WRECK OF THE BARQUES COLLINGWOOD AND SUSAN JANE.

Timaru Herald, Volume X, Issue 417, 26 May 1869, Page 2

WRECK OF THE BARQUES COLLINGWOOD AND SUSAN JANE.

LOSS OF ONE LIFE The anniversary of Her Majesty's birthday m 1869 will be .long remembered m Timaru ; as on that day (Monday last) it is our painful duty to record the total losb of two vessels. — the barques Colling wood and Susan Jane, and also the loss of one of the lifeboat's crew m their brave, but unfortunately vain endeavours to go to the assistance of a schooner — the Twilight — which was lying m the roadstead, and had during the whole of the forenoon onMonday been flying a signal of distress. We will proceed to give the history of the several sad occurrences in' the order they occurred. . • ■ ' ■ ■ The Collingwood, barque of 457 tons register, wasbuiltinNewYorkabout 20 years ago, and had been trading m colonial waters for the last six or seven yean — principally between Dunedin and Newcastle. She was owned by Messrs Hutcheson and Co., of Dunedin. The Collingwood arrived m the Timaru roadstead early on Wednesday morning, having taken on board at Lyttelton 1700 bags of wheat, and intended to complete her loading m Timaru with about 25,000 bushels more of wheat, with which she was to proceed to Aucklaud. During Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 1225 bags were shipped on board — making the total cargo on board at the time of the wreck between 10,000 and 11,000 bushels. During Friday and Saturday there was a nasty sea running, but unaccompanied with any wind, and not sufficient to prevent the shipping of cargo. During Sunday .the sea rose and a very heavy surf tumbled on the beach, but still, strange to say, without any wind. At about six o'clock on Sunday evening the sea was at its highest, and during the evening, when a slight puff of wind came off the land, tlio signal was made from shore by the firing of a roekot to "go to sea." The Susan Jane aud the schooner Twilight attempted to obey the signal, but the wind was so very light that it was found impossible to do so, and anchors were again dropped. For about two hours before midnight the. sea dropped considerably, but after that hour it again rose to its former strength. Towards morning, between 4 and 5 o'clock it is said that the barque Susan Jane drifted past the bows of the Collingwood, and it is supposed that the latter vossol'e anchor was lifted or tho cable broken by getting fout of the Susan Jane's cublo, for just then the Collingwood fouud herself adrift, and heading rapidly towards tho laud. Tho starboard anchor had parted previously, and now as the port anchor had gone, the bivrque was perfectly helpless, at the mercy of Ihe waves, for there was not a breath of air to enable. the vessel to got out of her imminent danger. Soon after 5 o'clock, she was amidst the iu-shore breakers, aud shortly afterward* took the ground about mid-way along the Waimalaitai lagoon, m Woollcombe's gully. As soon as she grounded, Mr Mills, the Harbor Muster, was present on the beach with the racket apparatus, aud m firing the first rocket, Mr Mills, we regret- to say, was severely burned about the face and right hand, the rocket going off so . suddenly that he had not time to get to a safe distance. A second rocket was fired under the direction of Capt. Crawford, aud it was well directed, passing right over the vessel. The line having been seized by the men on board, a large rope was quickly passed to the vessel, and preparations made for rescuing the crew. A life buoy, with a species of sack attached underneath wasspeedilyroveon to therope, and being pulled by a smaller liuo backwards and forwards from the vessel to the shore, every man on board was soon landed. The men thus landed were the first and second officers, the crew of ten men, three men who were working their passage, and four men who were taken on board at Timaru for stowing cargo — seventeen souls m aIL Th« master, Captain uewis, was ashore at the time of the wreck. The last man to leave the wreck was Mr Green, the first mate. The Collingwood at this time was resting on an even keel head on to the beach, but between 8 and 9 o'clock she slewed broadside on to the sea, which then having greater power over her, the work of demolition was from that time most rapid. Between 