DISASTROUS WRECK.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1176, 12 September 1884, Page 3

DISASTROUS WRECK.

- The following was issued by ns as an extra on Friday afternoon last :■—« ■ BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT). Dunedin, Sept. 5, 2 p.m Important into matiou was received at dayiigiit this morning chat the ship Lastingham from- London to Welling-, ton, had been wrecked at Jackson’s Head, (Jook Straits. Seventeen lives have been lost, including the Captain and his wife. No further particulars are yet to hand.

FURTHER RaUiUJULARS. ’ i The following further particulars we take i from tlis Daily Times. of the 6,h inat: After tue vessel struck, one party was assembled m the fore , part of the vessel, 8 and Hading the ship’s head ha I run on the 1 rocks, tney clam .ereJ on to the bowsprit, y and reached-ihe laud in safety. The o hers, t who were aft, umiwaronf the good fortune that, hath befallen iheir comrades,' remained 0 i the poop til all chance of escape was v gone, ana .perished,\yjuu the id-latea' ship. L'ue most complete and connected narrative was ill it given me by tue ship’s carpenter, a man of some thirty years of age, -| named Houerlsun. .He was on deck smie ' time p ior to the catastrophe, and W;tnessed the whole of the shocking ocuurre ,ce., He says ; •••Tue weattiur on Monday night ' was very bad indeed,- Tncro were very - squalls and exceedingly thick weather. Lana was reported on the port beam about a quarter post eight o’clock, and all hands Were oritered to stand by with theiroi.skins m case they were it q.nrcdi The Jaud we saw was Jackson He,d - , which was about 4 miles uis-aut. When the land was sighted * wc cut louse the foresail and made sail. Afier standing on aoont half. an hour land C was reported right ahead.: We immediately } kept away from the land, but wer* driven towards r.ue lee shore by the squads, which 1 we e frequent and tei rifle. (iradunly we approached .no shore, an I, as me ship would neither s'ecr nor weather, we saw 8 that we could pot clear the bay into which J we nad been driven ; and all on ooard knew , that the ship was going to so ike. It was very thick and nai k at, tne time, and the j land could only "e seen with the,greatest difficulty. The ship struck -about 10.30 pm, j but not very heavily. I,was .at tlie main braces assisting to square the yards at ihe I tuns. Somebody sa.d that tbe chief officer . had called out * Every man for himself,’ , hut I did not hear thivcoreer given. When 1 ran forward tue majority of me peopie on board were gathere i on the plop I saw ' Ward, the miii on the lookout Riddle, the steward au l one or two others sciamohng .' out on the jib-boom, and I followed them. 1 I found no difficulty in lo'.io.ving their ex • amp e. and dropping from the jib-bnoin on 1 to .he rocks ; .Pud, as these rocks abutle i. ( from, the mainland, I was as ore, and exposed to no further danger. A number of ' men had escaped by this means previous y, and were'standing on me rock waiting for others to come. The second mate and seve ral others followed me over the bows. The people on board Were running a out iu ail direr,-ions this time. Toe ma,e hw mg given the order * Every man for himself,’ wc called to the group of pto.ile on •\iard, with the ni'jeet of getting teem to save themselves ns we had done ; but they did not appear to oe able to hear u*. T helieve the group Consists-1 of one captiin, the passengers, ami some of the crew i he captain’s wife was not on the deck, but 1 believe she was in the companion. Wo all called nut again and again to got those people to come forward, but they lu-uaiu.d nn tile poop, and our voices we. e probably d owiiei by the roar ot .the affirm. The ship hung no the rook for three, or four minutes, and then the bow slipped off the ledge on which it Was resting, and the vessel was in deep water. ' The terrible snrf commenced to break over her, and she came ■•roadsideon, and, although not bumping much, rolled heavily, and began to settle down. We could still see the outline! of peoplestanding aft, and could also make out several human forma in the main rigging. We shouted to th m to jumpoyorboard au l swim ashore. Several did so, but we could see nothing more of them. It-is questionable whether any oi the others followed, and it is more likely that they preferred o take their chance on board. Some men made the attempt to reach the shore with ropes round their bodies, but the surf was So strong that after being exhausted they weie compelled to call out that they could go no farther, and were hauled in again. Scenes of a distressing and painful character were witnessed every moment; and, altnnngh in s dety ourselves, we were • j wholly unable to assist our feltow-passen-j get s. This continued some time, and then ■ | the ship commenced to break up. The ’ deckhouse was tue first to go. A heavy

