STORY OF OLD WRECKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 6, 8 January 1944, Page 4

STORY OF OLD WRECKS

SHIPS LOST OFF WANGANUI

HAZARDOUS DAYS OF SAIL Five miles south of the Turakina River, almost buried in sand, weatherworn and weary with years of exposure, is the shell of the iron barque Fusilier. Time has dealt harshly with the old vessel, driven high and dry in a heavy gale and little remains of the fine Liverpool-owned barque that left Wellington nearly 60 years ago on her last voyage. Looking at the wreck on a recent summer day, when the wind was from the west and heavy seas were breaking on a desolate beach, one recalled stories of other ships lost off Wanganui in those hazardous of sail. The wreck of the Fusilier was typical of many such on the New Zealand coast. Bound fqr Newcastle in ballast on January 16, 1884, the barque was driven into the South Taranaki Bight by a westerly gale. Threatened with a dangerous lee shore, the master made determined efforts to beat out, but, realising there was no hope of success, beached his ship and saved the lives of all hands. Old sailormen, when the wind is in the right quarter( still speak of schooners, barquentines, and other stout little craft that traded on this coast and thought nothing of long passages, even across the stormy Tasman to Sydney. Some sailed away in the grey of dawn and were never seen again. One such was the ketch Reindeer. In December, 1865, a Maori woman found a bottle in the surf near the Waiongara River. It contained the following laconic message: “Ketch Reindeer foundered at sea on October 3, bound from Auckland to Wanganui. Myself left out of four. No prospect of being picked up. Can just see Mt. Egmont. John Spiers.” Cutter Drifts Ashore. The first recorded wreck near Wanganui was that of the cutter Jane. Details are meagre, but it is believed that the vessel was found ashore in December, 1840, with all sail set and nobody on board. At the time it was supposed that she had capsized about 15 miles south of the river entrance, throwing her crew of four and a passenger overboard. The cutter eventually righted herself and was driven ashore. The ports of Kaipqra, Greymouth and Hokitika, with Cook Strait running a close second, had more maritime casualties than any part of New Zealand, Wanganui’s total being fortuntely small. Of these few were attended by loss of life. Well-known among the earlier Wanganui wrecks was the schooner Governor Grey, lost at the harbour entrance in November, 1854. Within living memory is the loss of the barquentine Edith May, which dragged her anchors during a gale and came ashore at Castlecliff on July 24, 1892. A wooden vessel of 213 tons, the Edith May left Port Chalmers on July 5 with a‘full cargo of produce for Wanganui and had been outside the bar for a week waiting for an opportunity to enter. While the crew were attempting to launch a boat a big sea crashed on board the barquentine and the mate was washed overboard. The vessel’s back was broken and she became a total loss. Possibly the schooner Grace Dent, also wrecked at Castlecliff, toward the close of the last century, tried to take an “overland” course. Bound from the Clarence River, New South Wales, to Wanganui with ironbark timber for the New Zealand Railways, the schooner arrived in the roadstead on February 23, 1895, but as high water was not due for some hours the Pilot Station signalled, a warning 1o stand off. At the Marine Court of Inquiry, subsequently held in Wanganui, it was stated that no notice was taken of these signals. When the vessel struck she was drawing Bft. 6ins. of water, but the depth on the bar did not exceed 7ft. Loss of Charles Edward.

One of the first steamers wrecked at Wanganui, the Charles Edward, became a total loss while entering the channel on December 15, 1908. A vessel of 141 tons, she had engines of the grasshopper type and a speed of about 10 knots. The vessel was loaded with 200 tons of coal and was drawing 9tt. aft. The depth of water on the bar at the time was lift. 4ins. It was believed that the Charles Edward struck some foreign substance, knocking a hole in her bottom. She became waterlogged and within half an hour the boiler fires were extinguished. A heavy flood in the Wanganui River on June 12, 1911, was partly responsible for the loss of the barquentine Pelotas, inward bound from Eden, New South Wales, with a cargo of sleepers for the Gonville Tramway Board. With the aid of a tug the barquentine safely negotiated the entrance, but when about opposite the Pilot Station the tug failed to make further headway against the strong current Both vessels drifted over the bar and a fresh south-easterly wind drove the Pelotas ashore. For a time it was thought that the vessel was in a safe position, but she gradually settled down in the sand and was ultimately abandoned. Perhaps one of the most spectacular wrecks was that of the small steamer Moa. Before her end she provided a brilliant, pyrotechnic display. Bound from Wellington with 5000 cases of kerosene, motor spirit, benzine, turpentine and a quantity of genera! cargo, the Moa took fire six miles south of Wanganui, following an explosion. Within an incredibly short time the steamer was blazing from stem to stern. So rapid was the spread of the fire that the ship's boats were in flames before they be swung out on 'heir davits. Crew’s Dash For Safety. The coastal steamer Arapawa, also loaded with 4000 tons of benzine and kerosene, approached as close as she dare, but her peril was increased by the terrific heal. To effect their escape the Moa’s crew threw lifebuoys and pieces of wooci overboard and. jumped into the sea. With no time to spare the Arapawa lowered her boats and picked them up. All hands were saved, with the exception of the fireman. He was sitting on the alter hatch v,hen the explosion occurred. Later in lhe afternoon the flames died down as the Moa drifted closer inshore, but in the early evening they burst forth with fresh vigour and wrapped the doomed ship from truck to keel. As night set in the steamer drifted aimlessly in her own funeral pyre. At about eight o'clock a terrific explosion was followed by a brilliant crimson ligh’ exit Moa. Other vessels wrecked in later years included the steamer Stormbird, on I September 2. 1916, with the loss of three lives, and the schooner Eunice, conspicuous by reason of her beautiful linos, about a year later. The Siormbird, oiuward bound for Wellington, crashed into the south mole through failing to answer her helm, the survivors scrambling ashore in the darkness. No lives were lost when th'* Eunice, bound from Wellington to Wanganui, also struck at the entrance. She later dufted ashore and became a total loss, leaving he r bones to bleach on the South Beach.