An Uncanny Experience

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVI, Issue 32, 19 February 1931, Page 8

An Uncanny Experience

OLD SHIP HEAVED UP AN EARTHQUAKE INCIDENT To see the remains of the ship that once bore the same name as their own vessel reappear from the sea-bed where she had rested for nearly 44 years, was one of the many uncanny ' experiences of the ship’s company of i the big Federal liner Northumberland in the great earthquake at Hawke's Bay. The Northumberland was lying at anchor in Napier roadstead loading i frozen meat and other cargo from the ! lighters when the great upheaval 1 occurred without a second’s warning. ] Despite the facts that the ship had j her anchor down and that the sea : was smooth and the weather fine, the ! terrific shocks to the vessel gave the impression that she had struck heavily. In fact, one officer who was serving in the ship when she did strike a reef steaming at full speed said the jar on that occasion was very mild compared with those ' caused by the earthquake. Another ' officer who served in the Navy dur- ' Ing the war likened the shocks to j those that would be caused by the ■ explosion of four powerful depth ' charges close to the ship. The sight J of the nearby coast and of the col--1 lapse of the leading beacons on the hill at Napier quickly apprised the ship’s company that a mighty earthquake had taken place. What Sounding Revealed j The ship's wells were at once sounded, the results indicating that her hull was intact. Soundings taken ' overside, however, quickly revealed ■ that the sea bottom had been forced ’ up, and that the water had shoaled ’ greatly. No time was lost in casting off the lighters, which anchored, i while the Northumberland got under way, and with the leads going con- ' stantly in taking soundings, she ' moved out through the mud and j muddy water to a safe anchorage in deep water. j The upheaval of the sea bottom exposed to the sight of those" on board the Northumberland the rej mains of an old vessel, which were afterwards identified by old residents of Port Ahuriri as those of the old Shaw,Savill and Albion sailing, ship Northumberland, a vessel of 2095 tons, which was driven ashore on Petane beach on May 10, 1887, in a heavy gale. The vessel had recently arrived from London, via Lyttelton, with a part cargo. In the gale she lost one anchor, and dropped the others, and was driven ashore broadside on. The Union Company’s tender Boojum went to her assistance, but was capsized in the breakers with the loss of all hands, save one, who was rescued by a boat previously lowered from the Northumberland. The crew of the latter\ship were all saved, most of 'them after a perilous night on board the wreck. The figurehead of the Northumberland'was secured by a fisherman, but later became the property of Mr. Frank Armstrong, the well-known farmer of Akitio.