, Bea broke on board , aud gwried away the dqekhonse,.taking;lt the deck and then ov rooard.r' Other eg taliy. he ivy sons f» |owed in-myTi, suopesdbn. and m vl* (temi lireao'ies over the shin. All the lioiu ou the bulge were •" Wi carried away, and the main and mizzen royal masts followed. It was evident Uiit in a very law minutes the shiu mu«t go down altoga her. Aga n and again wo call’d to th >se on board tn jump overboard I. W4B just, at .his time that vuue of oar party found that Groves and Prye;-, a sea man and apprentice, had been washed ashore, and they assisted them to the rooks on which we were. They hail been oarrie 1 into the creek, where the water was calm. Oiir r. asou for urging those on hoar to jump overboard was th it they w .uld have oeeu,pretty sure to be able to swim and reach shore. The blinding spray rolling off the ship and toe extreme blacknessof the night no doubt prevented them from seeing this, as very soon after the ship began ;to break up sns took a heavy list to seaward, and the result was that her decks were much more-exposed to the heavy seas that were breaking in. We could still make out people in thej after-part of the ship, and comd distinctly hear their cries for help ; but in was impossible f -r ns to render them any unless, they managed to reach shore 1 themselves The weather was so thick, too, that although the people were not far from us we could not tell who or what they were, and could scarcely distinguish even the outlines of their figures. The ship continued to brealcup rapidly, and the foremast soon followed- the mainmast. It tore up the d“cks, and fell with-a terrible crash in the seaward direction, towards which the vessel had listed. The sea was covered for some distance with eargo, all descriptions of wreckage, and oases. Portions of the deck'-prk, etc., were floating in large quantities into the jreek. These were watched anxiously by onr party in hopes.that some of the, crew or passengers might be clinging to them, hut in Vain. This painful scene continued for a short time longer, and then the ship made two or three heavy lurches and disappeared wholly iron view beneath the water. The'' mizzeh mast was s*ill standing. We could see people going down with the vessel, end could still hear their cries. 1 Very ’ llttis more than-an hour elapasd fr m the time the ship struck until she wen r .’down. We ’remained' where we were from that time until daylight, watching the surf, the wreckage floating, an, t tna rocks to see if anyone was washed ashore ; hut we were doomed to., disappointment, we made further search for dead bodies at daybreak, but did not find any. There was, unfortunately, no beach. If there had ben we would have managed .to save some of the things from the Vessel,- bat as it was we could not. We required food, but the heavy sea prevented us from- getting any of the wreckage up on the rocks. We were hungry, but our anxiety to be rescued was so great that we did not feel it much. Soon after ten o'clock that'forenoon we saw a steamer outward bound, and made signals to her with a counterpane tied to a stick, by waving our hats, and also by singing out. . 1 cannot say whether those on board saw us. We were repeatedly disappointed in this respect. . Daring the course of the day, no less than four other steamers pass ing within sight of.us, wo repeated our signals every rime, but no response was m , e , 1 suppose they were not seen. .. . . We slept under irees—or at least wo could not sleep; ' but hnng around waiting for the morning. We were subjected to extreme expomre, few of us : hiving many clothes. ■What we had were saturated with water. Eu Wednesday morning the weather broke and tur mil out fine -We-again uivided ourselves into parties bn the same principle as we had adopted on the previous nay. Some went to the wreck, others to Jackson Head, ; and the remainder went inland. I funned j one of the party tliat went to the wreck. ' The sea had moderated, by this time, and ; we found a 4'b piece of pork, two lib tins j , of oatmeal, and several packages of corn- I , flour. The heads were out of, the oatmeal' ; tins, and the provisions generally were damaged ' by the sea water.; That did not, however, trouble us,much. Wo were in a famished condition, having been fully forty hours without food. We partook of some of the things a fc once, and then started back to our rendezvous. A liiniie l quantity of provisions was given round, every in in getting an equal quantity, and only one till''of oatmeal and. portion of the pork and cornflnir being used. A snarp look out was k pt for Ward,'who had left' us-on the.previous day in sea oh of a sheep farm, but nothing was seen of him. Having cut down a quantity of scrub, we built a shanty, and being thoroughly worn out and exhausted we all slept soun dy that"nigh ~ Ou Thursday morning we distributed the last lin of oatmeal and the remainder of our pork. This meal being concluded, t.vo of the men, named Ohalmers and Alvarez, proposed to proceed inland again, as they had bouts an t were able to walk, which the others, not being'so well off, could no - , do. They started off, unconscious of the fact that assistance was close at baud, and we . hove not seen them since. We saw a ketch which afterwards proved to be the Agnes, standing right up for Jackson Head. She was signalled to, and when she came under the Sec of the island we were delighted to see the little craft.com;up in the wind, and did not require the captain to .wave his hinds to-tell- ns tnat we were seen at last. The ketch lowered the boat, which dime to the leo side of the laud and took onr party on board. She then si od some distance along tiie shore and picked up i hreo others at the scene of the wreck, and so on till II were on board. The two who had gone inland 'hat morning, amt Ward, who had strayed away on Wednesday, made up the number of fourteen who bad lauded from ht wreck The ketch sailed a ong the coast a considerable distance, but saw nothing of the three missing men. She then bore no for Wellington, which she reached about 7 o'clock on Friday morning. Thomas Groves, A. B , said : I was at the helm at the time of the catastrophe. [ knew the ship was going to strike She struck close to the land, and ! took off my clothes, ready for an attempt to get ashore. I remained for some time on the poop with a number of the passengers and crew, aii of whom were drowned except ' Fiyer. I stopped there about an hour, until I saw the ship was breaking up. Before 1 left the poop I shook hands and said good-bye to all' those who' were gathered there. The captain and his wife-were both below, and n few minutes before I jumped overboard I went down and asked the captain's advice. He was sitting at the cabin table with his arms round his wife’s wais-. Thov were both sitting np to their waists m water, and evidently waiting patiently for death, which was so soon to overtake them. The captain did not answer my question, so I went upstairs again. It was then 1 jumped overboard.

