

During the week ending April 6, seven British and 11 foreign sailiog vessels, with three British and seven foreign steamers were reported at Lloyd's as lost.

We learn from the local agents, Messrs Neill and Co. (Limited), that the s.s. Elingamite received a careful and comprehensive overhaul during her last visit to Sydney. Messrs Huddart, Parker, and Co., recognising the evident favour with which their steamer has been regarded since she has been employed in the New Zealand trade, have made considerable alterations and additions to her internal fittings, which are calculated to still further commend her to the travelling public. An additional bathroom has been provided, and the whole of the cabins refitted with the latest approved make of spring mattresses.' The many friends of Captain Waller will be pleased to learn that he is re-entering the New Zealand trade in cornmandof the s.s Elingamifce, and will bring her down this trip. Captain Thorpe, her late commander; is going Home, having been entrusted with the superintendence of the building of Huddart, Parker's new steamer," which will be a sister ship to the well-known b.s. Westralia.

The North; German Lloyd steamer Saals, from Hamburg, arrived at New York on April 12, and reported picking -up two men who were nearly dead, and who were, so far as they knew, the sole survivors of the British ship Marlborough. Tho latter vessel, a wooden ship of 1383 tons, of Windsor, Nova Scotia, was bound from that port to Sharpness, with a cargo of timber, and carried a crew of 17 men. A severe storm came on, and the ship began to go to pieces. Only one boat was launched, and as this could not safely hold them all, the men made a raft by lashing the boards together that were strewn upon the ocean from the vessel. ' There was no food either on the boat or the raft. All suffered fearfully from thirst and exposure, and Captain Cochrane died from exhaustion. After being in company three days, the raft drifted away from the boat and was lost sight of. The occupants of the boat were unable to stand the- exposure, and one after another died till only the two survived that were rescued.