LOSS OF THE COSPATRICK.

Southland Times, Issue 2091, 24 March 1875, Page 3

LOSS OF THE COSPATRICK.

The following despatch, with reference to the loss of the Cospatrick, has been received from the Agent- General :— 7, "Westminster Chambers, Victoria Rtreet, Westminster, S.W., January 12, 1875. Si r) — l have already informed you by telegraph of the terrible calamity which has befallen the immigration service of . the colony, in the total lobs, by fire, of the ship Cospatrick, with 429 emigrants and a crew of 44 on board — all of whom would appear to have perished, with the exception of three sailors, viz., Henry M'Donald, second mate • Thomas Lewis, A.8. ; and Edward Cotter, 0.5., the survivors of a party of thirty who escaped from the burning ship in the starboard boat. 11. The Cospatrick sailed from London for Auckland on the 11th September. She appears to have made a favorable 1 voyage until the 17th of November. On the night of that day Bhe lay in the Southern Ocean, the wind in the N.N.W. blowing a light air, no moon visible. Soon after midnight an alarm of fire was raised. Ala to the origin of the fire, I ; will not at present hazard an opinion. I reserve bucli remarks as I may have to make on that subject until the inquiry now pending under the direction of the Board of Trade is concluded. But whatever its origin, certain it is that the fire spread with almost incredible rapidity ; that the efforts to stay its progress were from the instant of its discovery utterly desperate and unavailing; that the flames and smoke gaining way continually, the energies of the captain and crew were paralysed, and confusion and despair soon possessed the minds of all. Some of the principal available means of escape were lost in the struggle to utilise them. In about an hour and a half the ship was a vast mass of burning wreck. Of its people, only two boat loads remained, and they were without provision of food or water. Through what dire extremities of endurance they passed in the days that followed I will not attempt to tell. Of five barely living men who were rescued by the barque British Sceptre on tne 27th, ten days after the Cospatrick perished, three survive. It is my belief that they are the only survivors of a ship which contained as fine a body of emigrants as I have ever had the honor of despatching to the colony. 111. I first heard of this grievous calamitv from the owners of the ship, Messrs'Shaw, Savill, and Co., on the 28th December. I at once placed myself in communication with Her Majesty's Consul at Maderia. From him I received, on the 30th December, the telegram of which I subjoin a copy. BelieviDg it might be possible that the people in the second boat should have reached the islet of Tristan d'Acunha, I applied to the Lords of the Admiralty requesting that the Admiral in command at fiio might be directed by telegraph to despatch a ship in search ; but I was informed that the Sappho had already sailed from the Cape Verde Isles for a cruise iu those seas, on the 6th of December, and would arrive at Tristan d'Acunha in good time to rescue any who should have survived to re;ich land. Knowing now as I do from their own lips, the sufferings undergone by McDonald and his companions, and considering the greater number of people, seven or eight of them women, in the larboard boat, I hardly venture to hope that they will be heard of again. IV. This direful casualty happening at a time when there were many grievous railway and other disasters occurring in Englaud, was nevartheless the occasion of a warm and wide spread display of public sympathy, both with the friends of those who had perished, and with the Q-overnment and people of the colony. The Lord Mayor of London willingly acceded to the request of several influential merchants to organise a fund for the relief of the dependent relations of those who perished, to which, after consultation with the Honorable the Premier, I subscribed, on behalf of the colony, the sum of £1000. The language of the Press, through all its organs, fully and happily expressed the feeling of sympathy which pervaded public opinion ; and it will be gratifying to the Government and people of the colony to observe, mingled with the pain and horror which so terrible an accident excited, so many willing testimonies to the enterprise, humanity, liberality, and success, with which their immigration service has been conducted. V. In view of the official inquiry for which preparations are now in progress, I am in communication with the Board of Trade. It is, lam aware, the purpose of the Board to make the inquiry one of a peculiarly searching and complete character ; and I am not without the hope that it may have the effect, in tracing the causes of this sad disaster, of pointing also to the means by which risks of the same sort may in future be in some measure averted or mitigated. I subjoin copies of the documents which have been already communicated to me by the Board of Trade, and a selection of articles and other documents which have appeared in the public Press. — I have, &c, I. E. Feathebstcw, Agent- General. The Hon the Minister for Immigration, ■Wellington. [Copt ] T If gram. Received 3uth December, 1874. Cospatriek destroyed by fire 17th November. Only two boats with G4 persons left her. One boat containing five teamen, chief officer, and 25 passengers has not been heard of. Second officer and two seamen only survived from other boat. Have gone Home per iNyauza. Their companions died of starvation. Consul, Madeira. 29th December.