ARRIVAL OF A SCHOONER IN DISTRESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4871, 10 December 1883, Page 2

ARRIVAL OF A SCHOONER IN DISTRESS.

THE OBEW MISSING. The Sarah W. Hunt, a shapely American-built lore-end-aft sohooner, of 115 tons gross register, whose great Bpara and immense spread of oanvas denote a ve-wel of fine apjec, arrived quite un* exoeotedly on Saturday night, at half- past aeven o'olook. She is of wood, commanded by SJJ. Miner, and her orew number 15 men all tola. The ■ohooner wan built in 1876, at Middletown. Conneotiout, buehails from Batb, state of Maine, U.S. She left New Bedford on Jnly 10, on a sealing and whaling oruisp, and on pov. 8 oalled at Maoquarie Island, where eho lost an anchor. Resumed her oruifle on the leth, for C»mp'ell laland, arrivlrg on tha 2§th, and anoho*ed in Perseverance harbour. Campbell Island, high and rooky, is some hundred miles or so South ot New Zealand. Here ■he lost 13 ot herhar da, and for a v sßel of her size, only to be navigated by two men some hundreds of milea in about 11 days, shows signs of no little pluok, Beamanship, and endurance. The dimensions of ihe -chooner are 1 as follow:— len-tb. 88ft: 24ft beam; Sift depth pf hold, and ahe draws a little over lutft or water. Theae dimensions, with her lofty spars,, show her to be a vessel ofthe regular Amerioa-. type. The history of tha lobb of the whole of her orew, save the Captain and steward, as told by her log, is given below. Surely some efforts ahould be made to ascertain whether any ot the unfortunate men have survived, and aro now on the l 1 tud. "At or about 6 a.m. on the moruii' .of Roy. 27. while lfinjr at anchor, the port and »t '_ board boats left tha vessel with orders to searbli m shore for seals, a light breeze tben blowing f om tho northwest. They took no provision*, intending to return to the veeael for dinner, or shortly afterwards, leaving the steward on board and oaptain in oharge of the vessel. During the day no anxiety or fear were felt for their safety, although the weather became more squally towardß afternoon. A auaoe«Bion ot heavy squalls oame down duuug the night, but abated between 2 and 3 o'olook a.m. on the 28th. There being plenty of creeks and ioleia around the island, tt was naturally suppored that they bad put into one of them to wait Ull morning, when they oould have made fer the vessel, whioh they oould have reached during the day. "Hov.2B.— Not having returned by noon on the seoond day, great anxiety was felt for their Bafety. and preparations were nude to go in searoh ol tham. but, there being only two men on board, it waa diffloult and exceedingly dangerous to undertake anythiog. The vessel lay with both anohora down, with 38 fathoms of cable on one and 20 on the other, in 10 fathoms of water, with the wind dead on the lea shore; bntf still we oonolude- to make the attempt, and in the evening reefed the foresail and ruada everything reedy to Btart at break of day. ..... . _ _v "Nov. 89.— Very anxiiuß all niirht anouß tne orew; no tif ings yet. At 2 a.m. this morning thiok fog with rain, and later bbwing a very strong breeze with th-ok tog and rain, making it impossible to attempt to get under weigh with any ohaaoe ef safety, and have only to remain ia suapenso and wait, lhe oaptain went aloft and fitted new sheaves ... - uaek hi'yard blooks, and had everything in cc- ' esa to get under weigh aa aoon aa it moderated. The loe book, being in oharge of the first mate and by him looked away, thia method ot ineerting the faotß was resorted te. At 5 p.m. it oommenced te moderato a little ; hove in starboard anohor. 7 p.m., blowing a galo, with tremendous and very heavy sudden squalls, untu about midnight, and then the squalls did not appear to have bo muoh foroe. Went be ow at ""•Nov. 80, 3a.m.— More moderate, buta very thiok log with rain. Gave up all hopea of our comrades, and oan do nothirg more than wait a ohanoe to get under weigh to look for signs ot them. 8 p.m.— Blowing a fierce gale, with severe sudden Bquallß. "Deo. 1, 5 am. Very moderat* 1 , with a light breeze from the westward. Commenced to get under weigh. Hove short, and get our anchor. Set foresail by means of taokles, and set forestay sail and after-jib and part of mainsail to get clear of headland. 9 a.m. olear of Harbour. Double-reefed the mainsail, set it, aod clewed the decks up. Calm during remainder of the day. Courae, north by west. 12, Midnight— o> to this hour no wind. Save not seen any slgfi ot boats or men ; given up all hope of ever hearing of them. • •■Lat.5210d«g.,10ng.169 26deg. The day began •with oalm weather and in sight of island j at noon light breeze from westward. Thiß oontinued during xemaiader of day and night. •** Deo. a.— Nothing aeen or heard of men yet. Making the be»t efforts we o»n to gain a port. Thia day begins with light breeze veering to north.weat at 4 ajn., and set flying jib. Breeze continued to ißoreaae during, the day, and at 7 p.m. strong breeze ; took in flyin 4 jib. Breeze inoreaamir. moderate gale by 8 p.m., and oontinued to end of day. " Deo. 3.— Moderate gale from north, with rain ; midday, moderating and veering to north-west with heavy head sea. Deo. 4.— Squally weather frem north-west; at midnight taoked Bhlp, the breeze hauling to westward and blowing strong all night. Deo. 6.— Lat. 46*16, Btrong sale from west with terriflo squaDo, and had to shorten aail; 12, midni*ht, wore ship. Strong squally weather. Deo. 7. —Lat. 43-38, long. 171*83, strong south-west breeze; wore ship; sighted Cape Saundera at 10 a.m. ; squared away to northward; fine weather. Deo. 8. —This day benina with nioe olear weather, witn light breeze from southward. 5 a.m. Set flying jib and took reef out of foresail and mainsail and set lors-gaff-topsail. Tried to make Port Chalmers, bat was prevented by south-west winds, asdxan for, andmade, Lyttelton aa above.