The Hannah Barrett.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 93, 19 April 1883, Page 2

The Hannah Barrett.

We have received occasional telegrams from Wellington, telling of the supposed loss of the Hannah Barrett, with all hands. None of them inform us that any steps have been taken by Government to discover the correctness or otherwise of the story, except that a constable was dispatched round Terawhiti to look for traces of wreck, <kc. ' Itisnot stated that he found anything worthy of special note. The master of tha Wanaka reported having sighted a vessel floating bottom upwards, te the danger of navigation, somewhere in the Straits, and we have heard of some cabin fittings having been washed ashore, and identified aa belonging to the missing vessel. Iv other seas it js customary to send out a man of war onotheß'.freriselj under the control of the Gover-tai.nt, to look after direlicfc vessels, and in the case of the wreck seen by the 'Wanaka, a vessel of some kind ought to have been despatched at once, to ascertain positively the name of the wrecked vessel, and afterwards to have sunk her out of the way of passing vessels, that very likely would have met a similar fate by coming in contact with her .it night. When it is remembered that tbe Hannah Barrett was owned and sailed by a Wellington man as master, the well-known Captain Renneb, any reasonable person would have, expected the Wellington folk to have displayed

some interest in the fate of the vessel and crew, and have influenced the Government to have sent out a vessel, nnd if this means failed, they could have scut out one at their own cost. Even a few sympathising shipmasters might have joined together, and chartered a small steamer for a few days to go and search for a missing brother. It appears both sympathy and money were wanting, for nothing has been done, except to send a constable, who, from his profession, is not likely to be able to gather information that could only be obtained by a nautical man. In jears gone by Capt Rennes did noble service in saving life when the unfortunate Orpheus was wrecked at the Manukau Heads, and on his return the Wellington people made a great fuss over him, to their own great satisfaction no doubt. It is also recorded that on another occasion he rescued the crew off a ship that had " turned turtle," by taking them off the bottom of the wreck, where they had found a precarious refuge. 'J here are few old colonists thai have not had a trip with him in (he old days on board tiie Wonga Wonga, and Rangitara, or even in the old schooner Lady Grey, which we believe was the first vessel he commanded on the New Zealand coast, and every one of them must remember with kindly feelings how good a seaman be was, how attentive to his passengers, and careful of his ship. And yet when he is missing, and too probably gone to his long rest " under the great deep," no sign is made, not an effort of any kind, to ch?ar up the mystery that hangs over his fate. No other port in New Zealand would so disgraie itself by its apathy and supine indifference towards one who has in " the old time before" been a good friend to Wellington and its inhabitant's. We deeply sympathise with the members oE Capt. Rk.vneb's family.