WRECKED IN COOK STRAIT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1694, 10 March 1913, Page 6

WRECKED IN COOK STRAIT.

f- ' V > ♦ ; ' STEAMER REQ PINE SINKS. i ; STRIKES A ROCK. I CREW ESCAPES JUST IN TIME. [ . , DENSE FOG AND SMOKE. I. ~,1 Cook .' Strait, that treacherous highway j. ;i; for master mariners, has claimed yet tin- - other victim. This time it is the coastal f ■ steamer Red Pine. She was wrecked on Sl'ephon'lslajid at 11 p.m. on .Friday, and, a total loss. ; : : j ■■■■"' "- ' ill hands.wero saved. -They, proceeded , . fiym Stephen Island to the French Pass f * in an oil launch 011 Saturday morning. I : jg.-There it was intended that, the Anchor [. . . Line's steamer Nikau would pick t'hsnv [ lip and take them to Nelson. From the' h •?': 'latter port Hie crew would -probably !proceed to .Greymouth by the Aralnira. - y/ :i: V At the .'time of the disaster the' Red Pine - was bound from Greymouth. to Welling-'-'tori./'. She left the West Coast port oil 'Thursday night, and passed Farewell Spit f . -'"'light' at'about' 6 p.m. on' Friday. .'Four ? i.„ hours, later the little vessel was at the bottom . of I, Cook Strait.. yYhji'j. The seoretary .of. the General Post Office, i'."lras the'first',in, Wellington to receive ;• -I news of the,wreck. Tho information was | ' contained .in the following, message which 'i„.jr.|is I 1 sent from, tho French Pass;— ;Pinp;wrecked Ste- . " phot's Island- last'<-night l in dense fog. ' and smoke. • All hands safe."-, , ' - :-Later; on Saturday morning the-Marine ' . Departnfent was advised from " 'Nelson Vf-nthat the-Bed Pine had been wrecked on D'Urville Island. Other - messages received in Wellington confirmed the first repori;".'tliat';'.the ".'Red".' Pine, had hit : Stephen.-Island.and. hadi,sunk - .,,, . : .Friday . night .was what' mariners call !■ "Cook"Strait'on a dirty night." Soafaring men ;on' vessels which arrived in Wellington on Saturday morning described the Strait' as having been envel- . ; oped,in a thick black fog and smoke. To . ;- .->,.;niako ■ navigation much more difficult, a , "drizzling'rain was falling,"and at times " ' 'the many' lighthouse beacons in the vicinity, were totally obscured from V, ' view;..^, . ■ -. ..At:the time of writing it was impossible . - . ..to' explain, the'reasen cf the mishap or ; ;'''the' why',or .the' wherefore. All was a 'ihatter' of speculation concerning what actually happened to the Red Pine during her run from Farewell .Spit to the place t-.i ■ where she now lies at the bottom of .the Strait. —• • • , ' .V. . With the idea of getting some information concerning the b'ghte in Cook Strait in thick, foggy weather a reporter apro'ached master mariners who are used to running through the Straits frequently. ~ One and all were agreed that there have '' been, "occasions when such a powerful i..«. light ;as ,on Stephen Island lias become .- ; totally /obscured on a thick dirty night. . An old skipper who uses Cook Strait two - , and, three times a week, and mostly at it.-a -night time, said that he has known a fog' ?' to come down in Cook Strait in a very V. r while and shut out all lights. .Then «'• •'•'again a captain who had passed Stephen -Island early on the evening of the wreck

: of the.; I?pd Pine stated, that tho light' could, not, be seen at all, .but the island v > plainly visibly.', captain , said that after passing the island he steamed . through a thick fog for two hours. "It.was, so thick, and raining so heavily that you could not see your hand in front of you" was his concluding , remark. The wind was blowing fr fl m T, "southard," ■ and . iiobably the Red' Pine encountered this :: 61 y,V, 0 -A ll , later in the evening. '• I. lie Ited Pine was quite a new vessel, ; ~T;, t w «s 7s.Mown at -Wellington! ' 'lad visited this port only once before "—December - 22. • She was , a well-found '■.' "Vooden. vessel -of. 342 tons gross and 140 She was built in Sydney in ",r. -y?»?er of last year, and was'-146ft. long, w "e tune of ; the wreck Captain Eden, late chief officer in the Anchor Line ComP.any, was in command. It was impos«obtain the- names o? the crew v- at Wellington on.Saturday, as the Marine Department: has no' record of them here. •It- was known, however, that Mr. Jarman ii -was second officer- and Mr. Chamberlain second engineer.; . ' The Bed Pine had a valuable cargo of coal and timber on board for this poit Tie former, consisted -of 40 tons, and ■the latter bf : 'Bso,oooft.'- Of the timber, ' 800,OOMt/'jwas; consigned to various fijms ■ in Wellington.o'and the remaindor for the '.'.Upper Hutt. ■■' , .. v Both, the ship and her oargo was in,r;i,gnred, the former in the British Do- ' 1 ; minions' Marine Insurance Company and tho'latter at Greymouth. The amounts . ' .were not available in Wellington on Sat- .' fcrday. .