Shipping.

Evening Star, Issue 3302, 19 September 1873, Page 2

Shipping.

HIGH WATER. To-mobrow. Heads I Port Chalmers I Dunedin 139 p.m. I anpjn. I 2.53 p.m. PORT CHALMERS. ARRIVED. September 18, -Omeo, s.s., 605 tons, Calder, from Melbourne (via the Bluff), Passengers : From Melbourne—Mrs Morrison, Mrs Hasswell, Mr, Mrs, and Miss Nichols, :Mr and Mrs Mills, Mr and Mrs Laws m, Miss Tewsley, Mrs Rater, Miss Hunter, Messrs Trestrail, Henry, Tewsley, Morrison, Matthews; and thirty in the steerage. From the Bluff—Messrs Bohn, Woods, Edwards, New, Gage, Bucker; and two In the steerage. Mary Van Every, 41 tons, Dawson, from Havelock. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Belle Brandon, for Auckland, Sept. 20. Claud Hamilton, for Melbourne, Sept. 21 Omeo, for Northern Ports, Sept. 20 Phcebe, for Northern Ports, Sept. 26 Pretty Jane, for Port Molyneux, early Samson, for Oamaru, Sept. 23 Taranaki, for Northern Ports, Sept. 23

Vessels in Port Chalmers Bay this day : Brig: Wave. Brigantine: C. L. Taylor. Schooner* : Fanny, Dunedin, Maid of Otago, and Crest of the Wave. At the Railway Pier —Ships: St. Kilda, Allahabad, Peter Denny. Steamer: Omeo.

Messrs M‘M«ckan, Blackwood, and Co,s s.s. Omeo, from Melbourne (via the Bluff), arrived at 4.30 p.m. yesterday, and her mails and passengers were brought to Dunedin by the last train. Captain Calder reports leaving Melbourne at 1.30 p.m. on the 11th ; passed Swan Island at 6 p.m. next day, and the Solander at 10 p.m. on the 16th, arriving at the Bluff at 6 a.xn. on the 17th. Experienced moderate westerly winds and squally weather until the 15th, then moderate easterly weather to arrival at the Bluff; sailed from the Bluff at 6.30 p.m. with strong N.E. winds and head sea to arrival at the port. We thank her purser, Mr Hart, for files and other favors. She leaves again for the North on Saturday afternoon. The schooner Mary Van Every, from Havelock, with a cargo of timber, arrived at 12.45 p.m. There being a fair wind and tide she passed up to Dunedin. The s.s. Beautiful Star came down from Dunedin to take to-day onboard transhipments from the ships Allahabad and Peter Denny. On account of the heavy sea at Oamaru, the departure of the p.s. Samson is postponed. The brig Wave and schooners Fanny, Dunedin, Alexandra, and Maid of Otago are waiting the first favorable opportunity to proceed to Oamaru. The railway pier presents quite a busy appearance. The following vessels are discharging cargo s.s. Omeo, from Melbourne ; ship St. Hilda, from Liverpool; Peter Denny, from Glasgow; and Allahabad, from London. SHIPPING TELEGRAM. Lyttelton, September 19. — The Taranaki’s departure from here is postponed till 1 p.m. tomorrow. THE DALLAM TOWER. The Argus publishes the following letter which has been addressed to the underwriters of the ship and to the underwriters of the cargo of the Dallam Tower “ Sydney, August 21, 1873. Gentlemen,—We, the undersigned, who Were brought into Sydney by the Cape Clear, were passengers on board the Dallam Tower. We think it right to express our conviction that in the gale which began on July 14, and subsequent disaster which befell the Ballam Tower, we owe our lives, and the ship and cargo their safety, to the energy, ability, and courageous conduct of the chief officer, Mr George Donald Donald. We wish also to testify to the noble conduct of Mr Mosely, the second, and Mr Bond, the third mate, and to that of the crew generally, but we would particularly mention the following names:—Clarke, Edwin Hyde, James Robinson, Alexander Mairs, George Richardson, Thomas Murphy, Andrew Anderson, Otto Sandbeck, Charles Browne; also, George Anthony, the engineer on board,—We have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant, William Ansdell Leech, of 3 OldBquare, Lincoln’s Inn, barrister-at-law; Thomas Dicken, of Akaroa, Canterbury, N.Z., and late of Cotton-hall, Rngeley, Staffordshire ; Harry Scott, Dunedin, Otago; Arthur C. Newton, Akaroa, Canterbury; George Lewis Vincent, T.C.D., Christchurch, New Zealand, late of Longdon Vicarage, near Rugeley, Staffordshire ; Owen Owen, Post-office, Dunedin.” The charges preferred by some of the passengers and seamen of the ship Dallam Tower, again at Captain Davies, master of that vessel, were to the following effect; —1. That the captain, either through drunkenness or from having lost all presence of mind, was in an un fit state for duty on the 14th July, the day on which the foul weather in which the vessel was disabled, commenced. 2. That the hatches were not secured, and that no preparation was made to prevent the water coming into the saloon through the doors, on the evening of that day. 3. That the ship was brought to the wind on the 15th July without any proper preparation having been made for the manoeuvre ; and 4. That the captain, after the foremast had fallen and stove in the main hatch on the 18th July, and while the ship was taking in heavy seas, lay in his bunk, and endeavoured to dissuade the men from obeying the orders of the chief officer while the latter was endeavoring to get the hatch properly covered. After hearing some of the witnesses called by the persons making the complaints, the board dismissed the first, second, and fourth charges without re3 niring the captain to produce rebutting evience. The evidence given in connection with the third charge was very contradictory, but the board found that the ship was brought to the wind with the braces foul, and that, consequently, the fore yards could not be braced up, and they added that the captain ought to have ascertained that his gear was clear before so dangerous a step as rounding the ship in a gale of wind and a heavy sea was taken. Taking into consideration, however, the very exceptional circumstances attending the casualty, they contented themselves with cautioning Captain Davies to be more careful for the future when rounding hia ship.

