THE STEAMER PILBARRA.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11287, 22 March 1905, Page 4

THE STEAMER PILBARRA.

Sydney, March __.. Details have been received by Burns, Philp, and Co.. regarding the disabled steamer Pilbarrd, from Noumea. These shbw ihat the Messagerfo.. Maritifties steamer Pacifique had arrived from New Hebrides with Mr Sewell, second officer of the Pilbarra, two passengers, and four seamen. Mr Sewell states that the Pilbarra lost the remainder of the blades of her propeller when 120 miles east of the Island of on the 4th inst. He left the Pilbarra on the sth in No. 2 lifeboat with four seamen and instructions to make for Port Vila with the view to securing assistance. He arrived at Vila on the 7th, and chartered a cutter in order to intercept the steamer Induna. Mr Sewell sailed in the cutter from Vila on the Bth, and reached the island of Erromanga on the 13th. There he found No. 1 lifeboat of the Pilbarra with the chief officer, two seamen, the stewardess, and nineteen passengers, principally women and children. The chief officer informed Mr Sewell that the Pilbarra was clj_3e in at the southern point of Erromanga and shifting close in shore. At 10 o'clock on the 'night of the 7th Mr Sewell again saw the Pilbarra, and on the morning of the Bth, when five miles westward of Eiromanga. The Induna arrived at Erromanga on the afternoon of the 13th, and Mr Sewell delivered to the captain a letter of instructions from tbe agent of Burns, Philp, and Co. In accordance with the orders contained in the letter the Induna sailed from Erromanga the same evening to search for the Pilbarra, taking with her all the Pilbarra's passegers who had landed there except two. Later. The fact of the Induna not arriving in time to meet the Pacifique is taken to indicate that she has the Pilbarra in tow, and the agents expect to hear definitely from her soon. The probabilities are that she will be towed to Noumea, or, if weather conditions are more favorable, to Suva, where a new propeller will be shipped by tipping the steamer. Received March 22, 1.7 a.m. Noumea, March 21. When tbe Pilbarra was last seen a strong wind was blowing, with a heavy sea. Those landing at Erronmanga Island proceeded to Dr. Robertson's Presbyterian Mission station, and they speak highly of the treatment they received.