11 and 12 o'clock her masts went one after the the other, and an hour or two later she was completely broken up. After the disastrous loss of the Collingwood many were the anxious eyes directed towards .the Susan Jane, which was Been as daylight dawned on Monday bravely fighting with the breakers, having drifted some considerable distance inshore from the position Bhe was anchored m the previous evening. The Susan Jane, as most of our readers are doubtless aware, belonged to Messrs Cain, LeCren, Turnbull, and others m Timaru, and was brought from New York m the year 1867- Since then she has been chiefly engaged m the coal trade between Timaru'and Newcastle. On Wednesday last she arrived m the roadstead from Mercury Bay, Auckland, with a cargo of timber. During last week a few boat-loads only of this ' timber were discharged. On Sunday afternoon she was riding easily at her anchors, and did not commence to drag till late m the evening, after -having made.. an unsuccessful:attempt to put to sea by which she lost good anchorage ground. After midnight on Sunday- and on Monday morning she dragged considerably, ■ and at dawn on Monday she was seen to be well into the entrance of Caroline Bay, with two anchors down, and a large amount of canvas set to ease, off the strain- on. her cables.! If there had been the slightest land breeze her safety was certain; but, unfortunately, during all Monday there was not sufficient wind even to blow out the, sjgnals. which were passing between the vessel and the authorities on shore at the Government flagstaff. From 'eight o'clock m the morning till past midday tlje_ vessel slowlj; drifted nearer -the ; shore, ianxiously watched by hundreds of spectators who lined the cliffs, At last, when all hope was past of saving the vesael^the

signal m given to " slip the cables." The barque then rapidly surged towards the land, and eventually took the beach under the cliff nearly opposite to' the house of Mr H. J. LeCren Mr Morrison, late pilot of the port, was on the top of the cliff with the rocket apparatusjjuid threw a well directed line between her fore and main masts. The rope with the lifebuoy was rapidly rigged out, and the work commenced of landing the crew, nine m number, from the sta^de^TesMJ.'^tllgot safely ashore without mishap, , with the. exception of the ship's cook and mate, who both fell into the boiling surf whilst on their, passage from the vessel. Tho cook was saved by Captain Patterson, the master of .the Susan Jane, who, , boldly rushed into the "surf ' and 'seized the'' man, and both were pulled out of the water by the bystanders on shore. ' The cook was, we regret to say, badly injured by the fall.' The mate was also saved. The vessel then was then lying deck on to the sea, and soon began to breakup. -Late at night the 'masts went and she was a complete wreck, and the cargo washed out of her lined the beach m all directions. - - : ' About the time the Susan Jane was wrecked, with fortunately' all hands' saved, another scene was being transacted on another ~ part of the beack, which' hod a different and ; " a tragical ending. We have said before that the Twilight, sohooner,. had been flying a signal of distress the greater part ' of Monday morning, and not only was . the signal flying, but the crew were heard on shore loudly shouting for assistance. 'The crew of the lifeboat were, we believe, .away at the time, on the look out to render assistance' to the Susan Jane, and some time elapsed .before they . could be got together. Some men had m the meantime forced open the lifeboat, house, and were proceeding to take her on to the beach— a volunteer crew having been got for her — but a gentleman informed Mr Mills, the Harbour Master, (who had charge of the life-.. - boat) of this unwarrantable act, and he at once took matters m his own hands, and got together his own tried crew. ' Plenty of volunteers were forthcoming to drag the boat on the carriage from the shed to that part of the beach used by the new Lauding Company, where it was proposed to launch her. The carriage was taken' some, little, distance into the surf and after'one or two attempt?, the boat was fairly let go. Something however went wrong, and the boat instead of sliding down the grove m the carriage got misplaced and stuck hopelessly on the