PORT OF GREY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1874, 7 August 1874, Page 2

PORT OF GREY.

HIGH WATER. / This Day — 150 a.m. ; 5.31 p.m. ARRIVED. August 6—Nil. *" rw> '"' ! *""■" " v *''sAn3s). '"'" " August 6— NiL ;•;;:■; '!T : - EXPECTED ARRIVALS. CKarles Edward, from Hokitika. Wallace, from Nelson. Murray, from Nelson. Kennedy, from Nelson. ' Sarah and Mary, from Wellington. Spray, from Lyttelton. Emerald, from Lyttelton . Wanganui, from Oamaru. Annie Brown, from Adelaide. Alice Maud, from Melbourne Tararua," f rom Melbourne. Otago, from Melbourne. .Alhambra, from Melbourne.

There were no arrivals or departures at . thi<* port yesterday The s s A lhambra is expected to arrive today from Melbourne direct. She will take passingers for Neison, ail other New Zealand p .'r s. i»nd Melbourne via th Bluff . With regarl to the grounding of the p s. Charles Edward on the south spit at Hokitika. Yesterday's "Resist*)' " says : — ''The p.B. Charles Edward arrived in the roailsted yesterday, and after crossing the bar y rounded on the inside of the south spit -The Wai-j para went to ber assistance, and for some time endeavored to tow her off but unsuccessfully Th>re is but little doubt she will get off next tide, and be alongside the wharf today The steamers Waipara and Ino were' to have sailed for Greymouth yesterd»y. but owing to the groumHug of the Gharl-i« Edward the derarture of the former was delayed, and the egress of the latter was prevented owing to the signal given at the; flagstaff [We hear that the Charles Edwardj got ofl the spit yesterday afternoon, and will 1 most probably return here to-day.] A steamer, supposed to be the Ido, from! Hokitika, arrived in the roadstead last night,; and came to anchor, being too late on the tide to get in. The Torres Strait and Queensland mail service is likely soon to be even more of a reality than it now is. The service hitherto has been performed by hired ships, good of their kind and tolerably fortunate, but these will quickly be superseded by vessels of a: high class, specially built for the Torres Stre.it service. The first of these has been launched on the Clyde, and named the; , Somerset, and she wai expected to leavei London in the latter part of June, to com-i mence the regular service. She would be; followed by the launch, at dates a month apart, of three sister ships— the Brisbane.^ Singapore, and Sydney. i j The steamer Paterson, as she lies wrecked i in the Waitara, was submitted, as previously! announced by telegram from Wellington, to! public competition by Mr Wallace. Though! the attendance was; numerous the sale nearly; proved a fiasco, owing to the particulars as .' advertised being in the first instance de-l parted from. The lot, as read bytheauc-; tipneer,, excluded her spars, sails, anchors, j chains, steering wheel, ropes, and boats— an; announcement which was received with' derisive laughter. Mr Hunter, on behalf of! the Insurance Companies, protested against I the. steamer being sold in such a manner, as ! it was. calculated greatly to depreciate the! property. Mr Johnston said thafc he had! been instructed to bid up. to a certain figure j for the steamer as advertised, and her not: being so sold devolved; an amount of respon- ; sibi'aty on him which he would rather not undertake Several other gentlemen intimated, that they were in a similar posifion. It was then decided to sell the lot as read. It was. put;. up. by the auctioneer at L 100 0; an advance was jnade of LSO, when the bidding flagged*. .After a conference with Mr Billing' the auctioneer announced ,that it had been determined* to sell the. lot. as advertised This seemed to give great satisfaction. The bidding started at LIOSO, and rose rapidly by fifties until L 3300 was reached, at which figure the lot was knocked down to Mr Johnston, for Messrs Levien and Co. The following incidents of whaling life on the Marlborough coast are related by the "Press":— "A second whale has been secured by the whalers in the Sound, and they have been unfortunate enough to lose more than one whale aft°r having killed them. An accident, of. this kind happened on Saturday week, when two boats succeeded in killing a whale, and were towing it asbore when it suddenly began sinking, and to save the boats from being dragged down by the weight of the fish, it was necessary to cut the lines, when it disappeared ' like a shot.' Keenan's boat at the Kaikouras has met with a serious accident, which nearly resulted in the death of Keenan himself. The crew were out lately in chase of a whale, to which they made fast; in th« 'flurry' th* wha'e struck th* boat, smashing it into pieces and throwing al 1 its occupants into the water. A portion of thcrew managed to sustain themse'vs n 'he largest portion of the wreck unti 1 they were taken ofl and a search was ma 'c for Keenan but it was a long time before he was found supporting himself on a piece of the boit ; his 'wife went to his rescue, and succeeded in bringing him safe to land after he ha 1 been in the water for upwards of an hour and a half When brought to land it was found that Keenan was greatly exhausted in consequence of his long immersion, but medical assistance being obtained, be. gradually recovered from the effects of the cold and exposure he had been subject to. The whole of the whaling gear was lost, and this, with the destruction of the boat, will form a seriouß item in the profit and loss account when the season is over."