Thr Nautical Inquiry. At tho nautical inquiry held at Wellington on the Oth inst., Jehu Nealo, choif officer, deposed that he : held _ a maste ’a certificate, and held ih j ' position of chief officer of tho Lastingham The officers and ciow number tweiUy six, aud with the passengers and cantaiVa wif > ; there were thirty-two souls on hoard. I'be ship was well found in every reapeet. The vessel had a fair passage until reaching Cimk StnU on Monday last. Sighted Kgmont at 8 a. ui , with a a tong hreese from

the Ji.N.W. Tim wfinhe wip. nd&if. I'hen a tere’d'• ciiuiise,; Bad -■ aiVmtf "noon sighted K ipiti. jW oi* k «it»; but rodole d t ie canvas m l Vmspiel was'slahWn-f 1, VW K. i jin p •u*’ie, si‘ prod' iii Vmill*'c ii* i p.ni .'i((i.'lj( i ‘iijCv c .iV' - ■v w. At this jam KUpitih re IJ.N.KI. t.,ar. teen miles distant. -The' captain was on -deck nli this inn > and ha I been f->f twelve, hours previous to a 'lining land.. At 3 p in. ■the vessel hea' 'ed W. by S anil kept ih.it position until 8 15 p in;, wh-u i.he lan was seen to he on the qua-ter about a mile distant. The captain gave'or lets to increase sail, whiun Was do ie as soon as possible, the .Vessel still beifiji on the sam ■ course ; ann ftf.er keeping an. fot three-quarters of ,m hour the wa on cal e i out *• t,au • ahead !” an I also on the weather quarter, evident!/ two miles dis ano. The ca ituin theg ordcrel us lo wear th i ship, which wisdo-i -. That - tiro-ill be a-ihot nine o’clocs,- The ship oone about an I stood a-vav on the starboard .taek, an I kept on -Ins tack until! the land Was again nearing, when site went about, and win e doing so struck --tern on the beach, ad. lianas bemv nu-iy on deck squaring the yarls. It was hi i wa ch on deck. She hung on after striking for five minutes, and then canted broadside to the sea. She still rested on something, and there she remained fo* an hour a ha f when the musts went overboard and ’he vessel to jdeces. He was aft wueu the Vessel stmek,. hut went to the cap-ain, who was on the poop The captain said : 11 Tuis is a very but job and everybody will have to save iiinxself.” the mate then went f irwnrd. and tue captain temaitied aft, Alt hands were sober Witnea found the vessel dead ag dust the land, an i called all on board to come for-< ward, but he could not tell wether this order was o eyed, owing to the sea and rain. We t-ien jumped overhear- 1 from the 00-v of the vrsafci, and lan-ied on dry groun-1. The drop was only about 6ft He never saw the captain after the vessel stmek. Half a minute after he got over the side the vessel ca ted. The captain’s wife an l passe igers were on deck. Had those on hoard rns .ed forward when the vessel struck all eo-ild have escaped. F inn ids previous nonce,of the chart he thought they ha i strum J ickson Head. Tney never saw The B othe s light, and thought they were out of their course uutil sighting land. The Court’s Finding. The Court found that un erro - of judgment was commuted by t-lie mist r in standing on the t.ick too lonj, an t this in their opinion led to the disaster. No blame was attaehed to the officers before the Court. The Three Missing Men Found The launch has returned with the three lost men belonging to the Lastiagham. They were picked no by the sch -oner Maud on the morning of September 2, anil afterwards lande rat r Jones’s station, where the launch brought them from. The --each near the scene of the wreck is str.-wu witli wreckage, and a mast of the ship is visible.