THE ROMANCE OF THE MADAGASCAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2267, 30 October 1889, Page 2

THE ROMANCE OF THE MADAGASCAR

The •* Press" correspondent flftya: You m New Zealand will be familiar with; the story of the Madagascar, which was sapposed to have gone down on the coast of your colony m 1853 with a large quantity of bullion. A paragraph m the " Shipping GUzetts / a week or two ago announced the formation, of ,a syndicate m Sydney- for the purpose of searching for the wreck of this vessel. The Madagascar was never heard of after she cleared Port Philip Head?, thongh many a theory has been framed a« to her end. It seems that the syndicate has adopted that report which asserts she was wrecked on the coaht of New Z inland. But the announcement m the "Gazetta" has brought to light a or Mo adverse to this tbeory, Otptatn L\w, who is now ninety years old, narrowly eaoaped being a p/iSßeuijer oa the Mudaga/car on her ill-fated trip, above referred t , and it was only through the porauisiou of his wife ; ..tuat he deforced saiioflj. The para«aph m the Y Shipping Gasatta" having been called to Captain Law'u attention, he mid ; „ ■-„,.. "I hAva vary aorioua dcubtaabbut : the Syndicate belay on the' right aoeat. 1 do not believe that tha wreak discovered on the Naw Zaajaod coast o*n be that of the Madagascar, and T will tell you why, la 1853 the year the Madagascar disappeared, 1 was captain of the birtjae Am zoa, of London, and I aoH her at Melbourne, and was about to return to England. The Madagaaoar was lying there, and I had some business traneaotlona with the captain, whom I knew very well. I went aboard of her, and before I left the oaptaln offdrdd to place one of the boat cabins at the disposal of my wife and me if we would return to Eugland with him. "The Madagascar, &a I have bald, was ft magnificent vessel. She was to sail next day, and I mada np my mind 10 acoapt the oiptatn'a generoue offer, and to get my baggsg* aboard early la the mornIng. I told my wife, of coarse, as aoon •a I got home that night. Ihat night she had ft dream or vision of some sort which left .a presentiment on her mind that the Madagascar would never arrive aafa at borne. So fully dld'Bhe ball^ve. thU that she begged me to, abandon sailing m her, and do all I oould I Mlad to persuade her that her fears were groundless. Final y I yielded, and on hoc aooount deoided not to go. . :

"We ohanged oar minda still more, and Instead of Balling In another ship, for home went to New #e.»Und and remained there s,e,Y,eral years, during all of which time we did not hear of the Madaga<p»r. "It was abont five years Id tat when I sailed for England In ihe Great Britain, which was one of the first .vessels : that went from New Ze»'aad to &agland by steam. On board this ateamer there weie a number of aipUlas, meeoa&uts, and other gentleman who wtre m some meaeoire connepte^ with the He»i and we eat at a table on board discussing the loan of the Madagascar, »nd the probabilities of her fate. One gentleman, who w*B re turning from Australia., oatd he bad heard som.ethlog •h>ut pirates boarding the ship. He said an Ir shwotnan. vho with her hmband was r« board of her, had made • oonfeßßloo to a Rom a a Oatnolio Pcjest oonoernlng the Madagascar, It WIB t0 the cflbct that a num^ c o f men-about twents-^up \ oe ieve— entered the ship as seamen, and formed part of the orew, They oomplred tcgothoc to, kjU ill the passengers (iqd take all the bullion, and either burn or sink the ship. , . " 11 When m mid-ocean they did as they had planned. They put the puliion m the ship's boats, and went aehore somewhere near the coast of Chill, I think near Valparaiso. They either burned or ecu .tied the ship — so the Irishwoman ttited m her confession. Whan they lauded th§y destroyed the boats, divided the treasure, a,nd then hroke up and went up the country, : some goiog one way and Bom? anothor. ! I believe some of ttie men' were afterwards heatd of at the diggings about Melbourne, but I am not mire of this. When m London I enquired of the owners of the Madagascar, aad they informed me that they had never heard of the vessel slnoe it left Melbourne. Ido not think; it possible that the ship oould b^ave got near the. New Zealand Qoast, 'j ttnnjf that the Irishwoman's dea.th-bed oonfejiion was tme,'*

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