SMASHED ON ICEBERG

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 11

SMASHED ON ICEBERG

SHIP’S BOWS DAMAGED VESSEL’S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE VOYAGE OF THE WELLINGTON RECALLED. “One of the most wonderful escapes in the history of sail in the New Zea-land-London trade,” was the description applied in Christchurch last week by Captain Hugh Munro, of the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company, Ltd., to the voyage of the sailing ship Wellington from Picton to London in 1893. “No reference to the Wellington could bo complete,” Captain Munro added, “without mention of her great voyage round the Horn, when she smashed her bows on an iceberg and yet managed to reach London more than a year after leaving New Zealand, with the bulk of her cargo of frozen mutton in perfect , condition.” Captain Munro is well known in Wanganui and has been connected with ' trade to this port for many years, having been master and owner of some of the pioneer vessels of the Dunedin-Wellington-Wanganui service. Next year he will complete 60 years’ association with New Zealand and ocean-going shipping. When the Wellington made her famous voyage he was master of the barque Lake Eric, owned by himself and the late Mr. A. H. Turnbull, trading between Lyttelton and London. “It was on May .12, J 893, that the Wellington left Picton bound for London by the Cape Horn route with a cargo of frozen mutton,” he said. “The ice was particularly bad that year, and after we rounded the horn in the Lake Erie, we ran right into the thick of it. By day we had to pick our way whenever an open passage lay in front of us, and at night we kept a keen lookout. Ship’s Head Crumpled Up. “The main part of the ice was southeast of the Falkland Islands, and I made a tack to the westward, estimating that the worst of the ice was to the north-east. This brought us to a position approximately 150 miles from the Wellington at the time she struck the iceberg. From New Zealand the 1 * weather had been strong, and all the vessels rounding the Horn at that particular time had been carried far to the south-east of their true course. Captain Cowan, the master of the Wellington, told me afterwards that the vessel struck just before 4 o’clock in the morning, when there was a resounding crash as the jibboom and everything on the foremast above the lower mast came down, and the ship’s head was crumpled up for about 30 feet. “In the forecastle there were terrible scenes of confusion and agony. The watch below was fast asleep, and though some escaped, two were crushed flat under the iron plates of the ship’s side, one man lingering for about four hours in the most terrible agony. Up on deck the scene was even worse. Partly dismantled, the ship was rolling in a heavy sea. At the moment of the crash a piece of ice, dislodged from the berg, fell on Captain Cowan’s head, inflicting a deep, jagged wound, and another icicle fell on the chief officer, breaking a leg. Both men were carried below and, despite his own injuries, the mate bound up the captain’s head before becoming insensible himself. Cargo Preserved Intact. 44 Fortunately the ship was carrying in the forward hatch a lot of extra coal for the refrigerator, and the weight of this coal, piled up against the forward bulkhead, had prevented the mass of water in the bows from caving in the bulkhead. For three days the crew were cutting the wreckage away and clearing up the mess. Eventually they succeeded in strapping a sail round the injured bows and rigging a jury mast. With this makeshift gear the ship reached Rio de Janeiro, a distance of 2270 miles. There temporary repairs were made, and the Wellington eventually sailed for London, where she arrived in the summer of 1894. Some of her cargo of frozen mutton had been sold at Rio de Janiero, but the -remainder was taken to London where it was opened in excellent condition. It was a marvellous achievement for the crew that, after escaping death by a miracle, they were able to keep the refrigeration plant going without a breakdown during all the troublous times that followed the crash. “The hazards of the ice were very trying for all vessels in the vicinity at that time, and in her disabled condition the Wellington whs extremely fortunate to escape destruction on some other berg or huge floe. I was among heavy ice for about a week and we luckiL escaped any serious damage. One night our martingale (the iron rod running down from the bowsprit) was bent backward. We were able to repair this damage, however, a few days later when we ran into fine weather. After reaching London we made another voyage to New Zealand and then back to London before the Wellington reached there.”