THE STORM.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1678, 5 July 1875, Page 2

THE STORM.

Tremendous Havoc among the

Coasting Vessels.

One of those storms which seem to visit the port once or tvice every year occurred last night. The first indications of it were afforded on Saturday evening, when the wind set in with heavy bursts from tbe N.E., and kept up with varying force all night. On Sunday morning early the weaiher looked very dirty, and the merest tyro could see that a tempest was impending. At ten o'clock the rain which had been falling, held off, and the middle of the day iras bright and comparatively fine. Towjrds evening, however, heavy banks of clouds began to roll up from the westward, and soon after dark a gale began and lasted till three o'clock, which has not been exceeded in fury by any storm of the last two or three years. Commencing with a very low glass at about seven o'clock it attained the height of its violence at nine o'clock, or about an hour after high water. The force of the wind was at this time something fearful, and the sea on in the harbour was tremendous. The first craft which came to grief was the schooner Firefly, belonging to Mr. Jackson, of Tairua. This was lying to the eastward of the wharf, not far from the watermen's steps. In the early part of Sunday her stern was completely smashed against the wharf. With some trouble yhe was hauled away into the berth on the south side of the Ferry Co.'s T, but here she fared badly, as when the westerly gale set in the water rushing through the wharf filled and sank her, partially loaded as she was with cargo. From the final direction of the wind it was to be expected that the vessels on the. westward side of the wharf would suffer most, and it is here that we find most damage done. Commencing at the Queen-street end the first damage we notice has been dme to the piles supporting the stores of Messrs Walker and C 0.,, Mr Williams, the ship chandler, and Mesirs J. and D. Oxley. This was caused by the! steamer Gemini drifting down from herjanchorage above, and fouling the piles. At ten o'clock the steamer was bumping away right through the supports of the buildings, and it was feared that they would be undermined. Mr D. Oxley and several other gentlemen were on the spot, and it was determined to scuttle the steamer, which was done without delay,and she settled down into the leething waters peaceably. Early this morning she was got afloat again, and enough steani was got up to enable her to extricate herself from her dangerous position. She is not largely damaged herseif, but has played a pretty tune with the back of jjMeasrs. Oxley'a and Williams' stoics. From the watermen's gridiron, two boats were blown bodily off, and smashed against the stone wall"! orb of these belonged to Mr Bell ; the owner of the other has not transpired. The yacht Lizard also came into contact with Messrs Oxley's store, and has become a sunken wreck among the piles underneath. In trying to rescue a boat which was in danger near here, Mr Kirk very nearly met with a fatal accident. He had descended for the purpose of hitching a line on to the stern for the purpose of lifting the boat up, when a wave lifted it high up and xt fell with the man underneath. For a moment he was in great peril, but Mr Nelson Ireland who was by at the time, was fortunately able to reach his head and managed to drag him to the surface. Mr Kirk was then insensible, but soon-came round, when it was found he had received no very serious injury. Nearly at the same time as these accidents were occurring, almost all the other casualties of the night may be said to have taken place. At the watermen's ste ps, two of the boats, viz. : the Alice (belonging to D. Connor), and the Edith (belonging to Pillinger), came to grief. They are completely ruined. The ill-fated ketch Tiri Tiri, which has been wrecked twice already, was at anchor to the westward of the wharf wheri1 the storm came on, and she drifted, in spite of all attempts to stop her, against the wharf, and sank. It is thought that her hull is not much damaged, but her rigging andjspars are greatly knocked about. Close to her is the cutter Teaser, one of Mr G. Henderson's cargo boats. The lines of her hull are dimly discernible under the] tide, and her mast lies at an affectionate angle against the wharf. Above the Teazer is the cutter Diamond, laden with bricks. She has settled down stolidly, and does not appear much hurt. She belongs to Mr John Shearer. The ketch Speedwell is sunk against the wharf hot many yards from the Diamond. Captain Holmes was bound with her from the Thames to Russell, and getting a little taste of the wind on Saturday night thought it prudent to run in for safety. Unfortunately he anchoredin the worst position for the direction whioh the wind ultimately took, and he came to grief with the others. The Speedwell hag a nasty hole knocked in her stern, and her sails and rigging are very muoh torn. She is insured for £500 in the JS ew Zealand office. Insurances, however, will not affect in any way the' loss suffered by the proprietors of the damaged craft, as they are only effected on " total loss." The large vessels sustained little damage. Had the new T not been in existence, and the ' Sarah' and ' Syren ' been broadside instead of end on to it, a different tale would have had to be told. As it was, these two brigs got off well with the loss of their boats, which were smashed. That of the ' Syren ' broke clean away, and is probably somewhere near Motuihi by this time. It should be mentioned that Mr Nelson Ireland, the owner of the Tiritiri, has also lost a 3-ton yacht, the • Sparkle ' which ; was at anchor safely last night, and this morning was nowhere to be seen; Tae brig ' Sea Spray' obtained some bales of tow from the s.s. 'Hero' and by their aid Boftaned the bumps she got against the wh*rf. Between the Queen-street wharf and the Gore-street jetty, a mast sticking above water, shows where the Swift oyster boat has sunk. Paying a visit to the Gorestreet jetty, we find fresh evidence of the fury of the gale. The schooner Echo and the cutter Waratah, on the west side, have their starboard bulwarks smashed and other trifling damage done to them, while the cutter Three Brothers, belonging to Mr. Blair, has been completely* stove in on the starboard bow, and has sunk as far as she can in the shallow water. It is not to be expected that the two wharves can have

