ARRIVAL OF THE ST. KILDA.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 42, 14 October 1867, Page 254

ARRIVAL OF THE ST. KILDA.

The Colonial Government steamer St. Kilda, Capt. Fox, with his' Honor the Superintendent on hoard, arrived in port at noon on Friday last. She left Wellington at 10 p.m. on Wednesday last, called in at several places on the coast, and arrived, in port as above. We have to thank the steward of the St. Hilda for a copy of the Wellington Independent, of .the sth Oct., also of a New Zealand Times, 9th Oct.

The St. Hilda steamed for the Chatam Islands at 5 o’clock on Saturday morning last.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The cutter St. Hilda, Burr, master, arrived in port on Thursday morning last, from Auckland via Matakana, with about 30 tons firewood. Experienced heavy N.W. weather the greater part of the passage. The s s. Lord Ashley, Capt. Worsp, is due here this day from Taurangaand Auckland, and will leave for Southern Ports at noon to-morrow, with the English Mail via Suez.

Wreck or the Manukau.—Two Lives Lost.— The Wellington Independent, sth October, says that “intelligence reached town yesterday afternoon to the effect that the N.Z.S.N. Company’s three-masted schooner Manukau was wrecked on Wednesday night, and now lies a total wreck about four miles from Manawatu Heads. ' The mate and a hoy were the only persons drowned; but when the person whobrougHt the intelligence into town left Manawatu, the carpenter of the vessel remained in the rigging, and there seemed very little hope of saving.him, owing to the heavy sea running. Most of the crew got ashore in a boat, hut Captain Bryant and a colored man saved their lives by means of pieces of wreck. The survivors were stopping at Mr Langley’s, and were much exhausted by their sufferings; otherwise Captain Bryant would himself have ridden into town with the sad news. The Manukau was a three-masted schooner, of about 600 tons burthen, and was lately refitted at at a cost to the Company of £IOOO. She was, when wrecked, on a voyage from Newcastle, N.S.W., to this port, with a cargo of coals, which is insured to its full value; the vessel herself being partly covered by insurance." Loss by Fire or the Ship Queen op the Deep. —(From the Cape of Good Hope Argus, July IS.)— Ou the 19th ultimo, it will he remembered, the Natal, Captain A. C. Davie, left this i ort for Galle via Natal. When off Bird Island, the same day, she was signalled by the crew of the Queen of the Deep, and had the good fortune to rescue them and take them on to Natal, whence they arrived this morning by the Natalion. We have seen Captain de la Pewelle, and have been requested by him to publish the following particulars:—l have no doubt you will kindly afford me space in your columns for a short statement of the circumstances under which I and my crew of thirty-one men arrived in Durban on the 22nd ult. tin the 18th ult my ship, Queen of the Deep, 1257 tons, seventy days from Calcutta to Liverpool, with a cargo of cotton and jute, took fire in latitude 34-50 S., lon. 23- E. When the smoke first began to issue from the after-hold it was blowing a heavy gale from the west; it soon became so thick that it was impossible to get at anything in the cabins, or. to do anything but batten down the hatches and pump water down through holes in the deck. To preserve anything was impossible. We got out the boats, and about twenty minutes after we had taken refuge in them ,the, main and mizen masts fell—the ship being already a mass of flames. We bad nothing'but some biscuits and water, which were almost immediately spoilt by the sea. Fortunately no lives were lost. After being in the boats three days and two nights, we were thank ful indeed to see the U. Co.’s steamer Natal ap- • proaohing, and were all safe on . board of her by one o’clock on Wednesday last. In half-an-hour afterwards the wind had increased so much that I am persuaded the boats must have foundered. -We were treated with every kindness by Captain Davie and the officers of the Natal. The passengers by that vessel also subscribed on the spot .upwards of £ls, which was handed to me, and •which I-have expended in purchasing clothes and Other necessaries for the oi ew. Destruction or a Ship by Fire.—Seven Lives Lost. —We extract the following from Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, July 14;—The barque Meteor, of Sunderland, from New York for London, with a O irgo of coal oil, was burnt on her passage on the 11th: ult. The'first and second mates, the carpentor.and four of the crew were burnt in.her. The captain and remainder of the crew.landed at Falmouth pn Monday, Details of the: calamity are given in the following report“ Eeport of Mat-thew-Mason, of the late barque Meteor; of Sunderland, 363 tons, thirteen hands, all told, from New York for London, cargo petroleum. Weighed anchor at ten a.m. J nne 12, at 12*30 p.m., off Sandy i-Hook; ship steering E.S.E. All went on well until the moming of the 14th, when in .lat. 39*21 N., lon. 69*9 W„ atnihe a.m.,.the watch were* thrown into confusion by the decks blowing up, and flames running up the niast boats all destroyed, and sails ‘ Bet on fire, and in .a-few'minutes all three masts went over the side in flames. At. this time five men were, below, two'of whom* got on-deck, ’and the others perished-in the flames. The remainder of crew, ten in number,-then took to pieces of the decks, and whatever, could be laid hold of. : I Ordered the crew before the masts fell to wait for them, but two’did not do so } the chief.officer and pue of the crew kept to pieces of the decks) and drifted away. The masts fell three minutes after tiw explosion. The remainder of the crew and

