FATE OF THE JESSIE NICCOL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12377, 10 February 1911, Page 5

FATE OF THE JESSIE NICCOL.

LOSS OF THREE LIVES. (Per Press Association.) BLUFF, last night. Those drowned in the wreck of tht Jessie Nicol were Captain Holmes, th( mate (John Paterson), and the cool-: (John Mercer). IXVERCARGILL. last night. Details of the wreck of the Jessie Niccol are necessarily somewhat meagre, but he story so far as it can be gather ed, is this: After the "marooning" of tht oil seekers last year, the Jessie Niccol. which is the property of Mr Joseph Hatch, of Invercargill,' was sent down for oil which had been left there, and some of which she brought back. On December Bth last she again left her'cfor the islands with another party of oi) seekers; and to bring back the balance of the stored oil. To-day the auxiliary schooner Huinui, from Campbell Islands, brought to the Bluff the news of her wreck. The manager of the sealing? station at the Campbells had communicated with Captain Mcßride, of the Huinui, stating that the Nova Scotian sailing ship Ida M. Clark had called in and informed him that when passing the Macquarie Islands she had been signalled for and the captain informed that the Jessie Niccol while at anchor had been caught in a north-easterly gale, and, her cables parting, driven on to the rocks and wrecked, and that her master. Capt. Holmes, the first mate, Patterson, and the cook, Mercer, had been drowned. When the% accident occurred the balance of the crew and the other men who had been on board had safely landed, but were powerless to help. The captain, mate, and cook were drowned whilst trying to make shore in a boat. Upon being found next dav the captain's body was buried on the island. Captain Holmes was well-known on thp New Zealand coast, having also had charge of the Ganymede and the SaTah and Mary. Patterson, who held a mate's certificate, had taken up farming, but returned to sea life last Aueust. Mercer, the cook, was a colored man and a native of the West Indies. The boat was not insured, as Lloyds' refused to accept a risk on a purely sailing vessel trading in the southern seas. Mr Hatch savs there are plenty of stores- on the islands, and the men* will be brought back without delay.