STORIES OF THE PENINSULA.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 573, 10 January 1882, Page 2

STORIES OF THE PENINSULA.

No. 13.—T'uk Loss of tiik Crest

t The well-known Ketch Crest, Captain I Ellis, left Akaroa one Sunday evening in i October 18GS, loaded with telegraph poles, ) for a port to the north of Kaipoi. Sue had ; on board Captain W. A. Ellis, master ami i part owner, J. B. Barker, part owner, and 1 Edward Cunningham, seaman, and Mr W. i Belcher, of the firm of Belcher and i weather, Kaiapoi, who was passenger and : charterer. The weather was fine when the » vessel started, and no one dreamed that ; anything had gone wrong till the following day about noon, when Mr J. P. 1 Baiker arrived in Akaroa, and stated that the vessel was wrecked, and that he was the only [person who had escaped. lie slated that he had managed to land in Flea Bay in tho dingy, and that he had told the Messrs Rhodes, who resided there, of the catastrophe. This news wa-- of course, looked upon as final, everyone thinking that the rest of the persons aboard the ill-fated Crest had come to an untimely end. Later in the day, however, the startling news was brought that two of the Rhodes had gone out iv anything but a safe boat, to view the the locality in which the vessel bad been reported to be lost, and bad rescued Cunningham from a rock to which he bad swum after Mr Barker had left the vessel. Cunningham informed the Messrs llhodos that Captain Ellis and Mr Belcher were still alive and aboard the craft, and several attempts were made by the Messrs lihodes to rescue them, but they were totally un availing, as the wreck had drifted into a cave, o%er a considerable distance of kelp covered shallow reefs, upon which oven in the calmest weather the sea broke fearfully. Cunningham stated that Ellis could have escaped as ho did, by swimming, but refused to leave Belcher, who con id not swim. As can be imagined, this news created a great deal of excitement in Akaroa, and boats manned by volunteers were at once dispatched to the scene of the wreck, in the hope of saving the unfortunate castaways. The weather remained moderate, and for three days every plan that could be thought of was tried to rescue tho unfortunates, but without avail. The vessel in (he meantime had broken up, and Ellis and Belcher had got upon a ledge of rock ' within the cave. It is thought that, Ellis '. had received some injury and was incap- ■ able, of swimming in consequence, but of < course nothing certain on this point can 1 ever he known. Those wdio proceeded to ' Ihe locality in the hope of rescuing the i unfortunate sufferers cannot renroicb 1

themselves with leaving ;my means untried. Ropes were drftcd over the kelp into the cave, and Edis upon 'me occasion managed to a hold, hut ihe strands paited, and the temporary communication was destroyed. A colored man named Dominique, a celebrated swimmer, spared no pains in his endeavors, but be tried his utmost unavailingly.

Captain Schenkel, now of the Prince Alfred, was unremitting in his attempts, and devised many schemes to save the castaways, but they were all frustrated by the unrelenting ocean, which appeared de termined to prevent, either the entrance of the rescuers, or the exit of the unwilling explorers, from the gloomy cavern.

The poor feilows were plainly to be seen, and their cries could be heard by those who were risking their own lives in the attempts to save them. They bad rigged two pieces of rope from the roof of the cave to which they fastened a board, and when the tide began to flow, tbey had to sit on this board to prevent themselves being washed away. At high water tho month of tho cave was covered with the surging waters, the scene being described by the eye-witnesses as terrible in the extreme.

For three dtxys this fearful suqier-e continued, hut on rlie boats going out oa tbe fourth morning, the cavo was discovered to be vacant. No doubt weakened by continuous suffering, thoroughly exhausted and unable to hold on any longer, they must have been washed away during the night.

Words cannot potirtray, nor imagination conceive, what these poor follows must havo suffered before succumbing—without food or water—buffetted by the waves —to see help so near and yet of no avail it is dreadful, even at this length of time to contemplate their tenible sufferings. The sympathies of every one in Akaroa were strained to the utmost by the fearful suspense, and never before or since has Green's Point been watched with such intensity for the appearance of boats with news regarding the calamity. Our informant states that he hopes never again to feel the fearful anxiety, which be experienced during the time the attempts at rescue were being made.

Captain Ellis was well known throughout the district, and was universally respected—a tablet to his memory is to be seen in St. Peter's Church. It was placed there by the Oddfellows' of which society be was a member. Mi Belcher, as be fort-

stated, was a resident in Kaiapoi, where

he was mneh esteemed. The calamity threw a gloom ovei the whole Peninsula.

The tablet erected in St. Peter's Church, to the memory of Captain Ellis bears the following inscription :—" This tablet is erected by the Oddfellows', M.U. of this district, to the memory of Captain William Ellis, aged i 3 years, who perished through the wreck of the ketch Crest near the north head of this harbor c-n October 20, 1868."