Shipping.

Evening Star, Issue 4116, 6 May 1876, Page 3

Shipping.

HIGH WATER. TO-MO2EOW.

AT THE HEADS. Prairie, brig, supposed from Hobart Town.

POST CHALMERS. AKHIVEE. . Hay 6.—Kestrel, ketch, 52 tons, Bern, from the coast, put in. Harnett Armitage, barque, 233 tons, Mailler, from Newcastle. May 6.—Beautiful Star, s.s., 146 tons, Peterson, from Timaru. Falmerston, ketch, 25 tons, Brebner, from Waikouaiti. SAILED. May s.—Wanganni, s.s., 179 tons, Christian, for Timaru. Taiaroa, s.s., 228 tons. Stewart, for Timaru. Passengers: Mrs Davidson, Miss Eobertson; Messrs Gibbs and Bell. May 6.—Oamaru, ship, 1,305 tons, Stuart, for London. Passengers: Mr and Mrs Wainwright, Misses Wainwright (2), Masters Wainwright (2), Mrs and Miss Bathgate; Mesdames George Ludeman, Bugler, Gilpin; Masters Gilpin (3); Messrs James Walker and A. S. Paterson. Second cabin: Mr and Mrs M'Queen and family (0), Mr and Mrs Siddall, Mr and Mrs M'D nald aud family (6), Mr and Mrs Forsyth and two children; Messrs Pen. dleton, Service, Barr, Mote, Crawford, Brown, Carlyle, Thomson, Walker, Strachan, Aitcheion, Owen, Tolley, West, M'Millan.

Thep.s. Comerang, from Southern ports, arrived yesterday afternoon, and steamed past tho port to Dunedin. She left the Bluff at 4 p.m. on the 4th, and had strong winds to arrival. Passengers: Mr and Mrs Dessarthe and two children, Miss Leigh; Mnssrs Daniel, Leigh, Sergeant Fitwell andprisoner j and eight in the steerage. The ketch Kestrel, from Purakanui for the Bluff, put in for repairs to her centre board. The barque Harriett Armitage, with a full cargo of coal and coke, was towed up yesterday afternoon by the p.s. Gcelong, after a smart passage of eight days from Newcastle, which port she left on the 27th ult., with a N.W. wind which continued until the 30th, when it shifted to the S.W., increasing to a heavy gale with tremendous high sea, which compelled her to heave-to on the Ist iDst. until the following day, when the gale moderated; thence to making the S.W. Cape on the 3rd had fresh winds; cleared Foveaux Straits on the 4th; had light westerly winds along the coast to arrival as above. Captain Mailler reports the barque Prospector at Newcastle, loading for Fiji. The ketch Lloyd's Herald, having received a thorough overhaul, was taken off Sutherland's slip yesterday afternoon. The N. Z. Company's steamer Taranaki sailed from the railway pier this afternoon, with cargo and passengers for the Northern ports. The Albion Company's ship Oamaru, with a full cargo, sixteen saloon and thirty-nine steerage passengers, took her departure for London this forenoon. She was towed to sea by the tug Geelong. The Oamaru is in splendid trim, and we wish her a safe and prosperous passage. The brig Prairie wus signnlled at the Heads this forenoon. Supposed from Hobart Town. The Union Company's steamer Beautiful Star returned to Port this morning from Timaru, and steair el alongside the ship R l'cia to discharge 1,420 sacks of wheat, bhe left Timuru at 6.30 p.m. yesterday ; had strong S.W. winds to amval at 9.30 this morning. The ketch Polmcr.Tton, from Wa'kouaiti, arrived this morning, and passed the Port to Dunedin.

SHIPPING TELEGBAMS. Wellington, May s.—Sailed: Amwata, for the South, at 3 p.m. Passengers: Messrs Jeffs, Smith, Burt, M'Donald, Gibbs, Davis, and Lage. Taupo, for Lyttelton and the South, at 4 p.m. Passengers: Messrs W. Moore, F. Moore, Macfarlane, J. Hislop, Derritt, J. Gummell, P. Foster, Jobberns, Captain Leith; and seven steerage. Bltjff, May s.—Arrived: Eingarooma, s.s. She left Melbourne at Ipm. on the Ist; passed Swan Island on the following day, and experienced S.W. winds and fine weather until her arrival on the sth, at 4 p.m. She brings 410 tons cargo, and nineteen saloon and twenty-two steerage for all poits. She sails for Dunedin at 4 p.m. to-morrow. She has on board for Dunedin—Passengers: Messrs Amstick, Partridge, Hooper, M'Neil, Trapp, Berghoff; Miss Champion, Miss Allan, Mrs Stevenson, Captain Bowden; and ten steerage j also, 100 tons cargo. Auckland, May 5.—A serious collision occurred between the barque Cabarfeidh, bound for Newcastle, and the schooner Maggie, entering the port. The barque luffed, and came smack into the Bchooner—the jibboom-head of the former vessel

