CRUISER AGROUND

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2117, 27 June 1907, Page 2

CRUISER AGROUND

A PECULAR ACCIDENT. United Press Association—Copyright BRISBANE, June 26. Leiutenant Hurst was on the bridg< of H.M.S. Pyramus all night, and left at 8 in the morning to have r bath. The sea was smooth and there was bright sun. As the Pyramu: approacehed the “C” reef beacon, the officer of the watch of his own volitior ordered the helmsman to go to port and the beacon was brought on the starboard bow. ■ // The vessel was doing 15 'knots ano leapt on the coral reef. There wa: a terrific grinding and grating below, and as her waist took the weight she came to tt gradual, helpless standstill. She has, as far as can be gathered, sustained no damage. She just ploughed a trough in the coral and lay there with her bows in the air. Had .the Pyramus run on to ? rooky reef instead of a great mass 0 i roten coral and sand, she would have crumpled her bottom like an egg-shell, but examination of the cruiser showed she was making no water. There was no big shivering shock and no dislocation of anything aboard. She just slid up on the coral and stayed there. The cre-w took the matter with the true'maval coolness. Within a couple of nniiutes of the vessel striking every man was at his post-, and the watertight compartments were closed. At dawn the boats were manned with all the precision of clockwork. The people on the Pyramus are not disposed to talk much about! the disaster. but there are three outstanding facts. The Pyramus was two miles off the beaten track of merchantmen ; she had seen the red beacon to starboard, when a similar distance on the other bow would have given her deep water; and she actually climbed up in daylight on the reef that was only two or three feet under the surface of the water..