A STRANGE AFFAIR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 153, 7 April 1876, Page 15

A STRANGE AFFAIR.

+-» The ' New York Freeman's Journal' says : When the steamer Adriatic, of the White Mar line, reached port on Sunday last it was noticed that her buLwarks and bow railing were stove in, and the attention of loungers about the piers was drawn to the rapidity with which repairs were being made. The Captain made the usual report, exhibited a log bearing upon it only records of fair weather nnd plain sailing, and no inkling was given of a sea tragedy. There are some, too, of opinion that this marine disaster, which so much care lias been taken to cloak over, throws considerable light upon the fate of the missing ' Harvest Queen.' Yesterday information was received at the ' Herald ' office from authentic sources that on the first day of her last voyage across the Atlantic the Adriatic ran into and Bunk a vessel in the Irish channel, the entire crew of which perished. It was also suggested that the collision was rather from carelessness than from accident, and that the officers of the steamer were responsible for it. Last night a ' He i aid ' man passed along the White Star line pier, at the foot of West Tenth-street, and, failing to find any of the regular seafaring hands in the company's employ in the neighborhood, he weut on board. At the head of the gangplank he was accosted by a man in charge. " Is the Captain on board ? " allied the reporter. " No, he hast just gone ashore," was the reply. Then, after scru, tinizing his interrogator, the man said, " Oh, you were across with us weren't you ? " " Certainly. Don't you remember I was speaking to you the night of the collision. A big smash-up, wasn't it ? " " You may well say so," and the seaman gave a [very eloquent shake of the head that seemed to ?peak volumes. Just then nn officer came along, and the reporter, saluting him, said, "As the Captain is away perhaps would favor me with an account of the collision you had on the way over ? " The officer hesitated a moment and then said in a careless way : " Oh, that did not amount to anything ; only a slight affair, depend upon it. I was in my bunk at the time and was not awakened by the shock, so you may be sure it was of little consequence." '• What became of the vessel?" asked the reporter. " Oh, she sailed away, I suppose. We lowered the boats when we struck her, but she wasn't in sight ; and, by the by, I saw that a vessel reached Liverpool a few days ago somewhat damaged.

Perhaps that was the craft we came across. I know nothing about the affair anyway. And he took his leave. The reporter then hunted up some of the crew of the Adi*iatic on shore, who were not so uncommunicative as their superiors, and from them he elicited the following interesting facts : — On Thursday, December 30, the Adriatic left port, and was steaming down the Irish Channel before a stiff breeze. About halfpast two on Friday morning, when she was off Moyne Head the man on the look-out, one Phil Hamilton by name, sighted a vessel on the starboard tack, and just in the path of the Adriatic, which was tacking to port. He at once gave the alarm, the man at the wheel put the helm hard a port, and the steamer changed her course. About ten minutes passed, and then Hamilton gave the alarm again, for the helm had been reversed, and the two vessels were closing fast upon each other. It was a starry night, and against the sky the look-out man could easily trace the outlines of a large ship or barque. A moment passed, and then, with a crash, the Adriatic dashed into the bow of the stranger. The engine was at once reversed and the steamer backed a mile or two. " Lower the boats," rang from the quarter-deck, but hardly had the men reached them when a counter-order was given. They were finally loosed from the davits and manned, but as they were rowed away the lights of the strange vessel sank lower and lower till they reached the water's edge, and then, hull, masts, and all sank out of sight. The sailors say that the cries of the drowning men could be distinctly heard, and that they gave the directions, as they floated for a moment, as to the course to take to find them. The whole affair, these rough seafaring people think, forms one of the most disgraceful sea tragedies of which there is any record. SIGNIFICANT FACTS. The Harvest Queen went from San Francisco to Queenstown, where she arrived on December 20. She was immediately ordered to pi'oceed to Liverpool, and her course there lay in the track of the Adriatic. The jib-sheets, pennants, and blocks, and part of the outer jibs of the ship which was sunk are now — according to the sailors' stories — on board the Adriatic. The blocks from their peculiar construction seem to be of American make.