carrying away the schooner's mainmast and staving her in on the port side. The mast and boom came down with a crash, and narrowly escaped falling on Captain Martin, who immediately ja raped into a boat, thinking the vessel was cut in two. The mate jumped into the chains of the Cabarfeidh, and got aboard that vessel. After the collision tho two vessels remained fouled for some time. Captain Martin rowed round several times before he could find tke schooner in the uncertain light, and also thought his mate had been drowned. Ultimately the Maggie was found right under the barque's nose. Within ten minutes of the crash there was a foot and a-half of water on the schooner's cabin floor, and the captain and mate, who had returned to the vesael, had Just made up their minds to make for town in the clingy, when the schooner Helen happening to pass, offered to tow the schooner up, which was success fully accomplished.—Merser telegrams state that the new steamer Quickstep, on Waikato River, struck on a snag and sank. No lives were lost. LOSS OF THE STRATHCLYDE. (Home Ntwt, March 9.) A dreadful collision between two steamers occurred at Dover on the afternoon of February 16, resulting in the sinking of the Glasgow steamer Strathclyde, Captain Eaton. The Strathclyde, an iron screw steamer of 1,255 tons register, 180 horsepower, left Loudon on February 16, with a general cftrgo, for Bombay; had landed her pilot in Dover Bay, and was about to proceed on her journey, when she was run into by the Bremen steamei Franconia, bound from Hamburg to Havre and New York. She was so seriously damaged that she went down in about eleven fathoms of water, a mile from the Admiralty Pier. There were on board a crew of twenty-six, and thirty passengers. The chief mate of the Strathclyde and four of the crew saved themselves by getting on board the Franconia, and they were subsequently landed in Dover by the steam tug Palmerston The Franconia proceeded to the Downs, her bowseriously damaged. Charles Jnmes Chescoe, the pantry steward of the Strathclyde, in his narrative of tho catastrophe, says : —" I was below in the pantry reading a paper , when I heard great confusion on deck of people running about and crying out. I at once ran up, and in doing so felt the shock of the collision j and

on going up the stairs I could see the black hjv l * °* the (Jorrtwu ship over ours. When I cot on inost <*t ttio passengers and cre_W appeared to be there, and the passengers were all running about in great agony and fear—some of them stretching out their arms and crying for help, others tearing their hair and burying their heads in their hands in despair. I saw all this at a glance, and I Baw, too, that the only chance of life was to jump for it. I leaped on the German ship, and, getting safe on board, I at once turned my attention to their boats. No one on the vessel seemed to be trying to launch the boats. The chief mate went to the bridge and spoke to the captain, and he also sang out to . ne crew, saying, ' If tkero is any one here that understands English, come forward and help to get theße boats launched.' Then I saw the other three men of our crew who had climbed up the side of the ship, and we ti ied to lannch the boats. I seized a hatcbet and cut away at the ropes, but everything was so stiff, and we were strange to the ship, so that before we got a boat

loose our ship was going down. I saw the handrail on the port side under waterjust as we were getting the first boat free. We eventually did not launch any boats. After our vessel sank the German vessel steamed away to the Downs, when we were put on board the tug and brought to Dover." The depositions of the chief mate and other seamen of the Strathclyde, confirm the above statement that the boats of the Francoiua were not ready for lowering at the time of the accident. Captain Eaton believes the boilers did not burst when his ship sunk, as the engineers opened all the Valves the moment after the collision took place. Several acts of great endurance are narrated. Captain Beckett, a passenger, on the steamer going down, was thrown on one side, and Mrs Beckett on the other. Captain Beckett, on seeing his wife, immediately swam over to her and held her up till piilled on board the lugger. Mrs Beckett behaved with the greatest coolness, whieh most probably saved her life. It is said of another passenger that when in the gig of the Strathclyde he told the men not to rub him, saying, " I am all right," but immediately afterwards expired, probably of heart disease. One of the passengers state that but for the

