STRANDING OF THE CORIO.

Auckland Examiner, Volume 1, Issue 50, 26 November 1857, Page 2

STRANDING OF THE CORIO.

The River Murray Steam Navigation Company’s steamer Corio unfortunately took the ground on Friday last in coming out of the mouth of the Murray, and had not, up to the date of our last advices, been got off. She grounded so near the bank that planks wen put out from the vessel to the shore, and the cargc was ea ly a-charged. The following is a copy of a letter a ifsse I by lU e Deputy Harbour-Master at Port Elliot to the Harbour-Muster at Port Adelaide : — “Corio, Mouth of the Murray, October, 16 1857 l i’ ,—I have the honour to inform you that the Corio is rrded in the entrance of the river, on the south side of Pullen’s Spit, almost on the spot where I came on shore after being capsized. She grounded whilst going out, and the sea hove her broadside on. She is not injured at present ; but should the sea rise, I am afraid the consequences will be serious. “ I am Sir, &c. “ R. A. Nation.” “ Captain Douglas, Harbour-Master.” The following letter from the commander of the Corio has been received by Mr. Younghusband “ Dear Sir,—lt is my painful duty to report to you that the Corio is ashore inside the bar, on the Pullen’s Spit. We grounded in coming Out to-day, and all my endeavours used to get her off proved fruitless, as the sea kept heaving her on the beach. I have a large cargo of wool on beard—l9l bales. I am in hopes we shall get her off again the first high tide. I have sent my mate to the Goolwa for assistance. “ 1 remain, dear Sir, yours truly, “ B. Germkin. “ The Honourable W. Younghusband.” —[South Australian Register, Oct. 20. The following letter from our own correspondent, written on Monday, leaves little room to hope that this steamer w ill be saved:— “ I am very sorry indeed to announce to you the total loss of the Company’s steamer Corio, near the mouth of the Murray. 1 have no doubt you have already heard of the circumstance of her being ashore on Friday last; ‘but this information is probably new, that now there exists no hope of her rescue whatever ; a report this moment received from the scene of the disaster distinctly affirms that no portion of her will be left intact after the next twenty-four hours. Ail the hands are engaged in removing the masts, &c., and cargo, which consists of, I believe, £3500. worth of wool, a large portion of v hich is much damaged. This event 1 have thought would be communicated to you on Saturday, as one of the passengers immediately started off to town early on Saturday morning. The loss has been ascribed to the attempt of the captain to proceed out to sea with an ebb tide. When within half a mile of the mouth she veered round in shallow water, and went ashore upon a sandbank, from whence it was confidently hoped she could have been removed without any loss whatever; bur up to last night every effort and appliance failed, when at a late hour it was discovered she was making water tery fast in the hold. I shall probably visit the wreck to-day, when I shall write you more particulars.” Another c irrespondent at Port Elliot, writing on the 19th instant, informs us that he that he saw persons who left the mouth that morning (Monday) whoreport that the Corio is full of water, embedded in the sand to the depth of six feet, and that there is little hope of nor being got off. The cargo (189 bales of wool) is mostly ashoie, but many bales are damaged; and some will hardly be got out. The sea strikes her broadside, and should heavy weather occur she will soon be knocked to pieces. At present it is fine. The mouth will never be safe till a boat’s crew is employed constantly sounding and shifting the beacons as the channel shifts. A steamer is required of more power and less draught than the Corio, The following is a copy of a letter from Mr. Nation to Captain Douglas, the Harbour-Master “Port Elliot, Monday Morning. 11 Sir,—l have the honour to inform you that I have just returned from the scene of the wreck of the Corio, and beg to say that I left her in a hopeless condition, she being quite full of water and settling deep in the sand. At high water the sea breaches on board fore and aft, and has washed away galley, hatches/ skylight, &c. . The crew were engaged saving ail tney could recover. Some portion of the wool is still on board. The life-boat is injured, having been completely stove in on one side in attempting to lay out an anchor for the steamer. “I am, Sir, &c. “P. R. Nation. ‘ ‘ Captain Douglas, Harbour-Master. —[South Australian Register, October 21. Marine Propulsion.— The Commissioners of Patents, hav c just issued the first part of their abridgments relating^o marin propulsion. Although at a much earlier period inventions fo l propelling boats wi’hout oars or sails were described by various writers, the first patent on record appears to be that of David Ramsay and Thomas Wildgosse, granted in 1618 ; but of this, and several other of the early patents, no specifications appear to have "been enrolled, as the patents simply refer to what it was proposed to effect, and not to the mode of effecting it. In 1663 an Act of Parliament was passed granting to the Marquis of Worcester and his successors the whole of the profits which might be derived from an invention which, it appears, consisted in causing the stream to act upon paddle-wheels, and thus to wind a rope on to an axle, drawing a boat towards a fixed anchor at the other end of the rope. In 1861 R. Hooke described windmills in which, according to Bourne, we have all the main features both of the screw-propeller and feathering paddlewheel. In October, 1798, a double pleasure-boat, invented by Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, was propelled by a steam-engine turning two paddle-wheels, one before the other, in the space between the hulls. The steam-engine was of about one-horse power, with two upright cylinders four inches in diameter, the valves oeing opened and closed by hand-gear. Previous to this project a few unsuccessful attempts had been made to propel vessels by steam power, commencing with an experiment in the year 1543 ; but from this being the first of practical utility, it has been, not inappropriately, called the parent engine of steam navigation. No other important advance seems to have been made for some considerable time afterwards : but in May, 1815, Dr. Dodd went from Glasgow to London in the Thames, which was built on the Clyde. This vessel was of 70 tons register, 79 feet long, and 16 feet beam, with engines of 14-horse power, consuming one ton of coals per 100 miles. It carried 15 tons of coals; the paddle-wheels were 9 feet in diameter, and 758 miles were accomplished in hours. From this time the improvements in steam navigation have been gradual, and the result has been the production of our present very beautiful system of marine locomotion. The work containing the abridgments of the patents relating to this class of inventions has been very carefully compiled, and will prove of much value to those interested in scientific literature, but would have been more useful to future patentees had it comprised a reference to similarinventions which had been previously patented ; as although, no doubt, the whole of the inventions are comprised, the intendingpatentee is far more likely to re-patent an old invention than he would have been were the abridgments arranged in a similar manner to those relating to iron and steel—he has now only the index to assist him.—[Mining Journal.] Ship Sea Witch. —Driven from the Bey poor Roads, western coast of India, on the 20th May, and after having experienced a heavy gale of wind dead on shore for two days, under which the ship was working off under heavy press of canvas, sprung a leak and was compelled tn bear up and stand to the southward, with the intention of making the southern passage to Bombay, and afterwards found it necessary to put into this port for repairs ; ship making about 9 inches of water per hour. On the 2nd Jqne, in latitude 2 degrees 21 minutes South, and longitude 84, degrees 6 minutes East, communicated with the barque J Corsair’s Bride, from Colombo bound to London, and.got supplied I With pump leather from her.—[Ceylon paper.]

