SHIPPING.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 210, 10 February 1875, Page 2

SHIPPING.

PORT OF LYTTELTON. ARRIVED. Feb. 10—Ladybird, s.s, 286 tons, Andrew, from Dunedin. Passengers—Saloon ; Mrs Spensley and child, Miss Austin, Captain Ogilvie, Dr Felhol, Messrs Bage, Inglis, and B. Miller, and seven for North, Steerage; Miss Packington, Mr Moore. Feb, 10—Herald, schooner, from Pictou, with timber. CLEARED. February £10 —Ladybird, s. s., 286 tons, Andrew, for Northern ports. February 10—Emperor, brig, 284 tons, Clearly, for Guam, in ballast, February 10 Bee, schooner, 31 tons, Green, for Amuri Bluff, in ballast. SAILED. February 10—Bruce, s.s., 205 tons, Jones, for Akaroa, Timaru, and Dunedin. Passenfers —saloon : Miss M. Robertson, Mr and Irs McKenzie, Mr and Mrs Mortimer, Messrs Westenra, Brough, Hogan, Whatkin, Parr, Bain, February 10—Duke of Edinburgh, ship, 1117 tons, R. Mosey, for London. Passengers —saloon : Rev F. and Mrs Pember, Masters Pember (2), Miss Pember, Miss Ann tie Baux, Mrs Savage. Second cabin : Mrs Armstrong, Misses Armstrong (4), Master Armstrong, Mrs Bell, Masters Bell (2), Miss Bell. February 10—Albion, brig, 248 tons, Wilson, for Newcastle, in ballast. February 10—Queensland, barque, 414 tons, Gray, for Newcastle, in ballast. February 10—Spray, schooner, 50 tons, Ruxton, for Timaru, with cargo. February 10—Linnet, ketch, 17 tons, Smith, for Pigeon Bay. February 10—Elizabeth Ann, ketch, 17 tons, for Bays, The Hebe went down the harbor this morning and anchored at Camp Bay. She does not sail till to-night. The Bruce sailed at three p.m to-day. The Duke of Edinburgh got under weigh at 11 a.m., and was outside the heads by noon, with a fresh westerly breeze. LOSS OF THE LA PLATA, In a previous issue we gave some account of the severe gale which visited England in the beginning of December, in which a short account was given of the loss of the above ship. The following fuller particulars are taken from the “ Daily Telegraph —f‘ The La Plata, Captain Duddeu, left Gravesend on the morning of the 26th November, In charge of Mr Martin, pilot, bound to Rio Grande Sol. On Sunday morning, during a gale, between eight and nine, the engineer reported the ship making a great quantity of water. It was then agreed to lighten her, and we commenced paying out the cable over over the boom. We payed out a quantity and then let it go. By ten o’clock the fires were all out in the stokehole. We then prepared the remaining boats and rafts to leave the ship, which was gradually sinking by the stern. At half-past twelve she foundered, stern first, with sixty persons on board. The only persons who got oil were twelve in the port quarter-boat, and three others were picked up; making fifteen in all. Before leaving, we saw one boat on the port side stove in. Of the remaining two boats one was capsized when the ship went down, and the three persons picked up were out of it. The captain and doctor remained on the bridge, having failed to get clear the patent life-rafts, and both are supposed to have sunk with the remainder of the crew when the decks blew up. We were in the boat two hours before clearing away from the wreck, being unable to render any assistance, through fear of staving and swamping the boat We were in the boat for twenty-three hours, provisioned with only a small piece of cheese and one bottle of gin. We kept two hands baling with buckets the whole time, as our boat made much water. At daylight on Monday morning we saw a ship distant about five miles off, which proved to be the Gareloch of Glasgow, Captain Greenwood, by whom we were picked up about 11.30. The lost are :—Captain Dudden, Mr Hughes (the surgeon), the three officers, one of the four engineers, seven of the ten stewards and cooks, both the boatswains, the carpenter, all the 11 stokers, 14 of the 21 seamen, and the whole of the cable staff, numbering 16, with Mr Ricketts, and the six electricians accompanying him. From other sources we learn that when she left this country the La Plata was considered to be carrying a comparatively easy cargo, her capacity being 1600 tons, whereas her whole freight did not exceed 1200 tons. Of this 900 tons was the weight of the cable and 300 tons coal. The owners and charterers of the ship have as yet received only meagre details of the circumstances in which the ship was lost, and the idea which finds favor with them is that on encountering the full force of the south-western hurricane of Sunday, the La Plata was making for Brest when she was pooped by a heavy S6fl» Immediately on receipt of the telegram announcing the loss of the ship, Mr Siemens telegraphed to Her Majesty’s Consul at Brest to send out a steamer to cruise about the spot where the disaster happened, in the hope of picking up any boats’ crews that might still be afloat. At the same time Mr Siemens despatched one of his own engineers to Brest to take whatever other measures may be deemed desirable. The 300 miles of wire which the ship had on board were intended to complete the Brazilian and La Plata cable, the section of which, known as the Kio Grande and Cbuhe, formed the cargo of the La Plata. The La Plata carried only the usual picking-up and laying machinery, as used on board all cable ships. All due precautions had been taken by Captain Dudden and Mr Ricketts, loth men of experience in cable-laying expeditions; and the La Plata had been seen and passed by Lloyds’ surveyor prior to departure. The dead weight capacity was 1656 tons. Messrs Siemen’s put on board cable, machinery, and stores, 920 tons ; coals, 266 tons; total, 1186 tons. The loss of the La Plata steamer, with cable on board, is a heavy loss to London underwriters. The loss of life is also very sad. She was an iron screw steamer of 1200 tons, and was for many years one of Messrs Lamport and Holt’s fleet.