THE DRIFTING PILBARRA. SYDNEY, March 21.

Otago Witness, Issue 2663, 29 March 1905, Page 49

THE DRIFTING PILBARRA. SYDNEY, March 21.

Details have been received by Burns, Philp, and Co. regarding the Pilbarra from Noumea. These show that the Messageries Maritim.es steamer Pacifique arrived from the New Hebrides with Sewell (the second officer of the Pilbaria), f« o passengers, and four seamen.

Seweli stated that the Pilbarra lost the remainder of the blades of her propeller when 120 mileb east of the island of Tanna on the 4th in^t. He left the Pilbarra on the sth in No. 2 lifeboat, \Mth four sea-

men. His instructions were to make for Poit Vilct, with a view to securing assistance. He arrived at Vila on l!ae 7ih, and

chartered a cutter in order to intercept the steamer Induna.

Sewell sailed in the cutter from Vila on the Bth, and reached the island of Erromanga on the 13th. There he found the No. 1 lifeboat of the Pilbaria, with the chief officer, two seamen, the stewardess, and) 19 passengers, principally women and children.. The chief officer informed Sewell that the Pilbarra was close in near the southern point of Erromanga. drifting close inshore. At 10 o'clock on the night of the 7th he again saw her, and also on the morning of the Bth, when she was five miles westward of Erromanga. The Induna arrived at Erromanga on the afternoon of the 13th, and Sewell delivered to the captain a letter, of instruction from the agent of Messrs Burns, Philp, and Co., and in accordance with the orders contained in the letter the Induna sailed) from Erromanga the same evening in search of the Pilbarra, taking with her all the Pilbarra's passengers who had landed there except two. Sewell states that there was no news of the Pilbarra at Tanna or Aneityum.

The captain of the Induna stated^ that if he was not back to Poit Vila in time to catch the Pacifique he would probably have found the Pilbarra.

The agents of the Pilbarra are of opinion that "the steamer at one time drifted so close in to Erromanga that the captain took the opportunity to land the women and children, and that then the wind changed), and the steamer drifted away westward again. The fact of the Induna not arriving in time to meet the Pacifique is taken to indicate that she has the Pilbarra in tow. The agents expect to hear definitely of her soon. The probabilities are that she will be towed to Noumea, or, if the weather conditions are more favourable, to Suva, where a new propeller will be shipped by tipping the steamer. SUVA, March 21. The Moana, which 3eft this port to-day, will search for the Pilbarra.

NOUMEA, March 21

When the Pilfoarra was last seen a strong wind was blowing, with a heavy sea. Those landed at Erromanga proceeded to Dr Robertson's Presbyterian Mission Station. They speak highly of the treatment x'eceived.