A TRAGEDY OF THE HARBOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 3, 4 January 1936, Page 23

A TRAGEDY OF THE HARBOUR

Amid the many tragedies of the early days that occurred about the Port of Wellington, there Is none which retains its vividness so much as does that which resulted in the loss of the hulk Eli Whitney. The reason for this is that the old vessel went down in what is still a fairway, and that anyone standing on the . outer tee of Queen's Wharf on a dark night in a northerly gale can still picture the tragedy as if it were again being enacted out in the harbour scarcely a quarter of a mile away.

On the night of February 23, 1877, the hulk Eli Whitney was lying at the buoy about a quarter of a mile east of Queen's Wharf. She was under the care of Mr. Edwin Davey, who lived on board with his wife and his five-month-old son, and had 800 tons of coal on board belonging to Captain Williams, who was the owner of the hulk. A severe north-west gale was blowing, and there were periodical squalls which blotted out visibility and made the old vessel strain at her moorings. SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. Shortly after midnight, Davey awoke to find water pouring into the cabin. He and his family rushed on deck, to find the water already coming over it. He then ran to the boat and seized the painter, but as he did so, hulk and boat went down beneath him. The three seized a plank, and, hanging on to it, were driven to leeward. Ten minutes later, the child was washed off, and was seen no more alive. Within a few hundred yards of the shore, the wife lost her hold. Davey himself lost his hold, but managed to struggle ashore near Meech's Baths. He obtained the assistance of the Meeches, and of a Mr. Davies, who lived nearby, and ultimately found his wife hanging on to a stage on the beach near the baths. This was after a search of two hours, and, though artificial respiration was applied, it proved useless. The body of the child was found at dawn on the Te Aro Beach, near the old gasworks. The affair was shrouded in mystery for a time. The hulk had been sound enough, and had only been two-thirds full. . It was believed that the severe jerks on her chain had carried away a bow port, or had started a plank. At 10 a.m., however, Captain Alexander Chambers, of the schooner Clio, came ashore with the real explanation. His vessel had been moored midway between the hulk and the wharf, and he could just see the hulk's mast from her deck. SCHOONER CAPTAIN'S STORY. Shortly after midnight he had seen the steamer Taupo leave the wharf bound for Picton and northern ports. The steamer passed the schooner closely, and suddenly he heard one of the steamer's crew cry out that the hulk was right ahead. The telegraph bell was sounded to stop the engines, but two seconds later the Taupo struck the hulk a little abaft of amidships with a crash distinctly audible to those aboard the Clio, 200 yards to windward. The Taupo lay astern for about ten minutes, and then resumed her voyage. Captain Chambers reported that the Eli Whitney was showing no lights at the time, and that in less than two minutes only her masthead showed above water. Those on the Clio had supposed her to be deserted.,

This statement was corroborated by the Avalanche's nightwatchman, and by others. Cries of distress were heard by the nightwatchman of the barque Adamant. Captain Bowling, of that vessel, immediately lowered a boat, and pulled in the direction of the cries. They were in considerable danger themselves, and had to beach the boat at Clyde Quay after a fruitless search. Peter Ferguson, watchman of Turnbull and Co.'s hulk India, also heard the cries, and without waiting to dress, set off alone in his boat. Not a sound was to be heard after the

first cries, however. His boat was half full of water. Desperately cold, and on the point of having to swim for it, he found himself under the stern of the steamer Agnes. His shout for help brought him a rope, and he hauled himself on board.

A SOUND SHIP.

The Eli Whitney was an .Americanbuilt barque of 540 tons, built at Boston of pitch-pine in 1840. She had been purchased by Captain Williams from Pickett Bros., of Melbourne, six years previously, and brought by him to Wellington, where she had been ever since. The hulk had been overhauled and pronounced sound only three weeks before, and Captain Williams was said to be the loser by £3000.

Captain Carey, of the Taupo, mentioned on his arrival at Picton that he had been in collision with a hulk, but that he did not suppose any damage had been done. His story was that on sighting the hulk he had immediately put his engines full astern, and had touched the hulk so lightly that passengers standing on deck had scarcely felt the shock. The mate and carpenter had' assured him that the hulk was damaged only in the bulwarks and, getting no reply from her, he .steamed on his way.

The mainmast of the hulk stood some 25 feet out of the water, and a white light was hung on it as a warning to shipping. At the inquest, Captain Chambers said that the steamer stood by for nearly 20 minutes. Captain Caddy, of the ship Leicester, also declared that he had heard a crash, and his evidence corroborated that of others. . ;

As far as the unhappy Davey was concerned his case aroused the pity of the worthy Wellington citizens, arid the local papers ran subscription lists for his

THE END OF THE ELI WHITNEY

benefit, which bore eloquent testimony to the generosity of the town. He had little enough to be thankful for, indeed, for his marriage had taken place barely eighteen months before the disaster which had deprived him of his 21-year-old wife and infant son. Everything else which he had possessed had gone down with his charge to the bottom of Wellington Harbour.