THE ACCIDENT TO THE SHIP ZEALANDIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1251, 2 August 1872, Page 2

THE ACCIDENT TO THE SHIP ZEALANDIA.

Dr fiatt, of the ship Zealandia, has written the following letter to Mr W. G. Kemp, of Wellington, describing the circumstances under which Captain white and Mr Eennaway, a passenger, lost their lives :■— On the 12th April we encountered a terrible storm in latitude 52deg 30min south, longitude 104deg *est, which very nearly settled us altogether ; as it was, we lost our captain overboard, one of our saloon passengers, Mr C. Kennaway, brother of the Provincial Secretary in Christchurch, and one steward ; the saloon was completely smashed up, the whole front of it being carried away,' and all the cabins on the port side, together with table, swing-trays, piano, sideboard, and all furniture. Twelve people might fcnTin -walkmt-gpreant oat - f of the aaluou on to the main deck ; the interior was smashed tip just as if it had been made of gingerbread. Those who were in the saloon at the time of the grand smash very narrowly escaped drowning, or severe injury from the debris which knocked about from side to side with the .soiling of our ship. Fancy our piano and a heavy sideboard with marble slab being washed away from their fixings, and floating about in the saloon, mixed up with broken tables, chairs, settees, swing-trays, and passengers' luggage of all kinds. I was on deck when poor Captain White and Mr Kennaway were washed away— in fact,lwas within three yards of them, but was behind the mizzen rigging and bad a firm hold of the rattlings, and no managed to hold on. The sea we shipped was a horrible one ; it swept our 4seka. fat* wid. «&> wsjl <»sM *w«j > Wvds& the poor , men, hencoops full of. poultry, a life-boat, pinnace, and cutter, cow-house, and cow, nearly all our sheep and pigs, forward compass and binnacle on the poop,. and smashed in saloon skylights. As soon as I saw White go I got aft and threw a lifebuoy, but of course it was of no use to the poor fellow, as the sea was simply raging, and the ship being on her beam ends with the foreyard in the sea, it was utterly impossible to lower a boat For about fifteen minutes every man in the ship thought she must go down, and all we could do was to hang on to the rigging for our very lives, and try to think about what was to come next They managed to right the ship at last by catting the main braces, &c, and clearing the wheel, which had got fixed; And when once they got her hove to she behaved admirably. We had a fearful night of it, all the, passengers and stewards (more than thirty of us) being stowed aw*y on boxes and portmanteaus in one of the aft cabins, all of us wet through to the skin, and everything about us equally wet. The gale lasted all day Saturday, the 13th April, and did not begin to abate until 4 a.m. on Sunday. At 5 a.m. we turned out and worked hard all day, clearing the wreck of the saloon, and baling out water; but we had to pass another night in the stern cabin before we could get the remainiug cabins on the starboard side clear for the ladies. The gentlemen slept until we reached this port on hay and dry soils in the stern cabin. Burdett behaved uncommonly well after the storm, and if it bad not been for him and one or two others I don't know what we, should have done. We arrived here on tbe 18th April, after a fortnight's run, and I expect we shall be here another week or ten days.