The Elingamite

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 47, 20 November 1902, Page 19

The Elingamite

The wreck of the Ehngamite has furnished the usual quota of those instances of heroism with which the stor> of the sea is replete And it also bristles with lessons that should not be disregarded How it came that th<> vessel could not hit a channel nearly 30 miles wide, evon in the densest fog, may come out at the inevitable inquiry It seems that the rafts were totally unprovisioned, though it is generally supposed that the strictest care is taken to present such a contingency. Rafts are for sudden emergencies, and without lood and water they merely protract the agony of their occupants Some at least of the eight lives lost on the raft would ha\e been saved with a few biscuits and a little water There is, unhappily, a boat still missing, and only the slenderest hope remains that its passengers luue been picked up by some outgoing \essel or have landed on some inaccessible spot on the coast, and are waiting for succor On such occasions as this the British sailor is wont to exalt his pluck at the expense of any foieigners who may bo on board. Every foreigner is supposed to pet into an instant panic, and fly to the boats regardless of the women and children. There were some Austrians on board the Elingamite, and they were at iirst reported to ha\e behaved in this cowardly fashion. But a casual remark dropped by the captain to the effect tlut the lives

of the Austrians were as valuable as those of the others, seems to imply that the British sailor was not disposed to give the Austrian a chance. Probably many of the stories of this kind have a similar origin.