The Wreck of the Wairarapa.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 111, 5 November 1894, Page 2

The Wreck of the Wairarapa.

o l FURTHER PARTICULARS. c THE INQUEST. \ (PER PRESS ASSOCIAIONi. j Auckland, November 3 \ The starboard side of the forecastle i and a portion of the main deck of the ( Wairarapa aro out of the water, tho list to port being 45 degrees. , It is believed that out of a total of 218 - passengers and crew, 120 were drowned. , Tho police are engaged in burying ' bodies along the beach. Fifty more \ coffins or shells were sent by the Nautilus to-night, also a hundred winding sheets and carbolic acid. The inquest on tho bodies was held ( yesterday at Great Barrier Island. Ninoteen bodies were recovered along the beach and were taken round to Maori Bay, where twelve bodies had already been buried. The jurymen sat on the rocks. Herbert Johnston, third officer of the Wairarapa, stated at the inquest tbat the Captain was on deck all Sunday night, and immediately on the vessel striking the latter gavo orders to clear away the boats, lfc was so dark that they could not see a ship's length ahead. The officers and men did all tliey could to get the boats ont, but the work was one of extreme difficulty and danger owing to the ship heeling over so much. Tho Coroner asked Johnston whether there was any difference of opinion between the officers as to the steamer's position ou Sunday night, Johnston replied : " I myself did not feel easy about the ship's position on account of the thick foggy weather, aud I did not turn in or go below after my watch on deck." Coroner : "Do you know if any of the officers spoke to the Captain about altering the ship's course or reducing the speed of the vessel ? ! ' Boing pressed, witness said " Yes " to the question, and added : " I spoke to the captain aud asked him to slow the ship down. He told me the ship was all right, and going on her usual course. This was about au hour before the vessel struck. The captain was perfectly sober then, aud during the wholo voyage and after the accident ho did all that a captain and a seaman could and should do." The vessel was going about twelve or thirtcou knots when he asked the captain to slow her. He gave no reason for travelling at that speed on such a night, and said he had perfect confidence in bis course.". Coroner—" Was it bis endeavour to get in before any other ship that made him keep up that speed ? Was it racing?" Witness — " No ;it was not racing or any rivalry." Ho did not see the captain drown. Thcro was no whistling or fog signs during Suuday night. The vessel travelled from Capo Maria Van Diemeu till sho struck without either using fog signals or slowing down. All life-saving aparatus on tho vessel was in proper order. A verdict was returned that deceased came to their death through being drowned at the wreck of the Wairarapa. The steamer Argyle returned this morning from the Great Barrier, having recovered twenty bodies, fivo of which she brought up to Auckland, being those of Misses Flavall and Williams, and Messrs Warry, Spencer and Bray. The steamer picked up nineteen bodies on the rocks at Katherine Bay. The corpses presented a shocking spectacle. One girl, unknown, had the calf of her leg aud part of her side bitteu away by a shark. Mrs Stewart's body haa beeu identified. Sixteen or eighteen more bodies, including two women and a Chinaman, bave been discovered at Whangapoa. A large quantity of jewellery was found on tho drowned. '•A ELLINGTON, November 4. Mrs Besant lectures at Woodville on behalf of the Wairarapa fund on Tuesday. Subscriptions are already coming iv iv Wellington for the fund. Langley, one of the survivors, who arrived by tbe Mahinapua, was interviewed, but adds little to what has already been published, except that he says he saw no children on deck after the ship struck, and believes a number of women and children must have been drowned in their berths, as their cabins, which were on the port side, filled immediately tbe vessel heeled over. Sympathetic references wore made from the pulpits respecting the sad disaster. Christchurch, November 4. His Excellency the Governor yesterday afternoon received tlie following cablegram from the Secretary of State for tho Colonies : - " Desire to express regret and sympathy at shipwreck of Wairarapa aud great loss of life. — Rll'ON." Sydney, November 4. Mr Bray, drowned in the Wairarapa disaster, was a Sydoey resident and not the son of Mr Bray of Onehunga, wbo, it is understood, claimed the body under tbe impression that it was tbat of his son, who still resides in Sydney.