TRAGEDY OF LONG AGO

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1929, Page 6

TRAGEDY OF LONG AGO

WRECK OF THE TARAP.UA.

NEAR MANUKA’S GRAVEYARD.

The wreck of tho Manuka, ; recalls a far distant time when, at a point about 40 miles south of the scene of Monday night’s. disaster, the Tararua, carrying 151 people, was wrecked, no fewer than 131 losing their lives. In the days when the Tararua, a popular steamer, and noted for fast passages, was on. th® coastal run, there was no light at the dangerous point where she came to grief, neither was there a regulation ordering the use of lifebelts.

The Tararua, of 570 tons, commanded by Captain Garrard, was wrecked on the rocks off. Otara reef, just off Waipapa Point, on April 29, 1881. The ship left Port Chalmers on April 28 with a general cargo and a. full complement of . passengers for Melbourne. The weather was tine during tho night and Captain Garrard, just before daylight in the morning after leaving Port Chalmdrs, adopted the usual procedure of .changing, his course from S.S.W. to W., but,’by a slight error of judgment, he changed his course too soon, so that the vessel was not able to clear the rocks off Otara reef, where she struck heavily. The coastline there is'low and there had been a mist lying over the land but the morning was fine and the seas running high when the Tararua struck just before • 5 a.m. . ..

PANIC-STRICKEN PASSENGERS. : A|)out half a mile from a lonely, bldak shore, pounded incessantly. by giant combers, the stout ship threatened to go to pieces beneath the feet of the panicstricken passengers, many of whom rushed the boats. But, backed by a crew under the best of discipline, Captain Garrard scon obtained order, and tho command was given, to lower- a boat. With dismay the people on the crowded, decks saw this boat stovo in and smashed from bow to stern against the side of the steadier.' A second boat, got within a quarter' of a mile from tho shore, and one of .the crew swam to land. He reached a settler’s house and obtained a horseman to take the news of tho wreck to Wyndham, 3'5 miles away; Meanwhile, the people of Dunedjn and Invercargill, hearing no news of the Tararua, were filled with apprehension. The steamer Hawea was sent to the scene of the disaster, which had beep reached about this time by a ketcli.frorii Bluff, These vessels rescued a boatful of people from the wreck, : but could cjo nothing to help those, who crowded hpr decks. One boat had tried to reach land through the increasing fury of .tho breakers, and had been capsized, but, as./ajl aboard it were selected swhnmers,. ( prily one out Of nine was drowned. . There were two. good ,boat-harbours within a few miles, where many of. tho passengers could have landed from the ship’s boats, but these harbours Were unknown, and the settlers on the shore were not, at any stage, able to establish communication with those on the stricken steamer.

VAIN EFFORTS AT RESCUE. An hour or two after midday the shfp was -breaking up. . The captain ordered; all women and children to the forecastle head and carried many of them ,to the bridge. In reply to many heartrending entreaties, ho said, “I have now dope all I can. There are no boats available now, but the tide will be low shortly, and I will do what I can,” So great was the pressure against the ship’s rail in one place that when the vessel rolled over on a wave, the rail snapped with a loud report, accompanied by the shrieks of 16 unfortunates who fell in to the turmoil of the. foam. Most of them were drowned. From noon on the watchers on shore could see the others being washed off the wreck by waves. When darkness came only the bow of the ship was left whole, the Tararua having broken amid", ships. At 7 p.m., the steamer Kakanui arrived from Bluff, and as her lights were seen a feeble cheer from those on the wreck was heard. But the Kakanui could do nothing in the darkness, where acres of foam seethed over the jagged reef surrounding the dim outline of the Tararua.

At 2,30 a.m. on Saturday, April. 30, the watchers on shore heard a series, of loud cracks, then a dreadful cry of terror and dismay. It was one sustained cry, and then —sileqge. Morning showed, it to have been'wh?.t , all expected,, the silence of death, for not a vestige of the Tararua except a bare topmast spar was visible above the waves.

The passengers who were drowned included four of the clerical and lay representaties of the New Zealand Wesleyan Conference, who were, on their way to • Adelaide to attend the conference of the churehesxof Australia and New Zealand. Two-of these were tho New Zealand - president, Rev. J. B. Richardson, and tho New Zealand conference secretary, Rev. J. Armitage. The 20 survivors comprised 12 members of the crew and eight steerage passengers. Captain Garrad, who was under 30. years of age, was among the drowned. He was about to take a month’s leave of absence to be married. ~ -