REV. A. T. THOMPSON LEFT MANUKA AT BLUFF.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18946, 17 December 1929, Page 1

REV. A. T. THOMPSON LEFT MANUKA AT BLUFF.

WIFE AND THREE DAUGHTERS WERE ' , LANDED FROM WRECK. Amongst the passengers was the Rev A. T. Thompson, formerly of Christchurch, but now resident in Mel- - who travelled with his wife and three daughters. So that he might surprise his sister, Miss Blanche Thompson, of Christchurch, Mr Thompson left the Manuka at the Bluff and came through by the express, arriving here yesterday morning. Mrs Thompson and the three daughters, however, remained aboard. The news of the wreck gave Mr Thompson a shock to-day, but he was reassured to be told that all the passengers had been saved. “It was a remarkably calm trip from Australia to the New Zealand coast,* said Mr Thompson. “One traveller of long experience on this journey told roe it was the calmest crossing he had made in twenty-seven years. Looking back on it now it seems to have been uncannilly calm.” Mr and Mrs Thompson’s daughters are aged sixteen, twelve and six years respectively.

MANUKA MADE A RECORD RUN.

Captain Edmond Phillips brought the Manuka out from England on her maiden voyage from Denny Brothers’ yards, Dumbarton, in 1903. Sailing via Cape Horn, she made the trip to Melbourne in the record time of thirty-two days. Captain C. N. Renaut, now Government marine superintendent at Lyttelton, was chief . officer of the vessel. With the exception of a period of about eight months. during which time she was relieving on the Vancouver run, she has been employed continuously in the intercolonial service.