SEQUEL TO A WRECK.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1581, 26 October 1912, Page 5

SEQUEL TO A WRECK.

CLAIM FOR SUPPORT OF SURVIVORS LOSS OF THE PAPANUI. By Tolecraph—Press Association—Copyriahi (Rcc. October 20, 1.0 a.m.) , Melbourne, October 25. A writ has been issued against tho Australian Shipping Company of Melbourne claiming £'MS in respect of 301 passengers on tho steamer l'apanui, which was wrecked on September 11, 1911 when bound from England to Australia, and her passengers landed at the island of St. Helena. The Crown Agents for tho. Colonies have undertaken the proceedings to recover tho cost of forwarding the passengers to their destinations, maintaining them until they were 1 forwarded, and nil tho necessary cost of bedding and provisions. Tho case is the first of tho kind in Victoria. Tho writ asks for a trial by a Judgo without a jury. The Papanui was a steamer which had an unusually chequered career. She was a vessel of G582 tons gross, and was built by Messrs. Denny at Dumbarton, to the order of tho New Zealand Shipping Company in 1898. Towards tho' end of 1901 sho put into Vigo, Spain, on fire. In April, 1909, a firo broke out on board the vessel, while she was lying in dock in London. Towards the end of tho year she sailed for Now Zealand, her cargo also including a quantity of railway material for Tasmania. While passing through Bass Strait she struck on Waterhouso Island, damaging her plates for a length of 250 feet on both sides of tho keel. She was saved by her double bottom, and was able to steam to Melbourne. Sho wns sold at auction and her new owners, finding that sho could bo repaired in the East cheaply, effected temporary repairs, and sought to leave Melbourne for Nagasaki. The shipping authorities declared tho ship unseaworthy, but sho got away in defiance of them. She re-entered the trade between Australia and England, and nfter various mishaps caught fire and was abandoned and beached at St. Helena.