WRECK OF H.M.S. ORPHEUS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 23, 7 June 1890, Page 12

WRECK OF H.M.S. ORPHEUS.

AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. HOW THE ORPHEUS WENT DOWN ON THE MANAKAU BAR.

J 5 S Aucklander* and a good many other* ■ j A throughout the colony are already aware, a LeTS / re bc °f old times of the colony of more than 1 Jl pOlT'ordinary interest, in the shape of a portion of ' the ot ® er a j es ty * ill-fated corvette Orpheus, which went down on the Manukau bar on February 7th, 1863, ha* been found washed up on the beach near the North Manukau Head. < »ur illustration* on title page show the Orpheus stranded on the bar ; also a capital view of the Manukau Harbour. There is an interesting history connected with the remains of the wreck itself. It appear* that after the wreck took place the remains of the ship were sold by the Government to Messrs Coombes and Daldy, an Auckland firm of that day, for the sum of £lOO. For twenty-seven years the hull of the old ship lay imbedded in the sand, though pieces of the wreckage of masts, topsides, spars, etc., came ashore in large quantities and strewed the ocean beach for miles and miles. The purchasers had about forgotten all about the matter when the unexpected news came into town that the hull of the teak-built warship had been drifted up on shore through the action of shifting sands and tide, and was lying near the Heads in a position which would enable it to lie boarded at

half tide. As might be expected, only part of the hull is there ; but it is wonderful that after the lapse of such a long period a wreck should unexpectedlv turn up on shore. There is supposed to be a quantity of gold specie on board. Many stories are told about the manner in which residents of the West Coast in the ‘sixties ’ used to ransack the beach round the North Manukau Head for the flotsam and jetsam of the sea from the wrecked Orpheus. Whenever shipwrights of the Manukau, it is said, were in need of a piece of good timber they took a Cruise round the Ocean Beach and picked out a bit of teak from the Orpheus. A resident of Onehunga built a small schooner, the Halcione, out of the timber wreckage on the beach. Captain Daldy is the now living representative of the Auckland firm who purchased the wreck, and he is intending to make arrangements to save from the hull if possible anything of value it might contain. The ship’s timbers and frame were of teak, strongly sheathed with copper. HOW THE ORPHEUS WAS LOST. It is interesting to turn up old files of 1863 and read the accounts of the tragic fate of nearly two hundred British seamen, who met a watery grave twenty seven years ago so near port in the Orpheus. The Illustrated London News of April 18th, 1863. contained a graphically-written description ofthewreck with an illustration of the fine full-rigged corvette asshe lay bumping on the bar with the seas breaking overher. From the account given it appeal* that the Orpheus was a new steam corvette of 1706 ton* and twenty-one guns, shiprigged, with a crew of 280 men, was commissioned at Portsmouth late in the year of 1860 for the broad pennant of the Commodore in Australia, and was at Spithead waiting orders when the news of the Trent affair reached England. Commodore Burnett, who was in command, was at once despatched to convey the Melbourne transport with a valuable freight of rifles and ammunition across the Atlantic. He remained on the North American coast directing the disembarking of the little army of Canada all through the winter months, when he received orders from the Admiralty to proceed to his command in Australia. The Orpheus arrived in Sydney in July. 1862. After refitting in dock and replacing copper torn off in the ice, the Commodore visited < 'ape York and Tasmania. On January 31st he left to visit the Auckland station. After a very fine passage under canvas the ship made the New Zealand coast off the Manukau Heads on February 7th, 1863. A bar with 30ft. at top of high water extends at a distance of three mile* right across the entrance to the Manukan Harbour. Inshore of this there are large shifting sandbank.*, upon which the sea is constantly breaking with the uninterrupted force of the great Pacific < feean. The account in the London A'cirs says : —‘The Orpheus made the land about 11 a.m., on the 7th, in beautiful fine clear weather with a moderate S.W. breeze. Soon after was observed the Head’* signal station, with the signal flying ‘Take the bar,’the ship being under all plain sail. Steam wa* got up for half-speed, and she proceeded across the bar, the tide being just on the turn to ebb. Steering by