THE SKIMMER OF THE WAVES IN GALE.

Another instance of the unusually tempestuous weather which prevailed in the Southern Ocean during last month, is supplied by the barque Skimmer of the Waves, which has come into port with material evidence on deck and aloft of having gone through no ordinary ordeal of wind and weather. She has not suffered to anything like the same extent as the Dallam Tower, but there is damage enough apparent to demonstrate that she has had a very precarious time of it. The barque, with a cargo of American goods, left New York for Dunedin on May 14, and carried favorable winds and fine weather to the equator, which was crossed on June 23 in lon. 20deg. W. The S.E. trades were brisk, and were parted with in lat. 30deg. S., where the first of the heavy weather which marked the remainder of the voyage to this port was fallen in with. The meridian of the Cape of Good Hope was passed on July 26 in lat. 40deg. S., and on July 30 the barque was caught in a heavy gale from W.N.W., shifting into S.W., and blowing very hard for twenty-four hours. The weather from the Cape was characterised by more or less severity until August 11, in lat. 44deg. 50min. S., and long. 84deg. E., when it became altogether outrageous. The wind on that date freshened into a violent gale from N.W. to W., shifting into S.W., accompanied with squalls of extraordinary fierceness; and on August 13 the gale was at its height, and raging with hurricane force. There was also a fearful sea winning, which more than once struck the barque heavily aft, and inundated the cabin, damaging stupes, &c. At 2 p.m. she was A brought to .the wind under a lower mainly topsail, aha lay to until noon on August 14. Ik ' During the time she was hove-to the seas came Hi Inboard with resistless force, and almost threatR ened to bury her, and had she not been in good ■ trim, it is doubtful if she would ever have outjived the fury of the gale. The huge waves

which rolled into and over her made no small havoc on deck, washing a boat adrift, smashing the long-boat, and carrying away a great portion of the bulwarks and stanchions on the port side, and at 4 a.m. on August 14 a sea of unusual magnitude struck and carried away the bowsprit and all the head gear, bringing down the foretopmast and maintopgallantmast, carrying away the cathead, and placing the vessel m great jeopardy. During the gale the chief mate was dashed from the weather to the lee side with great violence, and it is feared that he has had several ribs fractured or otherwise sustained internal injury. After the gale had moderated and the wreck to some extent cleared away, Captain Goouch kept the barque away to the northward, with the wind strong from southerly to S. W. and a high sea until reaching lat. 40deg., on which parallel he came along with moderate westerly winds. Considering the crippled condition of the vessel, Captain Goouch deemed it his most advisable course to make for Port Phillip. The barque will undergo all requisite repair here, and afterwards resume her voyage to Dunedin .—Argus.