axles, and a heavy sea coming' washed the boat off the carriage and broadside on to the sea, throwing out the jrew. She was immediately hauled bow on again by scores of willing ' volunteers, and an attempt was again made to shove her off, but the effort failed, and a heavy wave washed her up the beaoh broadside on, smashing nearly all the oars. The men were either washed or thrown out of the boat on each occasion; v but they soon scrambled into her again. Several times did the volunteers push off the boat, and on each occasion it was thrown back high up on the beach as a mere toy, each time drifting' to' the north' 'and' nearer to the reef which , separates , :the two I lauding services. At last the efforts made were successful, and the boat loft the beach amid the choers of the spectators who thronged the beach road und the high ground adjoining. ■The moment was one of intense escitemeul, as the boat was fairly over the reef where the wuves were breaking with the 'greatest furv,aud it was then scon. that out of her full crew "only six were on 'board, fciie others having been washed-out and loft on the beach. The names of $&■ crew When tW'boatf' finally quitted the" shore were, Mr Mills, (Harbour Muster),' Duncan' CSuneron (coxswain); .A. White, Thomas Baker, _G. Newton, and. W. Oxley. When j ust nt the edge of the reef and but a little way from shorej a tremendous : sea struck the boat and capsized her, throwing all the men into the. water. The scene on the beach at this moment was one of the most fearful excitement, as all the men were struggUng'Jntne Twater^Fut "it^as^seen 'that most, if not all, of thf m had. on the cork lifer belts belonging to the,, lwat v tph§ f Alexandra had righted herself m an instant; and soon one man was seen to climt> into her* 'and hold out his hand to assist '"i^^ndhiif^ 'Presently : five men ]>ad again olimbbifraWjihoboat^bat ' one was missing, and jwas not seen again. It was soon- -discovered 'that • that -man -was - Duncan Cameron. • When * ttie' 1 lifeboat capsized all .the pars- except one wyere lost, and with this one oar, and^a line;; which was ■ attached to the boat's anchor, the crew man* aged to King the boat oil shore without being again upset.' It is_ generally supposed that ■• i Duncan Cameron was rendered insensible by a blow on the head, either from the steer-oar or some part , of __the_ boat,,as Jie,w,as a.most .". expert, swimmer, and could have reached the boat, even without a lifebelt, if by any means he lost it. We learn that when ia. the water Cameron caught hold of Newton's leg, and would have drowned Newton had he not shaken himself free. Cameron was a good sailor, and came to Timaru some yean ago from Turanaki He leaves a wife and four children, and we think we have only to mention this fact to ensure liberal 'assistance' for them from a public ever ready to appreciate. courage; and to help those m distress This loss of life is more to be deplored when occasion for such a sacrifice is by many (persons 'called m question. In such a matter we do not wish, to judge , it is the duty ot the harbour master to decide whether he will or will not answer a sigual of distress, and as Captain "Mills was himself m the boat, no one can say that he m any way shirked his duty; althongh at the time he was suffering from" the effects of an accident with a rocket m the •morning. 1 What * the schooner Twilight wV>do <not^ know, as she put" to' sea on Monday evening when a light breeze sprung 1 up, but it is generally supposed that^she was short of provisions and water. It is a most significant fact, and one which, amid all this distress, speaks a word m favour of the holding ground m the Timaru roadstead* -that the schooner Twilight, riding at* the outer anchorage 1 for ' small craft, scarcely shifted'her position/ and rode out the storm with comparative 4 ease ' Had the other vessels been- furtheif out, J and never taken up their anchors, all probability, would no^r be^in the roadstead. We understand thafrboOrtUe Cfflmgwooa 1 " and Susan Jane 1 were welT~insured, and the f f cargoes of both vessel* were ajsojinsured. The hull of the Colhngwood was insured m the ; New Zealand Insimm(»'Cdmpimy r f3ri^S(4"7 and the grain on board covered by^a^&afijlg^ policy 1 m the Union Bank. ' Susan Janeiwas insured for^sO3.«*»O