A TOTAL WRECK.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1949, 5 January 1914, Page 6

A TOTAL WRECK.

BARQUE FRITON FAST ON A REEF. OFF RAROTONGA BEACH. ALL HANDS SAFE. The mail steamer Moana. inward from San Francisco, on Saturday morning brought first news to Wellington of tho total wrcek of the barque Friton, at Rarotonga, on December 21 last. AH tho members of the crew returned by the Moana. Tho Friton sailed from Bluff on November 21, in ballast, for Maiden Island, to load there with guano for New Zealand. After an uneventful voyage sho made tho anchorage off Rarotonga, where a call was to bo made to pick up some native workers to assist in loading tho ship at Maiden Island. At three o'clock on the afternoon of December 21, while tho captain was en-, deavouring to find a suitable anchorage, tho vessel ran on to tho well-known reef whieli .encircles tho lagoon at Rarotonga. More than this, the members of tho crew will not communicate. Tho vessel began to fill very rapidly, so rapidly as to leave no doubt in tho minds of tho crew that the bottom of tho ship had been seriously damaged. All attempts to dislodgo the vessel failed, but she stayed hard and fast on the rocks, half-full of water, and that same afternoon the crew abandoned her. A lino was sent ashore by a buoy, and before nightfall all tho crew had cot ashoro ' safely. Apparently there was no danger of lives being lost, as tho wreck occurred only about 50 yards from tho shore. At Rarotonga the crew were cared for by the natives and other residents of the island, and took tho first ship, which happened to be tho Moana, back to New Zealand. Wreck Sold for £140. Tho Triton is an iron barque of 762 tons, built in 1878 by Austin and Hunter, Sunderland. Her owners at tho time of the.wreck were Norwegian. She was a frequent trader between Now Zealand and Maiden Island. At tho time of tho wreck she was commanded bv Captain Olsen, who had with him Mr. P. Paulsen as mate. The remaining members of the crew were: Messrs. H. A. Gylling, A. Frandsen, Tom Cooper,. Keillman, H. Holub, Kelly, M. Anderson, Oscar Youssen, Olaf Dybdal, A. Blackmore. Mr. Thomas Cooper, ship's carpenter, joined the vessel at Bluff as a passenger to Maiden Island, but on account of the wreck is now in Wellington. Blackmore, who hails from Irivercargill, is the only member of tho crew who is a New Zealander. The wreck was sold to sonic enterprising natives at Rarotonga for £140. There is said to be not the remotest chance of the vessel being refloated, but much of the gear and other moveables should be valuable. The same purchaser paid £21 for the stores which the vessel had on board for Maiden Island. -