TERRIBLE SCENES OF A TROPICAL HURRICANE.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 390, 30 April 1880, Page 3

TERRIBLE SCENES OF A TROPICAL HURRICANE.

, 4 Captain John Austen, of the schooner Marion, sends to a friend at Auckland the following graphic account of a hurricane in which the vessel was nearly lost:— ,' Noumea, 15th March, 1880. The ' mail leaves here for New Zealand, via Sydney, on the 17th, and I avail myself of this opportunity to forward you the following particulars of the vessel's trips since its arrival at Sydney in January last. I was all ready to sail from the latter port for Norfolk Island on the morning of the 7th February, but did not clear the Heads, until the 15th, on account of head winds. I reached Norfolk Island on the 25th, having made the passage in fourteen days. The weather throughout was pleasant, and the winds gensrally adverse. On the 4th inst. I sailed from the Island for this port, with a cargo of 29 horses, 44 sheep, and a few tons of onions and potatoes. On the evening of the Bth we were in the midst of one of the most terrific hurricanes that has ever visited these waters. Having anticipated this violent outburst of wind and rain, I had everything snug and in order. The horses were carefully secured and placed in the most favorable position, after which all the hatches, fore and aft, were put on, and carefully battened down. In order to admit some modicum of air into the hold, a hole was knocked in the cabin's bulk-head, without which the horses would have been suffocated in a very short time. At 9 p.m., the close-reefed foresail carried away the hoops from the mast. It was immediately unbent, and a reefed foretrysail substituted. The sea ran mountains high, the vessel rolled frightfully, and the roaring of the wind, as it cut through the shrouds and blocks, made ii. absolutely impossible for orders given to be heard by the men, except by bawling loudly in their ears, and this you can easily understand, was not always practicable, I was at the wheel during the height of the hurricane, but shortly after assuming that position, a tremendous sea broke over the stern, nearly filling the cabin, washing out the binnacle light, and knocking me away from the wheel with violence. I floated to leeward and reached my feet only to be knocked back again, and as I again endeavored to grasp the wheel, it spun round, the spokes striking me successively on the arms, causing some painful bruises. With some difficulty a light from a candle was obtained and held under the binnacle, everything being wet and the wick of the lamp regularly soaked. While the foregoing was taking place the vessel was put on her beam ends, and we all gave ourselves up for lost. After strenuous exertions, accomplished under extreme difficulties, the vessel was put before the wind, and away we ran, with two men at the wheel. For three consecutive hours the noble little craft was so fiercely buffeted by the elements that she groaned and panted like a j human being in agony. To make matters worse, it soon became evident, by the lurchings of the schooner that the horses in their frantic, though futile, attempts to maintain their footing, had broken loose, and were gathered altogether on the leeBide of the hold. The din they made as they kicked and struggled was only exceeded by the roaring of the wind. Some of the sheep were washed overboard, others drowned, and floating about the deck, impeding the progress of the men, and compelling them to throw the carcases overboard when come in contact with. The nipht was pitch dark, and as the men drove nails through the tarpaulins to keep them more secure, a few of them received nasty cuts on their hands and feet. Captain Edwards got a nasty knock, caused by the sea washing him against the mainmast. When the wind and sea had gone down, and daylight dawned, we took off one of the hatches to in.-pect the horres. Never will I forget the sight I saw when I looked into the hold. Lying in a lake of blood fully twelve inches deep, were the dead carcases of twenty-eight horses. They were huddled together in almost every conceivable .shape, while the agony they must have endured was pitifully depicted in their dilated eyes. The 6cene and its surroundings were, indeed, calculated to bring tears into the eyes of the onlooker. A suffocating stench pervaded the hold, rendering the atmosphere of the cabin unbearable. On deck the dead sheep were scattered everywhere. Out of forty-four sheep there were only four left alive, while out of the twenty-nine horsef twenty-eight were killed. The horses were a valuable lot. I reached Noumea in a few hours after the storm had gone over. When it commenced we were only sixty miles from the reef, and hove to. In harbor the men were two hours pumping blood out of the hold, the smell of which was sickening.