A RELIC OF THE “ORPHEUS.”

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 17, 27 April 1907, Page 4

A RELIC OF THE “ORPHEUS.”

THE STORY <»E A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY. Memories of the wreck of the Orpheus, which was lost on the Manukau bar one bright summer’s day nearly half a century ago, will be revived by the discovery of one of her topmasts buried in the sand near the Manukau Heads, this most interesting find was made by a partv of campers who spent Easter on the West t oast at Whatipu, just north or Paratutai, the Maori name for the North Head. Wandering along the beach some two ami a-half miles from the Heads towards Karekare. they saw the end of an old spar sticking out of the sand about three hundred yards from the water. It looked old and weather beaten, and. strangely enough, they at once thought of the Orpheus. Procuring sticks, they began digging a wav the sand, and soon had the whole spar laid bare. Sure enough it was from the vessel which had met her doom fortyfour years ago. There was the proof on the heel: — ORPHEUS TOPMAST M CHATHAM NOV 1860 N° 855 J It was evidently the mizzen topmast, to the rigging of which the officers clung till the masts went by the board, and everv soul was washed off into the seething breakers. How this dumb witness of that awful tragedy has lain there for nearly half a century without being discovered is remarkable. The campers, after securing photographs of the relic, took oil' the iron band at the end, and so rotten was the wood that, once deprived of this support it fell to pieces. \lthomdi the wreck of 11.M.5. Orpheus took place over 44 years ago. it has ever had an indelible place in the memory ot ~nders. owing to the tragic ami peculiar circumstances surrounding the eitastrophi—one in which 187 British seamen lost their lives out of a ships company of 256 officers and men. Ihe shipwreck will rank with the great naval disaster- of the last half-century, the only melancholy satisfaction left being thati it brought out the best qualities of the British sailor, his devotion to duty, the excellence of discipline, and his determination to face and meet death as British seamen, officers and men. always will meet it. when called upon to do so. One of the points connected with the wreck of the unfortunate ship which has always made a deep impression on the public mind is that it occurred not only in open

daylight, but on a bright and brilliant day, with moderate wind and smooth water. The Orpheus was the finest and largest vessel that had ever been despatched to the New Zealand station, and had been transferred from the North American station to strengthen the Australian fleet, in view of the troubled relations with the natives in New Zealand, and the prospect of a racial struggle to maintain the sovreignity of the Queen. She had brought out a year’s provisions for the fleet, and two new suits of sails for every vessel in the squadron. “SOMEONE HAD BLUNDERED.” The key to the disaster which befel the Orpheus was the fact that the Commodore was going by the sailing directions and chart of Captain Drury, of H M.S. Pandora, of 1853. Tt had been long known to nautical men that the channel laid down in Drury’s chart of 1853 had shifted considerably. and that to steer strictly in accordance with the directions would ensure the destruction of any large vessel. Commodore Burnett and Sailing-master Strong were strangers to the Manukau

harbour, and made the course by the Admiralty chart on board. The information of the changes on the bar had been duly

notified to the officer commanding on the station, and by him transmitted to the Admiralty. On October 10. 1861. a notice was issued from the Hydrographic Office notifying that the outer south bank had worked north three-quarters of a point in the bearing from Paratutai. and that a part of the outer south bank had cleared away since 1853. This notice was received by the warships on the Australian and New Zealand station in March of the following year, but by a strange fatality and misadventure on the part of the Admiralty authorities, or otherwise, the Orpheus, on leaving the North American station, was not furnished with the corrected chart. AN UNLUCKY SHIP. Tile Orpheus was an unlucky ship from the outset, and ill-foruntc dogged her career to the end. She was put in commission on a Friday (which was quite enough to settle her with Tom Bowling). On her wav to the North American sta-