Foundering of the Semiramis.—We regret to learn that the above unfortunate vessel, which sailed from Colombo on the 18th July, foundered at sea. All hands were saved. The vessel carried upwards of 4000 cwt. of coffee, 21,000 gallons of oil, and 8000 lbs. of cinnamon. The details of this unfortunate occurrence seem to be as follows. The captain, in a letter dated Hambantotte, August Ist, reports : —“ 1 left Colombo on Sunday the 19th and got well away clciy of the Island. Everything went well with us until Wednesday morning at 4 a.m., when pumping ship out, coffee came up, the ship having started to make much water. Cleard the pumps and set them to work again, but unfortunately they chokefl. We tried everything in our power to clear them, but in vain. The ship then in lat. 2 degrees 40 N. and longitude 80 degrees 4 E., the water was up to the hold beams ; when we got into the boats at dusk she was level with the water. We lay to windward all night, but the next morning could sec nothing of her, so I supposed she had gone down in the night. M e were two hundred and one miles south of Ceylon, which was the nearest land, so we shaped our course for the Island. We have been six days and six nights in the boats. We landed on Tuesday 150 miles east of this place and have walked round by the beach most of the way. We arc making our way to Point de Guile. We have lost everything but what we have on our bodies.” The questions irresistibly suggested are—Was this vessel seaworthy? and were any steps taken at Colombo to ascertain that fact ? After the C.ty of London had foundered captains of vessels in the Colombo Roads were beard to say, that they had expected no less. Had they spoken in time life and property might have been saved. Ought not every vessel to be examined before she sails?—[Colombo Observer.]