TELEGRAMS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3182, 25 April 1871, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

HOKITIKA : 23rd— Gothenburg, from Greyxnouth.

The b.b; Go-a-Head, Captain Doile, arrived in harbor this morning about 1 o'clock. She left Manukau at 7 a.m. on the 21st instant, arriving off the Waitara at daylight, and alongside the wharf at 10 a.m. on the 22nd ; landed a full cargo, and sailed at 11 p.m., arriving off Taranaki at midnight ; took on board passengers, and arrived at Opunake at daylight on the 23rd ; took in a full cargo of flax, and sailed at 2 p.m. for Wanganui, arriving at the wharf at 10.30 p.m. j landed passengers and cargo, and sailed afc noon on the 24tb, arriving here as above. Experienced moderate weather and light S. winds during the whole passage. She brings about 200 bales flax, besides other cargo. We are indebted to Mr Adams, the puraer, for our usual files.

A painful accident occurred on board the 8.8. Napier on Sunday week, off the East Cape. It appears that a fireman named Richard Eastcott waa engaged in some work in the engine-room on the night in question, when a sudden lurch of the vessel caused his trousers to get entangled with some portion of the machinery and his leg being drawn in was broken in two places. Luckily, the engineer heard Eaetcott'e cries for help, and the engines •were stopped almost immediately ; had it been otherwise, the accident would, beyond a doubt, have resulted fatally. On the steamer's arrival at Poverty Bay, the wounded limb ■was eeb, and afterwards Eastcott was conveyed to the Provincial Hospital. — "Grey River Argus."

Bemabkabiiß Incident at Sea.— Captain E. E. Patterson, of the American barque Alcyone, met with a most remarkable incident on Im voyage from Amay to the port of Singapore. The- Aleyone left Amoy on the 2nd December for Singapore, and pursued her voyage until the 7th, when at about seven, p.m., a light was discovered close to on the Btarboard bow. It was evident that the light proceeded from a boat or a raft, and being far from land, Captain Patterson judged that it must bo come one in distress. Canvas was quickly reduced, and the ship hove-to, to allow the boat to come alongside ; but she failing to do so, and the sea running too high to lower the ship's boat, fche vessel wore round to endeavour to get near the boat, which was evidently unable to make the vessel. After wearing ship several times, she got near enough to throw lines over fche boat, which proved to be a Chinese sampan containing three Chinese. The poor fellows caught the lino, and two of them succeeded in holding on and getting on board the ship, but the third being blind from exposure, and too weak to bear his own weight, fell overboard and was lost in the attempt. "When the poor fellows got on deck they were completely exhausted, and it was found necessary to feed them like infants. When they were able to tell their Btory, it was found fcbat they had been driven away by a gale from Formosa, which place they left on the 3rd or 4th Nov. ; their suil and mast had been carried away by the gale on the second day oat, and their steering oar lost, leaving them without sail, mast, oar, or rudder. Tho poor fellows did not despair, but managed to subsist from day to day by hatching fish and birds, which they ate, and for water they had merely what they could catch ■when it rained. Thus they lingered day after day, drifting about at the mercy of the winds and waves, and when picked up by the Alcyone, had been, incredible to relate, thirty-two days at sea in the helpless condition, in an open sampan. During this time, who shall tell their sufferings find privations ; and had it rot been for the humane perseverance of Capt Patterson in •working his ship up to them, attracted only by the light which they displayed aa a forlorn hope, their furo muet have teen starvation in all its horrors. The boat had drifted S.W., i 8., 1,000 miles during the thirty-two day3, being an average of a fraction over thirty-one miles per day. — " Singapore Free Press," Jan. 4.

The Lose of the ship Mistress of the Seas. — The news of the loss of this vessel, along with her master, mate, and a portion of the crew, has been received in Greenock with great; regret. Captain Laing, we understand, leaves a widow and family. His brother was master of the ill-fated ship Ladyburn, which sailed from Greenocfe for the East Indies towards tke end of 1869, and has never since been heard of. Both ehipa belonged to Meßßrs Shankland & Co. The Mistress of the Seas received a thorough overhaul in Messrs Robert Btoele & Co'e dock before she proceeded on her last voyage. We understand she is inBured. Tho crew waß shipped at Glasgow, •where the ship was loaded.