SEA TRAGEDY RECALLED.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17472, 5 June 1922, Page 11

SEA TRAGEDY RECALLED.

LOSS OF THE WAIRARAPA. srrßvxvoßS' thbillikq stoey. An outstanding feature in th« occurrence of another terrible ahipwreck on the Groat Barrier is the manner in which it dnura attention to the immeasurable boon which wireta* apparatus has been to those in deadly wn peril. The Wninvrapa went ashore shortly after midnight on Sunday, October 28th, 1894, and it was rot until the following Thursday morning that news of the tragedy was made known to Aucklanders. The first wireless message from the "Wiltshire was reoeived at Auckland soon after eleven o'clock on Thursday night, and within an hour or two several ships were tearing through the stormy seas to her rescue, the Kntoa reaching her about daybreak the following morning. The first news of tho tragedy of the Waira.ni pa was brought to Auckland by the survivors themselves, some of whom, after terribly hardships, had made their way to Port Fitzroy from the scene of the wreck at Miners' Head, and were •taken aboard the Argyle and brought up to Auckland. The story they told still remains ono of the most thrilling and terrible of any sea tragedy that has ever occurred in Now Zealand waters. Accounts given of the wreck by tho survivorb show that- as the Wairarapa. steamed southward on her way to Auckland from Sydney she ran into a dense for;, preventing sight of land or the taking of an observation. At midnight the watch was changed, and tho old look-out man forward replaced by a now man. The latter had not been at his post more than four minutes when he saw, a lx?w yards ahead, a blade mass, denser than the darkness of tho night, which he knew meant disaster. Shurply his cry of warning rang out; instantly the order "Fiul speed astern" was telegraphed from bridge to engineroom'. The order was promptly obeyed, but before the vessel could lose one tittle of the way upon her she had met her doom. A Fearful Crash. The crash as, forced by her momentum, she rushed upon the rocks waa sickening in its awesomeness. "All hands on deck" was the order instantly given and obeyed. Every man wan ordered to the boats, of which there were six. Meanwhile the passengers —men, women, and children, in sleeping garb —rushed to the deck. Before them lose a wild and rugged cliff, the top of which was not discernible iu tlie darkness of tho night. Around them were heavv breakers. Tho ship began to fill rapidly, and lifebelts were hurriedly served out. Long before all the pre- i partitions wtye complete, however, the I ship gave a violent lurch and canted over to one side, smashing the starboard boats. Then occurred one of the most appalling scenes in this fearful tragedy, for straight down the steeply-sloping decks slid abon c 60 of the passengers, and with them i 6 horses which had been stabled on deck. Men, women, children, and frantica.lly-p'.unging animals fell into. tho sea, many of the former to be injured,by the struggling horses before they finally met their death. The night rang with heart-rending cries of terror from the doomed human beings and animals, struggling together in tho dark waters. Each Wave Claims Victims. Then the .after-deck house was lifted up by a great wave and the rafts slipped off, some of the passengers getting on to them. Others attempted to launch the starboard boat, And, although it was partly filled with water, 10 passengers got into it and kept afloat until rescued by another boat about two hours later. The rest'of the passengers hung in the rigging and boat davits, with the sea breaking over them, until daylight. Those whose strength failed them were washed off. On the wreck, the sea, was Tismg. First the decks were covered, then the waters reached the knees, and next the waists of thoso remaining. Then, one clinging to another for mutual support, the ill-fated survivors stood upon the rail clutching for life at the 6hrouds and halyards. Higher and higher rose the waves, until those not fortunate enough to gain places in the rdggjng were awash with every recurring sea. Each wave claimed its quota of human life. Some few were carried shoreward, where they managed to scramble to the rocks, but by far the greater number sank into the waves and were seen no more.

Death of the Captain. Up to three o'clock in the morning Captain Mcintosh kept liis post on the bridge, with him being several of the passengers. Wave after wave dashing over tho bridge finally weakened it, and it was' seen to sway -and give way, all on it being hurled into the sea. Th© dawn revealed to the survivors the full horror of the catastrophe which had befallen them. Some few, less than a score, had been washed on to a ledge of rock. Some 40 more still clung to the rigging, while around were the floating dead and two or three still alive, but too weak to make for the' shore. And those on shore w;ere unable to help them. Some, however, wore picked up by the two boats, which full to the gunwale, wer® steered in the direction of a European settlement. By this time the hull of the Wairarapa had almost entirely disappeared, although the rigging was still alive with Jiuxnanity. Some Saved by Life-line.

Gradually the fcg cleared away, and terrible chft's wcro then seen, rising straight up 800 ft from the water's edge. The steamer's bow was 6ft into the mouth of a cleft in the rock. Finally a life lino was rigged up from the fore-rigging to the rocks, and the survivors were hauled ashore through tho surf.

Tim first woman to venture along the line had a thrilling experience. She had to go hand over hand, and on reaching the rocks could not gain a footing, owing to the fierceness of the waves whio!i swept over them. She becajne exhausted, and let go one hand, and was about to drop into tie water, v.hen the second engineer, who was on the cliff, climbed down at great personal risk, and succeeded in landing her in safety. Two other young women essayed the ihazardous trip, but both lost their hold, and were swept away by the seas and dashed to death on the rocks.

Exposure and Hunger. Some 50 people were taken across altogether, many among them displaying great heroism. The survivors wiho had reached the rocks remained there until about four o'clock on Monday afternoon. They l suffered greatly from exposur© and hunger, the only food being a few oranges which, were salved from the wreckage. Late on Monday afternoon several Maori boats came round, and took ail except ten to Coppermine Bay, and some to Maori Bay. _ The rest remained on the rocks until Tuesday morning, when they, too, were taken off by the •Maoris. Some of the men went overland to Port Fitzroy and reported the wreck. The Maoris and settlers at the Barrier treated tho survivors with tne utmost kindness, until they were finally taken up to Auckland on Wednesday night. —r- -v~~" >"* M . -a

Searching for the Dead.

Then followed tho heart-rending task of securing i-Jio bodies of tin* dead. A vessel was despatched from Auckland with members of the water police and other constables, accompanied by Canon Haselden, Home .Missionary of the Anglican Ohurch. For many days the terrible task of securing tha Ixnlitv, identifying them, and burying them, was carried out by these men with a courage and devotion that will always ho remembered as ono of tho outstanding features of a time of terrible difficulty and danger. A pieoe of land wns acquired at- Catherine Bay, a •'beautiful little inlet a few miles south of the scene of the wreck, and here the bodies were interred in two great graves.