STORIES OF THE SEA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13340, 26 March 1914, Page 7

STORIES OF THE SEA.

A LOST LINER

FATE OF THE MADAGASCAR

(Special to Herald.) CHRISTCHURCH. this day. An inquiry received at the Bluff from the United States concerning tlie location of the wreck of the ship Madagascar has revived speculation as to the fate of this celebrated Blackwall liner, which was lost m 1853, while on a voyage from Melbourne to the Old Country, not being officially heard of after sailing. The inquiry was referred to Mr J. W, H. Bannerman, author of "Wrecks of Southern New Zealand," and lie has given an interesting record of .the Madagascar and her fate. The name of the Madagascar is more or less fresh m the memory of some old residents of the Bluff. Those who have heard the old. .story of the mysterious treasure-laden ship believed to have been wrecked near Doughty Bay, on the west coast of Stewart Island, are m doubt as to any definite details, but they are all fairly unanimous that a large vessel named the Madagascar met her doom m that locality m the " 'fifties. 1 ' There still lives at the Bluff an old Maori identity, who states that he saw a vessel wrecked m a storm near Doughty Bay about that period, and he maintains that she was the Madagascar, and that not a soul escaped. Efforts have on more than one occasion been made to extract definite details from this Maori, but his one answer, has always been, "I will say where m my w^l- I will not tell." He described her as a big ship. Another man who was reported, to have seen the Madagascar was old Tommy Chasland, who used to say that .he saw the Madagascar m bad weather off Stewart Island, and m such a position that she could not possfbly have weathered the -storm. It is largely upon these two stories that the men of the older generation have based their belief m the treasure-ship romance. Tlie general belief has been sufficient to cause search to be made, and only recently it was reported that the wreckage of a large vessel had been observed m calm easterly weather near Doughty Bay. It was at once believed that the hull of the old Madagascar had been found. However, this wreckage was either what was remaining of the Nicaraguan barque Emilyj wrecked m 1890j or the barque Jack Frost, -wrecked m 1864, both meeting their doom m that vicinity. Some of the. old hands, however, still believe m the old tradition, and they maintain that at Stewart Island there lies a treasure ship as rich m gold as the famous General Grant, lost at the Auckland Islands m 1866. Nothing official has ever been available as to the actual fate of the Madagascar, that is so far as Lloyd's are concerned, and it is only of late that clues have been found. It appears , that the celebrated Mclvor escort robbery m Victoria, occurred m July, 1853, and that one of the highwaymen was arrested on board the Madagascar m August, 1853, m Hobsoh's Bay, Melbourne, just as she was about to sail. Detective Tuckwell,- one of the Melbourne .detective staff of that period, visited the ivessel shortly before she sailed, and m the Melbourne Argus he describes his visit as follows: "The Madagascar, one of Green's Blackwall liners, ,a frigate-built, square-rigged ship of over 1000 tons, lay snug at her moorings m Hobson's Bay with the hatches battened down. Some 600 passengers were on board, and there was a heavy freight ,of* gold dust m her lazarette. The scene that revealed itself baffled all description, and will for ever remain fresh m my -., memory. Drunkenness, fightings swearing, and . men, women, and children m a state of semi-nudity, howling likfe wild animals. The crew were composed of men who were the most villainous and motley that ever signed articles on a capstan head. Some of the passengers were a rough lot, escaped convicts of the worst class. A pang of horror shot through me as the thought rose to my brain, should evil overtake the Madagascar what would become of the women and young girls and the better class- of *. passengers?Several 'days later the shir* slipped her' moorings, and proceeded down the bay, m charge of _ a pilot: passed safely through the rip, and after getting an offing of about seven, miles, dropped the pilot into his dinghy. From that i moment to the present she has never been seen or heard of." Further reference to the vessel occurs m Mr John Saddier's "Recollections of a .Police Officer," m which appears a dying confession by a woman m New Zealand to a clergyman. This confession states that the 'Madagascar was robbed, set on fire, and scuttled off the coast of South America. The captain and officers and some of the passengers were murdered by a mutinous crew, and of these aboard escaped, but afterwards succumbed to fever.