BLUFF HARBOR.

Southland Times, Issue 3306, 24 January 1879, Page 2

BLUFF HARBOR.

ARRIVED. January 23.— Ringarooma, s.s., 623 tons, Chatfield, from Duhediri. Cargills, Gibbs, & Co., agents. Passengers — Messrs Campbell, Bunny. • Kingswbll, Reid, Cassidy, Wilson, and 1 steerage. Wanganui s.s., 179 tons, jFraser, from Riverton. Ti Brodrickj- agent. SAILED. Ringarooma, s.s., G23 tons, Chatfield, for Melbourne. Cargills, Gibbs, & Co. agents. Passengevs—The Burton. Circus troupe (21), Sirs and Miss Lind, Mrs Sherwin. Wanganui, s.s., 179 tons, Fraser, for Dunedin, T. Brodrick, agent. EXPORTS. Per Ringarooma— s {ponies, 7 horses, and quantity fittings, Burton's Circus troupe. Per Wanganui — 10,541 ft timber, Wm. Mc> Pherson; 132 sacks Jwheat, N. Z. L. & M. Agency ; 10 bales woolpacks, National Mortgage Co ; 15 casks tallow, N. Z. M. P. Co ; 8 trunks 12 pkgs, Campbell it Ritchie. The s.s. Ringarooma, Captain Chatfield, lefi Port Chalmers at 5.30 p.m. on the 22nd, and ex> perieuced fine weather on the passage till ar rival at the Bluff at 7 a.m on the 23rd. Or arrival the Ringarooma discharged 40 tons oi general cargo, and took in the baggage of th( Circus Company, and sailed for Hobarton at 4.3( p.m. The s.s. Wanganui arrived at the Bluff, fron Riverton, at daylight yesterday morning, anc after discharging a few bales of wool she tool in a quantity of wheat and timber, and sailec for Dunedin at 5 p.m. The New Zealand Company's ship Waikato which arrived at Lyttelton the other day, en countered some peril during her homeward pas sage from the same port. The London Graphii thus describes it: — " As Cape Horn extends be yond lat. 55 S., homeward bound vessels fron Auckland, New Zealand, are compelled to pas through high southern latitudes, where iceberg are not an unusual spectacle. But this phenome non is chiefly observable during the summe season, when the icebergs have been loosenei by the warmth of the sun from their origina habitat, and when they are floated by winds am cm-rents towards the equator until they ar melted. The dangers of collision are, at thi time of year, lessened by the length of the days and dining the w.nter time, fortunately th t^K&ar?. HSH2.llv_ fast te° z& n up in rarely visite* however, exceptions to tnfs riu'e^f -u. J-^S r ?^E l . times met ■ with in the depth of winter. Th writer of these lines came home in a vessel — th Svviftsure-r-which was for several days besef b; ice off the Horn in July, 1861, and now wehav a similar experience to record of the New Zea land Shipping Company's ship WaUcatp on he voyage from Canterbury. New Zealand, to Lon don. On July 25th last, in lat. 57 S., long. 5; W., after passing several large icebergs (on about two miles long and several hundred fee . high) j the Waikato was completely surroundei by pack ice, but by picking out a place wheri the pieces were smallest she got through inti clear water. At noon, however, the captain o another vessel informed Captain Worster, of thi "Waikato, that there was another barrier of pacl ice to the north, and soon after the latter vesse came in sight of it. As night was coming on and the only.clear passage was right to windward Captain Worster resolved if possible to keep his : Tessel in the space between the two barriers un til daylight. This was no easy undertaking, as the night was sixteen hours long, and then were every now and then heavy snow squalls During these.sqnalls the vessel struck against i great many pieces of ice, and twice wentthrougl a barrier, but fortunately kept clear of bergs There were three other vessels in the ice at the time. 'At daylight on Friday, July 2(ith,' says Captain Worster, ' I found myself close to a large barrier of pack ice with great quantities of pieces, large and small, all round us. As one of the ships hi company, the Ellerslie, from Callac (this vessel is long overdue, and is supposed to be lost) had gone through the barrier I determined to try and get through also. I did not like the idea of remaining in the ice another night, especially as the weather began to look threatening. I therefore steered for the pack, and picking out a place where the pieces appeared smallest got through, though not without a good many hard knocks. Fortunately, most of the pieces appeared rotten at the edge, and therefore did us no harm. After getting through we had compavately clear water, and on the following day not a particle of ice was to be seen. Had. we, while in the ice, encountered boisterous "weather and rough seas, I am fully persuaded we should never have grot through, the Waikato being an iron ship, and therefore not .-ible to stand the knocks and rubs we should have received."