LEAF FROM SHIP'S LOG

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1766, 3 June 1913, Page 5

LEAF FROM SHIP'S LOG

ITS IDENTIFICATION. LOSS OF NOMIA CONFIRMED. • (By Telegraph.—Special OorrcEpondont.) Auckland, Juno 2. The bell of the old. French frjgato I/utine. which, for years past, has li,ung in "The long Room" at Lloyd's, has tolled the of many ft fine ship, but, on Depomber 17 of last year, those who heard its notes little realised.the strange story of the lost ship whose Jessing it rang. On July 10, 1912, there sailed from Newcastle, New South Wales, a steel fourlnasted barque—tlie Xomia, formerly tho . Auchercraig, of 1912 tons register. Tho vessel was bound for Antofngasta, In Chile, with a cargo of 4QOO tons of coal, but sho was never destined to reach it. Last whiter was an exceptionally severe one* in tho .Tasman Sua, and more Hum one ship, plying bttweon New Zealand and Australia, crept 1 into port tired and crippled. The'Nomia, it now transpires, was not even vouchsafed, this Inst comfort, for, she sank in mid-ocean with all lmndß on Monday, July 10, just six days after leaving the New South Wales port. All till) evidence as to tho loss of the vessel is fi small ragged-edged square of pai>er, torn from" a German log-book, but tho tidings it gives are conclusive, and leave not the slightest doubt us to the fate of the Komi*. The message reads:— ''Monday, 16/7/1912. —Nomia is sinking fast (by hurricane) in Lot. 42 S., . Long. 1(50 fi. Gott savo us all and , • everybody." About four weeks ago a station hand at Parenga, whilst walking along tho beach l between Mongonui Bluff ° and Scotfi' Point, found the bottle. Then comes tho strange part of tho story. It was left to- tho German Consul in Auckland to gather together these looso ends, and' wipe away doubt as to tho authenticity of the message. With the aid of a strong'light and a magnifyiug-glass, ho decipher' • cd it. Ho was also able, by reason of a-, good memory and a strango coincidence., to prove it entirely genuine. Captaiu Hinnne wns in command-of tho ill-fated barque, and when tho Consul learned this, it struck him that tho name was familiar.. Looking back his papers, lie found that a Captain llinimo hnd been in charge of a German barque (tho Geimnuia), which visited Auckland in 1905. In tho ordinary course of events, llio ship's paper* would have' been lodged with the Consul, but he would probably not have , had any specimen of tlie captain's writing had it not been for ono fact. When the vessel sailed from Auckland, she left in hospital on shoro two. apprentices, who had Iwoonie ill. . Captain llinimo left a letter with the Consul, giving instructions as to where tho boys 1 were to be sent when they recovered, and it was by making careful comparison ot the letter with the message from the Ixitllo that the Consul (Mr. Soegner) was able to stntsj Hint both were written uy tno same hand. There is no doubt Hint now, after nine months, the whims and of wind find tide have brought about a remark* able coincidence. H wnsValhrr remarkable that the message survived through such a lons drift, but more wonderful Rtill was tho chance which brought it to Mr, Scppncr—the one man in Australasia who could prove its origin, and identify tho handwriting of tho man who put It into the sea.