S.S. MANAROA STRIKES

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1728, 19 April 1913, Page 6

S.S. MANAROA STRIKES

j ON " BEEF BARRELS." BEACHED ON D'URVILLE ISLAND. POSITION CEITICAL. • "Manaroa struck 'Beef Barrels'— (Piego EocksJ-managed to beach vessel at Ohana; damage considerable; position on sandy beach critical, steep Hank; submerged up to bridge at low water.. Mr. Clenwell, engineer, investigating damage, and is leaving by s.s. Nikau to-night. "(Signed) GILBERTSON, mi , . . ~- Captain." ihe foregoing is the contents of a telegram received by Messrs. Johnston'' and Co., agents for tho steamer, yesterday afternoon. The first word of the mishap was received by the firm at 12.33 p.m., when a telegram arrived from Captain beer!'! 50 "! *¥ t , lle Ma " aTOa been beached opposite Mr. F. Wells's homestead-, o n D'Urville Island. Mr. G. Allport, Secretary for Marine received a telegram yesterday afternoon,' from tho Collector of Customs at Nelson,' stating that the vessel had been beached off Savago Point. The Manaroa has been engaged in the \Vellington-Motueka trade for many years and was until recently in cliarge of Can. tain Hart. Captain Gilbertson, who was originally mate on the vessel, was takinc charge whilst Captain Hart was-on leave the vessel left Wellington for Nelson and Motueka on Wednesday last-and cleared the after port for Wellington at 7 o'clock on Thursday, night. ' From Motueka she .proceeded to the French Pass, and, it 1 o'clock yesterday morning she struck the p lcse Reef-a little clump of rocks lying some distance out from D'Urville

•Island.; After striking the vessel was kept going and was beached as stated. The passengers and crew were taken on board the Nikau last night, and are being brought on to Wellington The Nikau is due early this morning. The Mails on Board. mu a \ rCßard 'tVya'ls ."carried by the little steamer, a telegram has been re--IW,?T 0 at . at C hngton froln Chief lov -* and stales as fol"S.s. Manaroa wrecked at D'Urville Island at midnight. Had following i mails:-Nekon to' 'Wellington, four , bags, ten hampers; Christchurch, ono bag; Dunedm, one bag; Auckland, oho bag-; Nelson to Wellington, one bag: Motueka to Wellington, one bag and one hamper; total, nine bags, eleven hanipers.. Six, bags and one hamper I have been saved, and taken on to Wellington by Tainui this morning. Derails of mails saved not available."

Manaroa's History. ■ The Manaroa is a wooden steamer of 123 tons, built at Auckland in 1897 by Mr W H. Brown for Messrs. J. S. Cross and T. A. Askew-. She is how owned by the Wellington, Havelock, and Motueka Steamship Company, Ltd, Her dimensions are: Length, 100 ft.: breadth, 18ft. Th» Manal roa made her first appearance at this port in April 189(, and stood admirably the test ■ , a ,'\ ex , tl " c »' el 3 r rough maiden trip from Auckland. Captain P. M'lutyre, present harbourmaster at Wanganui, was then in charge of the. vessel,, and was succeeded by the late Captain Allmnn, after which Captain Hart took', command, Picge Rocks-Previous Mishaps. Lyttelton, s.s., SG tons, was wrecked on the Piego Rocks on September 30, 188 G. hho carried a crew of eleven, and at tho time of the mishap had one passenger on ' board. Captain G. Forbes was in cliarge oi the vessel, which foundered, but without loss of life. Koronui, s".s., 301 tons, struck Piego Bocks on September 26,,,1889.-...Th0 had a crew of Sfl, "and.. at'„the time had 21 passengers on board. Captain Hill was in charge of tho vessel, which foundered, but without loss of life. S.s.'Wainni was considerably damaged through striking.tho same rocks'some twelve years ago. . ' CAPTAIN'S ACCOUNT. '. (By relcKraph.—Pr«s Association.) _~ ,'■.,' Nelson, April 18.. Tho master states that he left Motueka about 7 p.m. yesterday, and sighted the French Pass, about 11 p.m., but the light was only visible at times. ,lle set a course that should have taken him well inside the "Beef Barrels." He did this on account of a strong south-easterly wind blowing, but ho states that this . must have taken him out of his course, and on the rocks. The vessel shuck with her fore-part, but did not stop altogether. In fact, she kept her way on all- the time. As the vessel was gradually sinking, the boats were got out, and everything was in readiness should the vessel begin to go down, but tho captain ordered no ono to go into, tho boats meantime, ,as a nasty, choppy sea was running, and it would havo been unwise for the boats to be lowered unless absolutely necessary. Captain Gilbertson then endeavoured to beach the vessel, but great difficulty was experienced in doing this, and it was not until 2 a.m., when tho vessel-was nearly full, that'he managed to beach her. The passengers and. crew, (with the exception of the captain) then left the ship, nnd were hospitably received by the settlers. The steamer is lying in a bad position, with the stern in deep water. At low tide the stern is visible, but, when the tide is high; only the top of the ■ funnel is showing above tho water. It; is not expected that the vessel will be refloated without groat difficulty.