SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13367, 17 August 1907, Page 3

SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

LOSS OF THE KAWATIRT. A THRILLING NAKRATTVK. Press Association-liv lelegraph-Copy right IKHiAKT, Av.gu:-t 16. Variors piissengvis liy t lie j-teamer Kawa'.ili give t ln-j 11 iiiir narratives of the tnilile ordeal through which iliey went on tin' night of the wreck. Tlie .-.Jiiiunl supplied liy (".'unstable Waruley gives details of the tvyir.g experience;. The men ;i.inl (ho crew were huddled upon t!ie bridge of the sunken steamer the long night -through. AH were more or Its:; scantily chid, and the appalling seas; continuously broke over them. At 2.30 in the morning'all the lights went out, and the men were penned in what looked Ike a certain death-trap. They could not see each other, but they spoke words of encouragement, which only rarely could be hoard through the awf.-I gal". Before the ship settled down the men on the bridge could hear a knocking forward. One sailor managed to work Ills way along, and found eleven slee.ra.ge pa-s sc-n'aei-i locked in through the dcor being iammed. The door was broken open, and the passengers inside -were found standing in four feet of water. Their escape was a. very narrow one, for they had not long been relented when the ship became almost totally submerged. Several passengers were battered and bruised through being swept against the rocks and itruck bv wreckage. 'Further details of the disaster to the women's boat show that for over an hour after leaving the ship the boat was in imminent danger of being swamped. When being carried pa.-t the-entrance the women shrieked in agonising tone'. "Help, help; can't you come out and help us!" Hoping that the- lighthouse-keeper would hear, but- there was no visible or audible response. The wife of the keeper, jivho was in the boat, called, -Jack, help me," a cry which was heard bv her husband on the bridge of the lighthouse. Be w powerless to help, but shouted back. The. occupants of the boat, however, did not hear him, and the craft was carried swiftly by the tide to the breakwater. The acting chief officer, Mr Hautive, who was in°charge, threw the painter to two of the crew, who jumped on to the breakwater. They missed the rope, and the boatswain and Mr Hautive sprang out and mads it fast. Several passengers jumped out of the heavilv bumping boat, and endeavoured to climb the steep side of the breakwater. Mr Grundy, a passenger, who was on board with his wife and child, was knocked down, and lost his hold of his child, whom he never saw- again. However, hi saved his wife and another woman. Mr Hautive saved Miss Finch, and the lighthousekeeper arrived in time to rescue another woman and two children. Mrs Hooper, the wife of. the assistant at the lighthouse, and her child, were seen to be in the water, and drifting away with the tide, and no help could be given. NAUTICAL ENQUIRY. Received' 11.35 p.m., August 16th. SYDNEY 1 , August 16. The Court found Captain Lcgge, the master, and Richard Finch. the mate, responsible for the wreck of the Ysabel, and ordered them *o show cavoe why their certificates should not be dealt with. SUPPOSED LOSS OF A BARQUE. Per Press Association. GISBORNE, August 16. News has been received that wreckage has been found at Great Barrier bslonging to the over-due barque Constance Craig, (formerly known as the Margarita) which is locally owned. The wreckage includes a board with tlia name on the cabin fittings, raid a skylight. It is feared that all hands have been lost. The vessel was owned by Captain Kennedy, and Mr E. J. Chrisp, of Gisbome. AUCKLAND, August 16. The Collector of Customs has received a communication from a resident of Awanga, Great Barrier, as follows:—"I have picked up several pieces of a wreck on the. south-east sids of the Great Barrier. Some of the broken pices of timber had large letters, and when put together had on one side "Margarita," and on the reverse side 'Constance Craig.' I also found a leg of a table, a piece of the end of a table, a chock for holding a boat on deck, cne 14 ft paddle, and sundry other bits of timber, also a piece of skylight." . This, taken with the recant report that tli3 Constance Craig's boat had been found washed ashore at Hokianga, is regarded as pretty conclusive proof cf the wreck of that vessel. A steamer is being despatched to search the islands, in the hope of finding the crew. The names of the crew are—Captain Finlay Petersen (Sydney); E. Petersen,, mate (Sydney).; H. Lewis, second mate ; Anglesa, aged 48; Macdonald, A.B. ; H. Hansen (Broklyn), aged 28; T. Brown (Perth), aged 26;' M. Keogh (Liverpool), aged 24; J. Nelson, sailor (Liverpool),' aged 46; A. Stein, R. Roberts, F. Mackin (cook and steward), A. Miller (Norway), aged 54-. The vessel was owned by the Constance Craig Shipping Company. Tb» Constance Craig was insured for £2500 in North Queensland. The less to her owners will probably be fully £2OCO above that amount. When the ve?sel was la?t at Gisborne she- was supplied with a complete outfit of new .'ails, her old pails having suffered damage during a storm in the Bay of Plenty on the voyage from Newcastle, when slw had a perilous ex-peri-nc^. Mr Bridger. chief officer, left her at Gisborne to fo up for examination, and was to join the barque at Hokianga. THE ARAWATTA-TNGEBOIG COLLISION. DUNEDIN. August 36. Wliil<? the barque Ingeboig was at Dvnedin. Captain .Schnrdt told Mr Moller. Danish Consul, 'that Gottfriedson (aged 16) was well connected at Copenhagen, and that his father wa-< captain of' a, steamer tracing between th n Danish capital and R.-y Kravik.. in Tee-land. Just before lli Inffcboiff left Cattegat for Marseilles. Cantain Schmidt received_ a letter from Captain n«il.-inir h'm to keep an eye on the hid. The rabl" mfsag? yetserrlav showed how fai'.hfully the tru«t wasexecufed. The principal owpt of the lost ve'-s.'l was F. Hein, of Odense. the quaint- old capital of Furc-n. b«t Captain Schmidt had an eighth share in lim\ She was insured for £4OIO. the rnpta'n's slnre of tli» insurance Ui'in<r £6OO. Captain Schmidt's two sistcts live three miles out of Copenhagen.