myself took to the masts, but found to' our sorrow that .we could not get away fromthe burning ship owing to the hohstays holding us fast. The heat was intense, and we had to immerse our bodies in water, and often our heads. Our Bufferings ho one can depict, all being < crippled with burns and bruises. One man with broken legs, whom we had to lash to the spars; another one leg broken; one so much burnt that he had hut little skin-left on his body, from his waist to the top of his head, and blind; another had the skin burnt off his legs and hack. Our position was dreadful. The ship coming head to wind, she was burning all aft. Taking the chance of the stay giving way forward, and the masts drifting alongside the ship, we were expecting her to rink every minute, and taking the masts with her, which was the only thing we had to stand, or, rather, sit upon.. No vessel coming in sight, we gave ourselves up for lost. About eleven am. the man with two broken legs die A The spars drifted a little a-head at one p.m., which slightly protected us. The flames were then one hundred feet high. A , few minutes subsequently a vessel came in sight to leeward, hut she beat up, the captain making the best of his way to our help. We were so distressed that it was some time before he could discover if any of us were alive, owing to the glare of the fire and intensity of the smoke. At a distance of four miles he put off his boats. During the time of the boats coming to us one of the burnt men died. The fire had now reached the copper. About six pm. the boats reached us, and we were got in, truly exhausted. We found the vessel to be the Prussian barque Lucy and Paul, Captain Schiel, from New York to Cork or Falmouth, for orders. We found that the captain had picked up one of the crew at 3 p.m. on a loose spar. We found that the chief officer, who was with this man, had been drowned. We cannot speak too highly of the kindness and attention paid to us on board the Lucy and Paul, — the captain attending us with medicine, bandages, and other necessaries. The following were saved —Matthew Mason, master; J. G. Lambton, Charle Brien (leg broken), James Malcolm, John Boyd, and Peter Johnson. Deceived at the Sailors’ Home, Falmouth, on Monday evening. The following were lost—H. F. Donalson, mate, drowned; Adolphus Scher, died; John Cruze, died; Bobert Baker. burnt; the second mate (name unknown) burnt; and an able ‘seaman (name unknown) died.”

The American Liperaet Nontareil. —(From the Times, July 26) —Southampton, Thursday evening. The American liferaft Nonpareil, 43 days from New York, arrived here between five and six o’clock this evening, and is moored off the dock shore. This daring adventure has been conducted by John Mikes, captain, and a crew of two, named George Miller and Jerry Mallene. She is only 24 feet long and 12$ feet broad. The raft, which has two masts, consists of three cylinders, pointed at each end, united together by canvas connections, having no real deck, and is strengthened by boards slipped under strong iron neckpieces, the whole kept together by lashing. A waterproof cloth, hung over a boom, closed at each end, somewhat resembling a gipsy tent, affords sleeping accommodation, two at a time, and the third keeping watch. This is fixed on a strong locker, in which the provisions are kept. The raft lay-to seven times from stress of weather, and the last vessel spoken was the John Chapman, a week since, from which they were given a fowl, which is still alive and well. They have arrived with thirty gallons of water to spare. The captain was poorly two days during the passage, Otherwise all have been in perfect health, and the men are in good spirite, their countenances looking healthy and bronzed by the weather. They had no chronometer on boar A and sailed by dead reckoning, and corrected their position by vessels they spoke. There is a smaller raft on deck for use as a boat. The raft has kept perfectly watertight all the way—not a leak of any sort having occurred. She is fitted with an apparatus for filling the tubes with air. On the arrival of the raft, Mr J. B. Stebbing, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, went on hoard, congratulated them on the success of their daring enterprise, and tendered them any offices that might be required. The captain landed on bis arrival to report to the United States’ Consul, Captain Britton.