tion. with troops for Halifax, she nearly foundered in a heavy gale in the Atlan tie. and afterwards at St. John’s, N. 8.. went ashore. A MYSTERY. It was not known on the New Zealand station that Commodore Burnett intended to visit tlie Manukau, there being no cable communication in those days, or frequent trips of vessels from Sydney. What his object was will never be known, as his lips were sealed by death. He was a very active officer, a single man, in the prime of life, being but 46 years of age. and a rigid disciplinarian. There were, it was understood, several cases for courtmartial. and he had a quartermaster of H.M.S. Harrier (then lying in the Manukau). named Butler, on board, as a deserter. who was being brought on in the Orpheus to join his ship. It was conjectured that Commodore Burnett, as a new naval commanding officer on the station. thought it well to tighten up the bonds of discipline, and make a surprise visit, as the Harrier, Captain Sullivan, was lying at Onehunga, and the Miranda, Captain Jenkins, in Auckland Harbour, in ease more attention was being devoted to amusements, sport, and the hospitalities of citizens that the interests of the Service permitted. THE PITY OF IT! It was at noon on Saturday. February 7. 1563, under a smiling sky. all sail set, full steam on. going eight knots an hour, that the Orpheus was lost in the attempt to enter the Manukau —a bar harbour. The ill-luck of the Orpheus pursued her. While the terrible loss of lite was going on in broad daylight, in full view of the pilot station. H.M.S. Harrier was lying at her moorings at the Bluff, ignorant of the occurrence, the colonial steamer Avon at the Onehunga Wharf, and the Moa, Admiralty tender, at the Bluff’. GOING TO HER DOOM. The Orpheus left Sydney on the previous Saturday, under canvas, and made the Manukau Bar, as above stated, on Saturday. the 7th. On reaching the bar. about one p.m., a gun was fired, it is stated, for a pilot: but the pilot, Captain Wing, was away on board the s.s. Wonga Wonga, which had sailed at half-past twelve for the South, so everthing conspired to accelerate the doom of the ill-fated ship. The signalman at the pilot station. Edward Wing the son of Captain Wing, had signalled at 11 a.m.. “Take the bar,” at about one o’clock. “ Keep to the north," and afterwards “ Keep the vessel more off shore.” but none of the signals were acknowledged. answered, or obeyed. apparently because those on board did not understand the code, or, as Butler, the deserter, subsequently explained, prob-

ably the signalling gear and flags had been washed overboard. The (hrpheus touched astern at twenty minutes past one p.m., but it was of no consequence, aixl she went on for ten minutes into the breakers, and stuck fast on the western end of the Middle Hank, which' had shifted fully three-quarters of a mile since Captain Drury’s Sailing Directions had been pubished. 'l'he signalman at the Manuka u pjlot station first saw the Orpheus at half-past nine a.in., but imagined it was a large vessel for the North, skirting the bank, but when he saw that she was actually making an entrance across the hank he signalled the danger. The Commodore and the Sailing-master were on the bridge with their charts, the leads‘•ihan at his post, the crew at their duty, and the vessel going to her doom “with the marks all on.’’ t; J THE DESERTER’S STORY. Butler, the deserter, looking through the bow port of his quarters, noticed the discolouration of the water and the bearding of the channel, and saw that tlic vessel was going wr«>ng. He told the master-tai-arms, who brought him to the first lieutenant Mudge. He, it is stated, either the information of no import's nre, or, as was rumoured at the time, ißaid, “It was worth more than his cum■mission was worth to say so to the Commodore, as he was in charge on the bridge and taking her in himself/.’ The crew, liowever, urged Butler to go to Sailingmaster Strong. which he was loth to do, being only an A.B. He was in the act of pointing out the channel to the Sailingmaster and the Commodore with the chart in front of them, but too late, when the .vessel struck and broached-to, the sea ,sooii making clean breaches over her. THE WRECK. Some of the guns were hove overboard, ami shot, but all to no purpose. Although the situation was now critical, it was not then apprehended that the terrible calamity which overtook officers and men of Ijfche Orpheus would ensue. It was early ;in the afternoon, and the weather fine. There was the. likelihood of a message ,being signalled or sent to the Harrier from the pilot station, and relief be sent. .‘As long as the ship held together all •would be well. None of these hopes were l£ulfilkxl. At the instant of the Orpheus riiroaching to a man named Northover accidentally fell overboard forward, and a ■ Tife-biioy was thrown to him, but he •{failed to reach it, and perished, the very being broken up by the rollers. ♦ The second cutter was stove-in on the Then the first cutter, in charge pif Midshipman Field, was got out with ship’s papers, books, money, etc., but Ijbeing lost sight of and fearing she had }<4wanq>e<|, the pinnace was despatched by qlhe Commodore in charge of Lieutenant ’•JIill ami Paymaster Amphlett (previously of tin* Dido and Niger), with instructions to pull to the pilot station for assistance. because the latter knew the . place. Lieutenant Jeykll was ordered to .get the launch out, and endeavour to take |j«ut an anchor, but she was swamped, and Hthe nflicer and all. his crew (30) perished Ipn sight of t heir comrades, save three, who 'jserambled on board the ship again, it was now five p.nL, the pinnace and cutter were opt. the launch swamped, and nearly 40 men drowned. The guiu had broken 'adrift, and maimed and killed men, while to add Io the horrors John Day, captain of the foretop, met his death by hanging. When descending from the maintop to the foretop, the stay was carried away, and the coil caught him round the neck ami strangled him. Owing to the freshening breeze and heavy sea the rigging had to ;be manned, and permission was given to t.the m« u to save themselves by swimming. l SOMEONE TO SAVE. Captain Renner, of the Wonga Wonga, { bad been watching the Orpheus through . his glasses as he steamed out South, and .took her for a vessel bound to Kaipara for , Fpars. At last, see jpg. critical position. In* signalled, “ Do you want any as- ? eistance,” but got no reply. He went ground the South Spit, seeing the Orpheus* • tops crowded with men, ?but, finding i£ w ,impossible to reach her for the breakers, frame back by the South channel, and, the pinnace and pilot boat in tow; invent to the Orpheus as near as they could -.£o with safety. 'Those who could reach the jibboom, and dropped into the sea and swam out from her, were picked up by the beats, for no boat could live within 30

