THE STRANDED STEAMER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1016, 4 December 1883, Page 2

THE STRANDED STEAMER

I [by telegraph.] Auckland, Yesterday. At the conclusion of the consultation yesterday morning it was known thit the captain of the Triumph had decided to abandon the steamer to the underwriters. He made an offer to that effect this morning, through Mr L. D. Nat'ean, but the local agent of Lloyds (Brown, Campbell and Co) refused to take her over. No special reason was assigned, the ordinary course being either to accept or re.use. Mr Nathan forwarded a cab’egram to Lloyd’s, in England, informing them of the refusal, and nothing further will be done until an answer is received b.y. nd the landing of the cargo and deepening the stem. The steamer Annie Millbank called at the Triumph this morning on her way up from the Hot Springs A boat was lowered, and a party including Captain S. Anderson, ma-ter of the Kmbleton, Bengal, and Helen Denny, and Messrs G. Fraser, James Stewart, Lodder and Black, went on board. The captain of the Bengal expresses himself of opinion that the Triumph can be got < ff it proper appliances are used. He saw the Sorata, a ship of 2,000 tons, when she went ashore at Adelaide, and ho considers she was in a much worse po ition than the Triumph. She was also half filled with water. His idea is that the Triumph can also bo got off if the action taken is prompt, and the weather holds good. A conference of engineers, consisting of Messrs Geo. Fraser, W. Lodder, Jos. Stewart, Geo. Black (Thame j), David Goup, and Captain Heale, was held this afternoon, for the purpose of considering the feasibility or otherwise of lifiing the Triumph off the rock into deep water with the agency of c impressed air. It was generally agreed the project was feasible, and eventually the proposition was adopted, which it was resolved to at once submit to the agents of the vessel, Messrs L. D. Nathan and Co. Its terms, however, have not yet transpired. It is really not known who the underwriters of the vessel are, and the amounts of insurances are not known. Messrs Brown, Campbell and Co., the local agents of Lloyds, refused to take the vessel when the offer of abandonment was made because they do not know whether she is insured in Lloyds or not, and they would not do so until enquiry, for if they v-ere to have accepted they might have incurred expense and risk, and then found that Lloyds was not concerned. Other companies involved would instruct their own agents. Dr. Menzies, of the Triumph, states in reference to the withholding of gratuities which are usually paid to the captain and doctor, that the statemo t published might have led to the inference that there were improprieties between the officers and immigrants, but that there were none such, and if there was anything of the kind at all it was between some of the passengers and the immigrants. There is a strong feeling of sympathy in the ship for Captain Brotherton in his misfortune, and those under him, all speak very highly of him. He has held a command since he reached the age of twenty-two, and at the present time is considerably over forty. This is said to be the first mishap that has ever occurred to a vessel under his charge.