COASTAL STEAMER BADLY STRANDED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2280, 14 October 1914, Page 7

COASTAL STEAMER BADLY STRANDED

$__ JANGAPAPA IN THE BREAKERS. (By Telegraph.—Prose Association.)' Westpcrt, October 13. The coasting' steamer Mangapapa left Xaramea Wharf' on Thursday timbernden for Westport, and stranded on •he South Spit. She got safely back :o the wharf and'left again on Satirday, but again stranded on the North -ipit. She was in a safe place till Sunlay, whefi a heavy sea carried away her lines. The steamer was driven into , the breakers, and yesterday her holds and mgiue room were flooded, and the crew !vas compelled to leave the ship, abandoning everything for the. time being. The rudder gave and part of; -the bulwarks was broken. The crew got the mails and personal effects ashore at low water. The prospects of saving the steamer are bad. It is feared the steamer may become a total wreck. . >' ' A telegram received yesterday from tho.Chief Postmaster, Westport, to tho Secretary, General Post Office, states: Tho Postmaster at Karamea advises that, the steamer Mangapapa is now lying broadside on, starboard side to sea, and deeply embedded in the sand. The sea. is breaking over her at half tide. She is full of water to the deck, and the ruddor ie broken. The sea moderating, but there is little prospect of 3oating her: ; Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., agents for the vessel, have been similarly advised. Mr. A. Walker, Lloyd's surveyor at Wellington, and Mr. A. A. ■Thompson, manager of the Karamea steamship Company, will leave , Welling■on for Karamea to-day. The Manga-. >apa's crow have been paid off, and he captain, chief officer, and chief enineer are standing by the vessel. The Mangapapa was bound to Welngton at the time of her mishap, and he had been'engaged in the Welling-on-West Coast service for many years.' )uring that time she had had several ■ arrow escapes in endeavouring to ne;otiate the entrance to Karamea. On :ome occasions,' the vessel has been ield up at that port for weeks at a ;ime owing to; the bad state of the Ca'ramea bar. On July 20, 1909, while :onveying a cargo of timber, sho (rounded in the Karamea River, but he damage-on th'at occasion was only ■rifling. During a calm tho Mangapapa Vas stranded on a bar in the Karamea liver on January 24, 1911, owing to nsufficiency of water, but again she escaped with, little damage. Her most erious mishap was when she collided ,'ith the dredge Eileen Ward in tho Vostport Harbour on October 7, 1912, nd sustained damage to , the extent of 150. While proceeding downV. the river he Mangapaparetouched' 'ground , and )st steerage-way, and the strong curent carried her "against ; the dredge loored at the wharf. Captain Tointon /as in charge of the vessel, having' ucceeded Captain , Fletcher some time go. Prior to this he had command of he steamer Regulus. The Maugapapa 7as built in 1902 by W. M. Ford, jun., .t Sydney. She was a vessel .of 164 ons gross and 87. tons net, with enines Dy the Vauxhall Engineering Co., xradon. The vessel is vowned : by the Caramea Steamship Company, Messrs. )algety and Co., Ltd., being the local Rents. Prior to coming to Wellington bout six years- ago the vessel traded i Auokland waters, being then owned y the Northern Steamship. Company,.