SHATTERING A WRECK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7232, 3 August 1891, Page 4

SHATTERING A WRECK.

FIRING GUN COTTON MINES. [from our own correspondent. 1 WELLINGTON, August 1. The loveliest day we have seen for a ' long time past has been marked by an outing which waa in every sense delightful. I A bit of business in connection with the Marine and Defence Departments had to : , be done near tho Heads, and the Ministry ■' 1 took the opportunity of inviting members J • and their friends to take a run ever to the j I scene in the Government Bteauier Hineinoa, '• ! an invitation which waa taken advantage • I 1 of by all with the utmost alacrity. Tho [ circumstance was the blowing up of a sunken vessel. Some eighteen months ago L THE BASQUE M IiAREN struck a rock at the Heads, and the Captain, finding her condition hopeless, ran her into a quiet spot behind the Pinnacle I Rock. There, while her crew saved them- [ solves in the boats, the vessel, loaded with j 600 or 700 tons of coal, settled quietly ; down. Her mizzen hRd gone, but her fore > and mainmast were left standing, and these t have ever since appeared above the sur- , face. As the presence of a sunken ship r was looked on as dangerous, the responsi- : bility of removing her was left to the j Minister for Defence, who, having coni suited with Lieutenant-Colonel Hume and . Captain Falconer, decided that she should 1 be blown to pieces. Accordingly, last week, a diver went down and bored holes . in the hull near the keel. FOUR MINKB were then prepared. In two of them charges of 5001 bs of gun cotton were r packed, the cases being of iron and con- , crete. In the other two 1231 b charges [ were placed. All was in readiness [ on Wednesday evening. To-day Captain [ Falconer went and placed everything in r position, and connected one of the large 3 charges by electric cable with the torpedo : corps' pinnace, on board which were con- , nections uniting the four mines to one another. The signal being given, Mr Kirk, Mayor of Petone, a Lieutenant L of the Navals, who was on board [ the pinnace, turned the firing key and the wreck was blown into fragments. Those who witnessed the affair r were repaid for their trouble, if any , trouble can be said to have attended a trip , so delightful. It was half -past two on the , sunniest of sunny afternoons when Captain Fairchild put his steamer in motion > from the railway wharf. She waa packed j with excursionists, and nearly every I gentleman entitled to write M.H.R. after > his name had his wife, Mb cousin or his aunt [ with him. It was a merry and harmonious party. The Ministerial lion lay down with the Opposition lamb, and the buzz and I rattle of conversation went on briskly. At I the same time there drew off from the I other wharves all the available steamers ] that ply in the harbour, each one f CROWDED WITH PEOPLE j eager to see the novel sight. The expectation was perhaps heightened by a soupqon, of danger, and there were vague references among the more timid to the Shelly Bay I and Sydney disasters. But the influence of I the sunshine and general pleasantness was f irresistible, and eyes, ;that had been 5 weary with long sittings and mid--5 night intentneßs, sparkled with new . light. The Hinemoa raced acro3B the . harbour in grand style, taking in tow two t of the Wellington Naval boats, and very l soon we came in sight of the two mast--3 heads. Round these were a score of boats. P The Helen Ballance launch wa3 there. So j was the torpedo pinnace, a thin line of t destruction connecting her with the 3 sunken vessel. The excursion steamers I stood prudently off about a quarter of a . mile. As we passed the Ballance, the artillery signalmen gave one of those rapid flag-signals which are now the medium of . communication in the land and sea forces, . and two or three signalmen aboard of us 3 replied. Then we brought up and lay j motionless. The steamers conveyed in all f probably eight hundred people. On the T low hills near the fort were hundreds of r people watching curiously the little craft, t which remained motionless aboub four 1 hundred yards off the sunken vessel. Lieutenant-Colonel Hume was on board the Hinemoa, and stood watch in hand. A SIGNAL FIiAO a went up on our main-mast. " Five minutes I from now," says the commander. " When 1 the flag goes down they will flre." All a eyes were fixed on the spot. Down went 1 the flag, and simultaneously a mountain of j water lifted itself into the air, presenting 1 an indescribable spectacle. Then there r was a large black area on the water, strewn I with ddbris. The vessel had been shivered t into countless fragments. The terrific b power of gun-cotton was well illustrated ; 1 by the fact that the explosion was dia- [ tinctly felt on board the Hinemoa. One 1 faint shudder of the ship beneath our feet 3 told of the fearful destruction so silently l wrought. A curious momentary silence r fell upon all, and then every boat's [ head was turned to the black patch. We saw that it was now strewn with dead and half-dead fish, shreds of wood, and mere r fragments of masts and bulwarks. We . steamed over and over what had been the i resting place of the M'Laren, 'and then , Captain Fairchild gave us a run round the t harbour, and creature comforts were dis- . pensed by the smartest of waiters. At 1 five o'clock we were again alongside the , wharf. [Per Press Association.] Lord and Lady Onslow witnessed the explosion, the s.s. Waihi having been placed at their disposal by the Hon George . M'Lean. The arrangements in connection , with the firing of the mine, which con- . eisted of 10001 b of gun cotton, were admirable ; and everything passed off without [ the slightest hitch, the vessel being coin- | pletely blown to pierces. Shortly after tho ! wreck of the vessel, ahe waa purchased by , a syndicate of four or five persons, who have since spent about .£3OO each in | attempting to have her raised. The coßt of , blowing up the vessel, which was about ! <£100, will be borne by the syndicate. As ; the Hinemoa was casting off from tho wharf one of her lines snapped, and a '. sailor named M'Lean, belonging to the , ship Otaki, who was about to cast off the | line, had one leg broken and the other severely injured.