the Admiralty sailing directions, the pilotage being altered now and then in obedience to the signals, all precautions were to be taken with the steerage, and to keep the ship in perfect command, keeping a* was thought in mid channel, making a good rate for the entrance. ‘ It appears that either she was not kept far enough to the northward, or that the middle-bank had recently extended itself unknown to the pilots, for very shortly after passing the liar, and when about two miles from the Heads, at about 1.30 p.m., the ship struck on what was subsequently discovered to be the extreme northern end of the middle bank, and at about fifty feet from deep water. ‘ The order was given to back astern, but the engines never moved. The ship immediately broached to, with her head to the north, and the rollers made one complete sweep over the port broadside, tearin" to pieces and sweeping everything before them, whilst the heavy bumping of the ship forced up the hatchway fastenings, and she subsequently filled with water. All hands were employed righting the ship of her heavy broadside guns and getting out the boats. ‘Just at this moment (2 o’clock), a small steamer (the Wonga-wonga), was seen coming out of the harbour, but finding that she did not intend to near him, the Commodore despatched first of all a cutter with the records and valuable papers to shore, and in half an hour another boat, with Lieutenant Hill and Mr Amphlett (now in Sydney), toobtain the services of the life-boat at the Heads, and to give the alarm to H.M.S. Harrier, known to be in the port. ‘ With great difficulty, and in imminent danger of swamping in the rollers, both the boats succeeded in reachin" the Heads at five o’clock, where thev met the pilot, and observed the small steamer Wonga- Wonga, which had a few hours previously proceeded to sea, returning by the south channel into port. The life-boat* having been reported unserviceable, the steamer closed the boats, took them in tow, and steamed out to the scene of the wreck, which thev did not reach till six o’clock. They found the ship almost buried in the water, the seas breaking clear over all and halfway up the rigging. All the people in the tops had mounted in the rigging ; the Commodore, with all his young officers, being in the mizentop. ‘ It was at once seen that the only chance of saving lives was from the bowsprit and jibboom, which overhung the deep, still water. The boats were placed to pick up all that ventured to jump and s«rim for it. With the exception of the boat’s crews, all that survive were saved in this manner. Nearly all that left the ship abaft the foremast were taken down by the eddies and undercurrents around the ship. Some of the more young, active sailors slid down the stays from head to mast until they reached the jibboom. It wa* stated by the men who were picked up that, shortly after the two boats had left the ship, the launch was got out and manned with forty hands, but in endeavouring to clear the ship had got swamped alongside, and that all were drowned. ‘At about seven o’clock the flood-tide set in strong, and the rollers became very high and dangerous ; the bowspritsoon broke short off, the boats being occasionally towed to windward by the steamer, which kept burning blue-lights. ‘ Towards nine o’clock the masts went one by one; the people in the tops were heard cheering and encouraging each other as they fell. The passengers in the Wonga- Wonga speak of this as a most heartrending scene, for the ship seemed at the time to break thoroughly up. Fragments of spars and large masses of wreck could be seen (it was a beautifully clear, bright moonlight night) passing in shore with the tide, clinging to which a number of poor fellow* were picked up, most of them in the last state of exhaustion. The boats kept on the spot, until all had disappeared. Nothing could be heard or seen during the remainder of the night. At daylight the wind had subsided ; the sea was a perfect calm. The Wonga-Wonga steamed close to the reef, but nothing was visible but the stump of one mast and a few bare ribs. It was difficult to realise, even to a person on the spot, and after a night of painful anxiety, that such a dreadful calamity had happened—that of that noble ship, and of her complement of gallant fellows so lately full of hope and life, nothing now remained but the few half-naked sailors that stood around us. ‘ Numerous instances occurred of personal courage and endurance of the very highest order. One case, that of a young seaman named Johnson, who at the risk of his own life, on four different occasions saved the lives of drowning men, deserves especial whilst the pilot’s boat’s crew —four marine*—were among the first and foremost.’ THE GRAYE OF COMMODORE BURNETT. To commemorate the wreck of H.M.S. Orpheus a torn! was erected in the Cemetery of Auckland at the expense of the surviving officers of that ship and others who served under Commodore Burnett. The inscription on the upper part of the tomb is as follows : —‘ Sacred to the memory of William Farquharson Burnett, Esq., C. 8., who perished, with 22 officers and 167 men, in the total loss of H.M.S. Orpheus, on the Manakau Bar, New Zealand, on February 9th, 1863.' On the side of the tomb aie inscribed these words : ‘ Erected by the officers of Her Majesty’s ships under his command.’ Our engraving, which is taken from a photograph, shows Commodore Burnett’s tomb, and on this side of the grave is buried Captain Swift, of the 65th Regiment, who was killed in a fight with the Maori* at Pukekohe, September 11th, 1863. He : ‘ What did your father say when you told him that we were engaged ?' She : ‘O, Augustus,'you must not ask me to rejieat such language !’ A boy holding a candle to a tradesman allowed something to attract his attention from the job, so the candle came in contact with the man's head and ignited his hair. After scolding the boy, he made the remark that if the master was to come in, judging by the smell, he would think they had lieen singeing a sheep’s head. • Weel,’ replied the boy, ‘he maybe wadna be far wrang.’ Encouraging to Authors.—Griggs : ‘ Do you mean to tell me there's no money in literature? Look at Dawson; he’s worth his millions.’ Penman: ‘Dawson? What did he ever write ?’ Griggs : ‘ Nothing ; he's a publisher. ’ what is live ? A dainty kiss. e. little hug. To the parson’s then skedaddle : For food and raiment then to tug. Then o'er the Styx to paddle.