eoolness of Bird (the second mate of the Strathclyde) in manning the gig of the Strathclyde and helping the boats of the lugger Early Morn to pick up the submerged men, a much greater number of the passengers and crew would have beeu lest. As to the cause of the collision the oflicere of the Strjthclyde state that it occurred iu consequence of the Frauconia attempting to go astern i.f them, and the officers of that ship not making due allowance for the speed at which the strathclyde was goiug. It appears that directly after the disaster occurred three boats were lowered, and the captain's gig was stove in instantaneously. Captain Eaton called to the men on board not to crowd to starboard, and begged them to let all the ladies be seated in the lifeboats first. The male passengers, however, pressed into them, and when the ship went down the two boats were sucked under the water, and only three ladies out of the fifteen on board were saved. The fishing smack Early Morn was near at hand, and the crew made every effort to save life, but the wind was blowing so high at the time that it shot past the wreck, and had to take a long tack before it could again approach. Captain Eaton, who appears to have stuck to his ship to the last, nearly lost his life owing to a small block pjg, which was washed overboard, fastening itself on his bSck, and only released its hold when a rope's end was thrown out to Eave the captain by the crew of the Early Morn. A captain of the Madras army was saved by clinging *o a floating spar, and was astonished on being landed to be told that his wife had been saved by similar means, and was safely housed in the same hotel that he was taken to. Some erroneous statements crept into the first accounts of the catastrophe, and amongst these it is right at once to contradict that which announoed that the boilers of the StrathClyde had burst. They did not, for the safetyvalves were thrown open by the second and third engineers, and thus what would have been an additional and fearful feature of the catastrophe was averted. Captain Eaton bitterly complains of the heartlessness displayed by the captain of the Fianconia, who gave orders for his ship to steam to Dover without making the slightest eifort to save any of his drowning feflow-creatures. The crew of the Strathclyde succeeded in lowering three boats, one of which filled by ladies, was immediately overturned, and the other two were stove in as the ship was sinking. The most careful enquiries fail to show the cause of the catastrophe, the weather being clear and the sea smooth, and, above all, it was broad daylight when the collision took place. The Strathclyde, had juit dropped her pilot, and it is supposed that she was nit fairly under weigh, and that the captain of the Brenvn steamer mistaking the speed at which the other vessel wiis proceeding, was under the impression that he would clear her without altering his course. The collision was witnessed by a large number of persons from the promenades on the sea front at Dover; but of course it is impossible to say where the blame lies. Tiie scene on board the vessel the survivors state was heartrending. The collision was terrific, and the panic on board the Franconia seemed to have been as great as in the Strathclyde, for it was imagined that she would also founder. A painful fact in connection with the collision is that there was a cask of vitriol and other chemicals on the deck of the Strathclyde, and these exploded at the moment of the collision, fearfully injuring the persons on deck. It was from injuiLs so received that most of the deaths occurred which are reported to have taken place. Immediately after the collision a thick fog set in, which rendered the duty of looking for the survivors extremely difficult. Tho lifeboat cruised around the spot, but there was nothing to be Been except the masts of the Strathclyde land some pieces of drift timber. As in the case of the Northfleet, the weak and delicate women have been lost, and the majority of the saved are robust men und hardy seamen. In this caso it could hardly have been otherwise. At the time of the collision, iu all probability, the passengers were below, with the exception of a few who were taking a farewell look at the " white cliffs" of their native land, which they were never to see more.

The body of a young lady brought into Eamsgate by the smack Crest was at once identified by Mr Boucicault, brother of Mr Dion Boucicault, as that of his stepdaughter, Mrs Lizzie Green, aged twentynine, wife of an officer in the Indian army. She hud only been married about a month. An inquiry into the collision was commenced on February 19, and resulted in a verdict of manslaughter against t'ie captain of the Franconia, the jury finding " that the sinking of the Strathclyde was caused by the negligence, gross mismanagement, and reckless navigation on the pari, of the person iu charge of the Francouia at the time of tho collisiou, and that the person so in charge is guilty of uiauslaughter. The jury express their strongest; condemnation of the conduct of the peraon so in charge of the Franconia for steaming away from the scene of the occurrence, and leaving the crew and passengers of the Strathclyde to their fate, apparently without rendering any assistance. The jury cannot refrain from including in their condemnations the conduct of the persons in charge of the Palmerston tug, of Dover, who might, if they been so disposed, have rendered succur to the distressed."

Htudb. 1 Ft. Chalmebs. 1 Dchbdih. 2.07 p.m. I 2.47 p.m. | MONDAT. 3.32 p.m. 2.43 p.m. | 3.23 p.m. 1 4.08 p.m.