WRECK OF BARQUE EMELIE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8754, 16 April 1890, Page 2

WRECK OF BARQUE EMELIE.

INQUEST ON BODY OF MATE.

A KOTTEN SHIP WITH NO CANVAS. [per press association.] Invercargill, April 15. — At the inquest on the body of John Brownrigg, mate of the barque Emelie, a verdict was found that ho died from gangrene of the limbs and exhaustion. Cummings, one of the survivors, deposed that when the vessel left the Bluff he and others of the crew knew she was not lit for sea. She had no canvas that would stand any sort of a breeze, and the standing rigging was in bad condition, the bolts in the topside being loose, as if the wood round them was decayed. The bolts that fastened the deck to the beams were nearly all eaten away by rust. Several of the crew told people at the Bluff that the ship would never reach Port Pirie if she met rough weather. They spoke to a constable at the Bluff about the ship's condition, but made no official complaint. Those of the crew who had been in the barque before told him she had live feet of water in her hold when she went into the dry dock at Melbourne, and on the voyage from San Francisco they were at the pinups day and night. Had the vessel been sound the disaster would not have happened, the gale not being anything serious; and had the canvas not been rotten they could have weathered the breeze by running before the wind. Mr Ward, who chartered the vessel, at this stage informed the coroner that a nautical inquiry would be held into the wreck, and the examination of Cummings ceased.