(without receiving nriich injury themselves. 'This will be observer I in broken piles and 'stringers, which occi'W in several places. Along the Wood-whaif' we come across the cutter Bob Boy with BuY port bulwarks battered in ; the Helen, schooner, belonging to Captain Ferguson, has, ,«übtained knocking j about to the extent of alvout £20. Her star- * board bulwarks are gone v and she has two holes right through her side. The topsail schooner Pearl has not fared so well at Auckland as she did at j "imaru. She has had her starboard side stovi $n just abreast of the fore rigging. Passing a long we come to the South Carolina, cutter, *nd the Kate, yacht, which are lying close together in the angle of the Wood' Wharf, an A the Breakwater. The yacht is a comple y* wreck, and the cutter for a fine new c, ?»& presents a very pitiable sight, her fcV*6™. being smashed and her sides grazed and splintered. Next we come to the wreck oil t "he Tartar, another of Henderson's cargo be >ats, lying near the end of the newly made i portion of the Breakwater. This boat had kMj jnst been repaired, and has now beei I nearly knocked to pieces. There was a gn sat heap of vessels in this place this morning. Nearly all those that were at anchor eaist ward of the wharf dragged their anchors and came down all of a heap on the new stojn* s work, crushing each other in all directioiwJ3. those which were seen in this predicament at dayiight this morning were Mr T»\i -Nlccol's boat the Undine, with her stern etf^&shed in, and the Bevern similarly affected, *#&»d with the additional damage of her bowsprit gone and her side stove; then there \ tfere the Triad, cutter, and the Glance, cutt ,fir. The last-named is said to have star lied the Bob Roy and the two together canned the others "down. Messrs WaJsh and 'McCabe have had their tramway used in constructing the Breakwater knocked down, and jit will take them a couple of days to refit: before they can resume their work properly.1. The schooner Fortune at anchor off thi > baths was blown into Mechanic's Bay, 1 rat her name stuck to her and she came off this morning little the worse. Returning to the the westward of the wharf we hear! of Mr Jno Waymoutn's boat shed being [carried away by a large spar 78 feet long bji three feet square getting among the pil«9s and scattering them. The shed is a he^ap of ruin. The Coronet which was beached on Friday lest sustained such a pounding \ frem. the waves at.-b.igh tide that it was necessary to scuttle her. The plank which destroyed Way mouth's shed also smashed the fencing of the rock baths. Two boats went a shore in Freeman's Bay, but they have not broken up. The cutter Start, which is at anct.tor off Smale's Point, put back yesterday morning with her mainsail blown to rags. The schooner Clyde had got as far as Kawau, on her voyage to Wangarei, when she a?si» had her mainmast split and was obliged to {heave to. She returned to port yesterday jafternoon. We have not heard of any casualties to vessel's outside. Last night no! lesa than five were at anchor in the Ej.angitoto Channel. These were the Caller! Ou, the Glimpse, which put back yesterday morning, the Dedwood put back a scjicond time, the Albion, and the Agnes J<pssie. Tbe last named dragged some distance), but the rest held their own well. Messrs} ()xley received a telegram this morning to the effect that the cutter Leo had left Russioll on Saturday morning, bnt had put into Itawhite out of the gale. Ovdr the other side of the harbour, the pilot sclmoner drifted down some distance, and Captain W. Burgess and two of the pilot crew, ati jfreat peril, put off to her and secured her from further danger. The sea Ofi the beaclli at the North Shore was very angry, and it ■was nearly impossible for pedestrians to I keep 'heir feet.

EFFECTS IN TOWN AND SUBURBS,

The storm was not only felt on the water. Its violence was such as to make people JW'agine their houses were coming down upsm them. At St. Mary's Church, during the; evening service, the doors were forced ojien^ and the congregation nearly frightened? out of their seseats by the wind, while the; preachers voice could scarcely be heard.People arrived home with broken umbrellas, some hatless, and some nearly hairless. Chimnies and fences are reported blown in ail directions. Such casualities are too numerous to mention. The zinc rooting waß blown off one. house in Parnell. A stone wall and an outhouse in a garden in the Grafton Road were capsized. The woodsa shields for protecting the trees planted by the the Improvement Commissioners were destroyed right and left. We hear that pieces of these were found 'in the Grafton Boad. At the North Shore the fencing round the northern end of the Naval Reserve was blown down. A shed on the North Head used for storing the artillery implements, had its roof blown completely off and carried over the cliff A tree in Mr Duder's yard was blown down and fell right across the public road, within a short time of the peoplf coming out of church. The tree had what is called been " rung" to kill it, and as it happened it was nearly killing some of the public. Throughout all the storm we are glad to say we have not heard of a single fatal accident. The damage done to the shipping is estimated at over £2000.