THE VENTNOR'S MISSING BOAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2539, 12 November 1902, Page 48

THE VENTNOR'S MISSING BOAT.

KAIPARA HEADS, November 4. The ».s. Sterling returned this morning after a three-days' search for the Yentnor'« missing boat. She went as far as the North Cape, but nothing was seen of the boat or the crew supposed to be in it. AUCKLAND, November 4. Mr Came Ton, mate of the Ventnor, states that he was below when the steamer struck, at 1.30 a.m. on Saturday. He found everybody on deck and land ahead. No. 3 hold was full of water, and the tanks were filling rapidly. The engines were reversed, and the vessel got off. She went on at half-speed and the captain decided to attempt to reach Auckland and secure docking facilities for repairs, as the vestal waa not considered in i immediate danger. The pumps were worked constantly, and kept the wateT under till 9 a.m. on Monday, by which time 60 or 70 miles had been traversed. The Veniuor was now down by the head sft. On Sunday afternoon water showed in the fore peak, and the vessel was down by the head as far as the 'tween-decks. The course was_ then altered with a view to beaching the steamer, but the vessel bad become unmanageable. Land was sighted 40 miles south of Hokianga at 2 p.m. The deck* were now flush with the water. The boats were provisioned and ordered to stand by. Ten miles' off Hokianga the engines stopped. At 9 o'clock on Sunday night the main deck was almost undeT water. The boats were lowered and manned. The sidelights disappeared, and two minutca later the Ventnor foundered, bow first. As the vessel was sinking the captain stood on the port 6ide and called out, " Shove off, boys ! " He then crossed to the other side of the ship, where other boats -were, and that was the last Mr Cameron caw of the captain. The third mate states that the captain and himself jumped overboard. He is uncertain what became of the captain subsequently, but he supposes that the davits struck the captain's boat and capsized it. Someone cried out for a bailer, but there was no cry for help. The third mate's boat picked up three men. whether from the captain's boat or not is not stated. The third mate's botrt had a, fearful experience in the breakers before landing at 5.30 a.m. Another account says that the c&ptain stayed on deck with the second engineer when the Ventnor sank. Engineer Baillie states that despite the pumping the water continued in the holds. The angle of the deck grew greater every hour and the leak increased greatly until, between 8 and 9 o'clock, the deck was full of- water and the steamer lost buoyancy. A* the boats pushed off the sight was awful. The water gradually rose over the decks- to the stokehole, when the stern lifted, rising quicker and quicker. The steamer stood upright for three or four seconds, and then sank with a whizzing sound. A jet of flame burst from the funnel as the vessel sank. The Ventnor's crew stite that the steamer's stern had risen out of the water when the order was given to man the boats on Tuesday afternoon, as the steamer was then ready to eink. The other look-out man states that he saw land a little Before the steamer struck, but the light on the point was not visible, being low. Baillie, the second engineer, is of opinion tnat the steamer's bottom was completely perforated. The tanks on the top and in the sides alona kept th# steamer afloat long before she foundered.