MARINE DISASTERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 10487, 24 December 1929, Page 3

MARINE DISASTERS.

OLD AND NEW.

(By

I.W.T.B.).

The total loss of the Manuka at Long Point, fortunately without loss of life, recalls to my mind many marine disasters, some of which are probably still fresh in the memory of old colonists, and others of less antique origin. The worst disaster that I can remember was the loss of the emigrant ship Northflect, bound from Gravesend to New Zealand with quite a little colony of souls on board. The ship foundered off Folkestone in the year 1875, and, if my memory serves me right, hardly a soul was saved out of the large passenger list carried. It was a heart-breaking affair, for among that sturdy band of emigrants many might have become esteemed and well-to-do citizens of this Britain of the South Seas. In those days, the sailing ships were not as seaworthy as the craft of modern times, and many an old copperrivetted barque could be seen lying in port, one glance at which would suffice, to form an opinion that men who go down to the sea in ships carry their lives in their hands. Coming nearer home, it is an acknowledged fact that our coastline is not easy of navigation; fogs are of frequent occurrence, and the task of the mariner is not a light one by any means. However, we have been fairly free of maritime disasters. all things considered. Away back in 1881 the Tararua was wrecked at Waipapa Point, with great loss of life. In this case, as was the case of the Manuka, the captain was making his first trip as master of the vessel. Following this, in the year 1886, the Taiaroa was wrecked off the Kaikouras. In connection with this disaster, the writer remembers some years after being in conversation with Mr Ban. O'Brien, the best-known sportsman in the Southern Hemisphere, who intended taking passage from Wellington in the ill-fated Taiaroa, but arrived at the end of the Queen’s wharf as the vessel had her head swung out toward mid-strcam, and “Ban” was left behind. Later, he was to become the owner of the mighty Carbine. At the time, Mr O’Brien was returning to his home at Lonsdale Lodge, Riccarton. from the Wellington races.

Then there was the Wairarapa, wrecked on the Great Barrier, with the loss of many lives. There have been, of course, many cases of small craft coming to grief on our coasts, with and without loss of life: but no disaster of late years of any great ma gut tude. We are blessed with an excellent ferry service between Lyttelton and Wellington, in which the travelling public have the almost confidence. This service is (illite as good, according to the testimony of some travellers, as that which obtains between Dover and Calais across the English Channel.