LOSS OF THE KEARSARGE.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 83, 6 February 1928, Page 2

LOSS OF THE KEARSARGE.

f (To the Editor.) ! Sir,—l was very much interested ! in your article in the Post of FebruI ary 2, giving the date of the of > the U.S. warship Kearsarge, as hithj erto I had bee n unable to find out; what became of her. It will, no | doubt, be news to many of your readers, and perhaps to you, to hear J that she .arrived in Wellington from , Sydney on September 9, 1869—-over I fifty-eight year s ago. His Excellency |'Sir G\ F. Bowen, the Governor, in J his dispatch to the Right Hon. Earl lof Kimberley remarked " that it S wa s believed to be the first time an I American man-o'-war had touched I at any of the ports of New Zealand." j His Excellency entertained the captain and officers at Government | House, and showed them every atI tention in his power. To the best of my recollection she anchored not far from the Queen's Wharf and we organised an efficient band and surrounded her, playing appropriate, melodies such as "Hail Columbia," "The Star Spangled Banner," "The Bonnie i3lue Flag," 'etc. As we pulled round her, there 'were to be seen the signs of whe/re Captain Hinslow fixed his chain cable to protect tihe boiler s and en'gines when in' action Avith the Alabama i n 1864. As you say the Kearsarge was barque rigged, and sea-faring men in Wellington compared her in shape and size to a well-known steamer, the Lord Ashley.—l am, etc., , W. F. GORDON, New Plymouth, February 4. i