SHIPPING.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 2, 2 June 1874, Page 2

SHIPPING.

FORT OF LYTTELTON. ARRIVED. June 2—Marmion, schooner, 72 tons, M'Leod, from Picton. June 2—Comerang, p.s., 152 tons, from Dunedin via intermediate ports. Passengers —5 in steerage. CLEARED. < June 2—Dilharree, barque, 1293 tons, M'Neilly, for London. IMPORTS, Per Ballochmyle—426o rails, *137 boxes, 0 rolls lead, 2258 cases, 109 casks, 202 kegs, 106 bales, 521 pkgs, 35 doors, 30 grates. 107 sashweights, 24 hhds, 50 qr-cks, 180 bdls, 13 machines, 50 crates, 50 crates,_so barrels, 04 tanks, S anvils, 119 bolts, 75 drums, 4 firkins, 1176 bars. EXPORTS. Per Diiharrco— 2012 bales wool and skins, 11,847 sacks wheat. 12,109 cases meats, 232 easks tallow, 14 bales flax, 41 bags bones, 134 do flour, 10 pelts, 2 bales rabbit skins, 15 cases. VESSELS IN HARBOR. Steamers—P.s. Comerang. • Ships—Rakaia, China, Portland, Apelles, Yaruna, City of Agra, Ballochmyle. Barques—Dilharree, Gyrene, Albyn’s Isle, Mary Ann Annison, Eleanor, Natal Queen, Queen, Acacia, Prince Victor, Corrido, Auriga, Queensland. Brig—Byron. Brigantine—Ryno; Schooners Jessie, Margaret, Courier. Maid of Otago, Florence, Mary Melville, Pearl, Flying Cloud, Spray, Florence, Oreti, Cleopatra, Lady Don. Ketches —Emerald, Annie. Ths p.s. Comerang, [Captain Hughes, arrived in harbor this day at noon from Dunedin via intermediate ports. The schooner Mormion arrived in harbor this morning from Picton with a cargo of timber. The barque Dilharree, Captain Neilly, cleared the Customs this morning for Picton. INTERPROVINGIAL SHIPPING TELEGRAMS. ARRIVALS. Wellington —Fiery Cross, from Lyttelton. DEPARTERES. Luna, on a lighthouse cruise. WRECK OF THE BARQUE EARL OF SOUTHESK. [“ Wellington Independent,” May 29.] About one o’clock yesterday the signalman at Mount Victoria station was observed to be making unusual signals, and much interest was excited when two signals “ ship on the rocks” and “ship is sinking” were made out at the Custom-house. A large crowd gathered] round, and intense eagerness and anxiety prevailed, for the signalman had not sent the name along with the other signals, and it was well known that the luverallan was at the entrance of the harbor, as it was supposed with 300 immigrants. Some relief was felt when it became known that it was the barque Earl of Southesk, frpm Newcastle, with coals, and not the Inverallan. Still the case was urgent, and for some time it was not known whether any loss of life had resulted ; nothing could he sent to the unfortunate vessel’s aid, for the wind was against sailing vessels, and the only steamer available was the Otago, and she bad blown off steam, and could not have got it up under three hours. .Under these circumstances it was hoped that tTi'sj s.s Waipara, which had left about an hmV before the signals were made, would have gone alongside, or that the Inverallan’s boatfc or Pilot Holme’s whaleboat would have gone to the rescue ; but, as it turned out, the barque’s own boat, with the aid of some fishermen, brought all the crew ashore in safety. When day broke yesterday morning, '-the signalman at the outer station perceived the barque lying at anchor outside the heads. Between eighti«nd nine a.m. she got under way, and stood in for the entrance, hut during the forenoon it fell calm and she came to an anchor again. Shortly afterwards she again got under way, but the wind fell suddenly, and before any measures could be taken to prevent the catastrophe, the swell of theses which had ccrosup with the southerly wind, drove her on to the rocks. At the southern end of the lot of rocks known as Barrett’s Reef, there is one which goes by the name of the Big Rock ; this is the last of those which appear above water. Just beyond it is a submerged rock with a sharp edge, about three feet under water, and only very occasionally visible. All around it the water is deep, averaging from eight to nine fathoms. It was on this submerged rock that the barque struck. As she drove on (it was the work of a moment), and her striking became inevitable, the crew were seen on the booms casting loose and cutting the boats adrift. They had no time, however, to effect their purpose; the swell hove the vessel up on to tfte rocks, and she rose and fell once or twice ; and then, with a lurch forward went down stem foremost, her stern being up in the air for a minute or two. The captain, who was below endeavoring to save his papers, had barely time to gain the deck before she went down, and it was only by cutting all the gear connecting the boat with the ship, and almost hurling her from the sinking vessel, that the crow managed to get clear. All got safely into the boat, the captain being the last man to leave his ship, and immediately after she went down. For a few minutes her masts appeared above water, but the foremast had already been shaken from its socket and driven through the bottom by the violence of the concussion, and in a short time all three went by the board, leaving not a vestige of the ill-fated vessel above water. Having seen the last of her, the boat and her crew, eleven besides the captain, started on their way to Wellington. They had not gone far when the boat began to leak, and having no baling materials, the men had recourse to their boots to keep her afloat. Meanwhile she was going only at a veryslow rate before the wind, some boat av i n

foundered in nine fathoms of water, with the cargo and everything belonging to the crew. The' unfortunate men have lost their money, their clothes, their papers, all their earthly possessions, and are now thrown in a perfectly destitute condition upon the good nature of fellow-seamen. It is extremely pleasing to record that Captain Fairchild, so soon as he heard of the state in which the men were, immediately placed the comfortable quarters of the Luna at their disposal, an offer which was only too gratefully accepted ; and last night the whole of the shipwrecked crew, with the captain and mate, had supper and beds on board the Luna,

The captain’s statement is to the effect that the barque left Newcastle on Saturday, the Kith of May, with a cargo of coal for this port, and encountered strong winds, high seas, and very severe weather during the run across. On Wednesday evening she was near the Heads, and working in with a strong wind under double-reefed topsail and foresail. At 10 p.m. the anchor was dropped in the fairway in a good and safe berth. About nine o’clock in the morning, when a breeze came up from the NW, she commenced working in, but at ten o’clock it fell calm, and consequently had to anchor to prevent being set upon the reef. Shortly after dinner the wind came from the southward, and she again got under way, for the purpose of running in, but the wind baffled her, and she swung round beyond control upon the rocks, and ten minutes after she struck she was down and gone from sight, the crew having barely time to cut. adrift one of the boats and scramble into it for their lives without making an effort to save anything else. After she had disappeared, the boat with her crew of twelve men, including the captain, made the best of their way to town, receiving help from a fisherman’s boat on the way. Ihe crews of the schooners Aspasia and liuby. which were anchored in Worser’s Bay, witnessed the wreck, but the whole affair was over in so short a time that no assistance could be sent from either vessel in time to be of any use. Our reporter visited the scene of the wreck in the afternoon. Not a vestige of the vessel lemains where she struck, not even a sign of her masts being visible ; amongst the rocks in the bight beyond are a few of her spars and timbers floating about, but only very little. The longboat lies stranded near the'cliffs, the lifeboat, hardly damaged at all, out near the Big Bock by Farmer’s Head. Wreckers were busy, but very little was there to reward their search.

The barque was owned by a Melbourne firm, Messrs Anderson and Marshall, and was Arbroath built, some sixteen years old, but a fine staunch vessel. She was bound here' with a cargo of coals on ship’s account, and had no agent in this port.