Carnarvon Bay Wreck.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 13, 28 September 1910, Page 7

Carnarvon Bay Wreck.

GRAPHIC STORY OF THE DISASTER. MELBOURNE, September 19. The full-rigged ship (a mu von Bay, 1795 tons, bound from Liverpool to Sydney, struck a reef to the southeast of King Island during u heavy gale ua T hursday last. She was abandoned in the evening by laptaiu Griffiths aud the crew. The captain, with the second and third mates, and 14 of t he crew, were picked up in an open boat by the steamer Tarvoola, on-. Saturday afternoon, off Cape Liptrap, near Wilson’s Promontory. The first mate, 13 of the crew, and a passenger, who got away in another boat, have still to be accounted for. In his account of the disaster. Captain Griffiths .said: “We were holding up to east by north course when the ship struck, just before I had time to look at the -standard compass and found that she had been coming up higher than her course, set by the after compass, i had told the man at the wheel to let her face oil’ half a point. lust as 1 gave him that order the ship started to graze on the reef, ami almost immediately to bump. The bumping was comparatively slight for a few minutes. then she started to bang. Ln another instant she was bumping all over. The vessel began continuously to hump. I sang out to the male to swing up his port boat and to pass it over to the starboard, or lee, side ut the ship. Meantime, the starboard boat was swung into the water, and I was hanging on to tin* side. “Some of the men must have tumbled into her as soon as they had launched her. I called for a carpenter to sound the well, lie was not then*. I afterwards found that In* was in the boat. 1 went along the deck to try ami find the sounding rod, but 1 could not wee it. By this time the ship was hard and fast, hut still humping heavily. The men had clambered into the boats and the port boat had cast otf from the ship and pulled out. Five or six men were in it. I called out for them to come in and take some of the men from the starboard boat in with them. At that time there were only the first, second, and third mates and 'Hie of the apprentices and myself on druk. Tin* men said that they would m»t come alongside as it was 100 dangerous. I don’t think it was. 'They said they were frightened of the masts falling on them. The masts. I may say, were standing well when la-t we saw the ship. ”1 went downstairs to get the papers. 'The men were singing out while I was gone, ‘Let go the boats or the mast will come over on us.’ When 1 cairn* on deck again the starboard boat was still hang ing to her. The first, second and third mates and the apprentices were still on deck. We all got over the side into the starboard boat, and pushed away from the ship. I sang out to the port boat to take half of our men away. Altogether there were 31 in (he crew, and one passenger, but whether the passenger w in our boat or the boat with the mate 1 cannot now recollect. When we got some distance from tin* ship the port boat came alongside, and the chief officer ami nearly half our men clambered into it. I called out to the mate, who had taken charge, with the bosun under him, to hang on to the shore for tin* night, and try and find a landing place on the east end of the island at daybreak. “Three minutes after we lost sight of them. The last we saw of them the mate was steering for the cast side of the island, where there is a sandy beach. We tried to make after him, but his boat could go 'better t<» windward than ours, and we could not make way towards the eqst end of the island. I then decided to run for Launceston after daybreak, hoping 'to keep the ship in sight as long as possible, to see whether she was in any great danger. At about 10 pan. the gale, which had been blowing from the west, turned to the south west, and came up with tremendously increased force. L quickly realised we would never he able to make -the 'Tasmanian roast, so I decided to make for Port Phillip. ”Wc ran all that night before the gale in a tremendous sea, with our oars, heading as far as we could to the north. At about 5 -o’clock on Friday morning the gale began to abate, and we set a sail. By 7 o’clock it completely died away. Later it sprang up again from the north, but in the afternoon hauled round to the north-west. All this time we were bailing out- and fighting our way through a nasty cross .sea. The boat was 22ft long, anil was taking in wafer rapidly. At H o'clock on Saturday iu . ruing we flighted

< ape l.iptrap. We .lid not really know uhai put of the coast it was till 3 <b k til Ho* 4 iiicrnooii, when we came iigii. up to it. Then, seeing we were in the din i course of steamers coining ret I tie- . oa-t from Sydney, we lay to 4i ;J driiud till we saw the Tarcoola's j-moke cmne over the horizon, (hie of t .e new hoisted a pair of old trousers us a lilial, and we succeeded in attracting i . • laia-oola’s attention. Captain Irv '. iH.k us on board, and within two tniiiui s of our stepping on deck every Dian had a cup of coll'ee handed to him. I cannot speak too highly of the treatDii n. we received from Captain Irviuu aii.l his crew.”