yards of the ship. Nearly all who leaped from the foremast and mainniaet -were Htieked in by the undertow of the rollers and drowned, till at last the men refused to leave the masts. The officers were on the’mizzenmast with the Commodore, and had the worst position. There were now but a few minutes of daylight, and the Wonga Wonga had been once or twice in the breakers, j, Lieutenant Hill had been doing all that man eould do to save his comrades, and now the last rays of the sun were going, with the furious breakers racing up the masts and clamouring for their prey as they dissipated in the tops in sheets of* foam. The sufeourers were sick at heart,-knowing that the end was coming, and had to leave and anchor in a place of safety. HOW BRITISH SEAMEN DIE. As the sun set those on the Wonga Wonga eould perceive the Commodore, offieers„and men on the masts—no tumult, nd frantic gestures marked their demeanour, everything looked as orderly as it no peril surrounded them. Commodore Burnett had disdained to leave his post or consult his safety, stating that he would die with his officers and men. He addresseel his men as the masts were beginning to go, inviting them to prayer, telling them also, as for himself, there was but one way of performing his duty, that of being the last man to leave the wreck. Just before the mast gave way he told them to shout all together, so that the boats and steamer might pick some of them up. His fears were soon realised, for with a mighty crash the mainmast fell, and directly after the other two masts went also. As the mizzen mast was falling one of the spars struck the Commodore on the head, and on his falling stunned into the water he rose to the surface, but never moved, and drowned while stunned. The crews of the Wonga Wonga and the boats heard the death cries of the men, and saved 15 men out of the wreckage of floating spars, and then nothing was heard save the moaning, of the angry sea, for death had claimed the rest. Midshipmen Hunt and Barkly, a son of Sir Henry Barkly, the Governor of Victoria, were picked up by the boats, the latter after being two hours in the water. A seaman,was picked up by the schooner Matilda inside Puponga, who had been eight hours clinging to a spar, the copperon which had cut his chest completely open. The Wonga Wonga burned blue lights during the night to encourage any unfortunates floating on wreckage that help was near, but when the dawn revealed itself and she steamed over to where she had left the Orpheus, scarce a vestige was to be seen!’ Steaming to the Heads, she transferred the remnant of the gallant crew to the Avon, which had come from Onehunga, and stood away on her voyage South. . . “ THE ROLL CALL.” On counting the survivors there were found to be six officers, three warrant officers, and over (10 sailors and marines saved out of the ship's company. All the officers drowned, with the exception of the Commodore, were married men. Dr. Craw - ford. of the Eawn, exchanged with Assistant Surgeon Coates, an. I so lost his life.