CONCERNING THE LATE WRECK.

Dunstan Times, Issue 998, 3 June 1881, Page 2

CONCERNING THE LATE WRECK.

The diver who went down to the wreck of the Tararua to endeavour to recover the silver lost in her has returned being unsuccessful Ho is not without hopes, however of yet attaining his object. The property removed by the police at the Otara beach, and which belonged to the passengers by the Tararua, is to be forwarded from Invercargill to Dunedin for identification an I restoration. The lady to whom the captain of the Tararua was engaged is a Miss Buckhurst, of Emerald Hill, Melbourne, The shook cause ! her a serious illness, and for some time she remained in a totally unconscious state.

The “Southland Times" learns from Mr Brnnton, of Otara Station, that 63 bodies in all have he-n recovered from the wreck of the Tararua. One body came ashore in a good state of preservation, not being disfigured in anyway. None of the persons present were able to identify it.

The bodies of two males came ashore at Otara on Saturday last. One was that of a man about sft llin, of medium build; his clothing consisted of light tweed trousers, woollen drawers, lace-up boots (without nails and recently half-soled) ; there was no property or papers found on him. The other was that of a man of sft 9 in., and of rather stout build ; it was entirely nude.

The Rev Mr Chisholm, of Milton, has said with reference to the newspaper report which renresented the Rev Mr Sidey as saying that “ the Tararua was wrecked owing to the Union Company compelling their men to work on Sunday,” that he did not believe that Mr Sid-y uttered such nonsense. He (Mr Sidey) was one of the deepest thinkers and oldest theologians in the Presbyterian Church, and the report of the Press should be taken with a grain of salt. He firmly believed that Mr Sidey never uttered the remarks imputed to him. A curious tale comes from Adelaide. At the Pine street Wesleyan Ghurch, in that city, on the Sunday af r or the wieok of the Tararua, the Rev. ,J. Watsford spoke eloquently of the Rev. J. Waterhouse, alluding to his last sermon in Sandhurst, when ho spoke of the influence of one good man in his homo, in the city, or in a sinking ship, and he (Mr Watsford) hoped all in the ship profited bv the prayers of a good man like Mr Waterhouse. He related that Mr Waterhouse had a warning of his fate in a dream, in which he saw himself and his son going down in a sinking ship, and also mentioned that, just at the time of the wreck, a young woman who was dying in Melbourne suddenly exclaimed to her mother, “ Mother, yonder is Mr Waterhouse. He is standing on the shore beckoning to me.”

Capt. Bradshaw (of tho Onod Templar), who went to the scene of the wreck of tho Tararua. with the object of raising any bodies that might be about the wreck, and discovering the lost silver coin, reports leaving Port Chalmers on (he 14th instant, arrived at Waipapa Point on the next day ; got out his surf-boat, and proceeded to the site of the wreck of tho Tararna. A heavy swell set in, and carried away one of ketch’s anchors, and sheatood off and proceeded to Waikawa on tho 10th instant; went off to tho wreck with a boat, and tho diver went down three times, but he was unsuccessful ; hail a northerly wind and falling glass, and as the wind shifted to tho westward she shipped Id fathoms of cable, and stood off to save tho vessel with tho boat in tow. At 4,30 p m. on the 26th instant the stern of tho boat was torn out by the violence of the sea, and she was lost. Captain Bradshaw states that ho passed right over tho wreek, which in three different parts, and from soundings taken he fiiv's that there arc from three to four fathoms of water all round her. He s'ates the engines arc still standing, but that the sea is very dangerous and prevents anything like work being done.