THE WRECK OF THE ORPHEUS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1860, 25 April 1863, Page 2

THE WRECK OF THE ORPHEUS.

* We quote a portion ofa letter written by Mr Amphf lefcfc (paymaster of the Orpheus) to Governor Gore 1 Browne, and read by his Excellency at a meeting B in HobartTown. The letter is dated from on board the mail steamer " Madras, 1 ' and gives the most succint account of the wreck we have yet [ seen. We trust the Directors of the N.Z.S.N. ] Company will take steps (if they have not already done so) to clear Captain Renner in the eyes of I the authorities at home. Ifit.be the opinion of ; the officers of the Orpheus, who have gone home, . that the Wonga conld have rendered assistance > three hours earlier if she liked, that opinion will certainly be recorded in the minutes of the Enquiry which the Admiralty will order; and it wiil be much tobe regretted, if, instead of receiving their acknowledgements — complimentary and substantial — which Captain Renner so well earned, he i should be put down in the Admiralty's black • books. . If the N.Z.S.N. Company have not ye t written to the Admiralty, we are. sure they wilj now see the necessity of doing so. The following is the extract from the Paymaster's letter referred to— "We left Sydney on tha 3!st January on * short cruise to collect the ships to form some court* . martial. The Commodore determined, in order I l o save time, to go into the Manukau, intending t o anchor off Poponga and send letters to the £ r arrier at Onehunga, and to the Miranda in Auckla nd. for these ships to meet him af Wangaroa, or th c Bay of Islands. Wo made the land on the 7th Pc bruary , a beautiful, fine New Zealand summer's d»2 '• "ice fresh breeze. Observed the signal static iat 11.30 a.m., the signal flying • take the bar.' Tbi * ship was steered in accordance with Captain -, Dm ry's chart, modified by the sailing directions of Mr ' Veitch, the Master of the Niger. We crossed the- 1 s ar at I.2o— the tide only half an hour's ebbso th at there was plenty of water even for a vesiel of A Q great draft of the Orpheus. The pilotage was a Itered to the northward from time to time as indica ted by the semaphore. It appears, however, that c. 'ther we did not keep far enough to the north* 'fird, or that the middle bank has recently extend" ad itself unknown to the pilots, for at 1.30 the shij > bumped slightly, and a few minutes afterwards et ruck the reef and became immoveable ;in fact she became immediately like a half covered rock. 1 'he rollers swept completely over her, carrying cvi uything before them. « Wo i vere going in with steam and sail— no" body coul d possibly be more careful and particular than the ( Commodore. "Just . after the ship struck we observed • jteamer co. ming out of the Manukau, Set all on board rejok "ing, and had she proceed to us at once, lot only ali I hands, but a great deal of stores and pro* perty migh t have been saved. It would have been worth her w» hile as a salvage case. But to our great lisappointme nt she steamed slowly down the south shaunel out t» ? sea, round on our port beam, and I jelieve shape d her course for Taranaki. This vas the Wonj ?a Wonga. Eventually she turned )ack ; but inst ead of coming direct to the doomed ihip by the ma. in channel, she went round again nto the south c hannel,and so back to the Heads, vhere the boat* met her at five o'clock. " Your Excel lency will not fail to observe that lere was three hours most critical and valuable ime, entirely loe t — the ship all this time breaking lp amongst the r> oilers, with assistance in sight. "Having met Mr Wing the pilot, the Wonga iow towed the bo at back to to the wreok, which hey reached at 6, o'clock. By this time the crew lad taken to the i igging, above the tops ; the sea cashing clean ovel ' the ship, and more than half iray up the rigging \ The boats could only venture nto the smooth de <*p water a head of the ship, and :ept hailing the mci ito jump and swim for theirlives. Lt this juncture,! f we could have got the life ioat, numbers mi, ght have been saved;, but Mr Ving had report® d that she was so securely tauled up, that it would take a dozen men a ouple of days to It lunch her, and it was very oubtfui if she woul d'swim. " At seven o'clca k the flood tide made. The hip soon began to S. >el its effects. The poor comlodore and all th« > young officers were in the nizen top ; the coran aander and ward room officers a the maintop, swn ounded ly the men, encourging each other. 'f he passengers in the Wonga escribe this as a ai ost affecting, heart-rendering cene. All this iiim ) the boats were busy in pick. ag up the few w&o jumped overbo'ajd. ' About wenty were savtd'.. The rollers iucreaßing every tiinute more futiibiiialy than ever, the boats were bliged to retura tot; the Wonga Wonga. «At tto^decka broke up, and the oasts fell, precipitating all that remained into the rater. Some spar- .'struck the commodore on the cad; he only rosa once, and could make no exrtion. The few who, fell clear of the ship.and f the under currents and eddies around her, swam asily to the boats, ..Aujong these were Lieutenant fonge, Mr B*rkly,and Mr Hunt. The moofi now hone out beautifully Jolear and . bright, and fraglenta of the. wreok kept passing the boats with the ood, clinging to w^hiph some poor fellows were aken up. One mia, who could' not swim, was aken off a spar inßide the Manukau. The steamer . ,nd boats^ under Lieutenant Hill, remained by the wreck the whole night; at daylight, nothipgoould >c seen of the unfortunaVe, ill-fated Orpheus, but the stump ofa maat, and a few baienbj.'^| i%'K :