FAMOUS WRECKS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1921, Page 2

FAMOUS WRECKS.

ON NORTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES. The north coast of New South Wales, where the steamers Fitaroy and Our Jack recently foundered, lias a long toll of shipping disasters and loss of life. & Among the early shipwrecks on t,>»coast were those of the Cawarra and the Yarra Yarra. The Cawarra was a small steamer which was wrecked at tee entrance to Newcastle in 18:5(5. Of t.m 00 on hoard only one was saved, aim, curiously, lie was rescued hy the only survivor (Johnson) of the famous Dunbar wreck. _ " In 1877 the steamer Yarra Yarra was lost with all hands outside Newcastle Harbour. , The most memorable wreck on this coast was that of the Cattertlnm, a steamer that was wrecked on the Seal Rocks, off Cape Hawke, when on her way from Svdney to Hotig Kong. Tms was on August 8, 1894. The death toll

was 65. The wreck of the Maitland with Hinny deaths, and of the Merkwort i, with nine deaths, off Sydney on May 8 and 9. 1898, will be remembered by many. It is noteworthy that the big stomi that caused these tragedies is known to this day as the Maitland Gale. It was in the night of September 19, 1917, that the Canonbar sighted a lifeboat near North Head. In-it were 11 survivors of the wreck of the Nerong, of the North Coast Co., and the bodies of two men who had died from exposure. Another life had been lost as the ship went down. The survivors had been in the lifeboat for 13 hours. One of the most dramatic stories of the perils and the heroism of the North Coast was that of the foundering of the Myola, one of the three colliers whose loss led to an important marine inquiry. The other vessels were the TJndola.and the Tuggerah. The Myola, an up-to-date collier, on April 2, 1919, foundered off Norali Head with a loss of four lives. It was a black night, witl) a heavy sea, as the South Ilnlli, another collier, plugging through the dirty weather, glimpsed at times the stern light of the Myola. Only at intervals was that light seen, because of the huge seas. When the South Bulli’s chief officer saw the light of the Myola disappear again, no suspicion was raised in his mind that the Myola had disappeared beneath the waters. But to his 'astonished ears came the cries from the crests ofvfhe waves, and lie sighted a white boat adrift. With struggling men in the rough i m>as the chief officer stopped the South j Bulli’s propeller, a dangerous though an heroic tiling to do in such heavy weather. in case the drifting men in the water might be cut up. Then began a splendid search in the darkness in the sl.ip’s: boat for survivors. Lines . were thrown over from the South Bulli by the I captain, and one life was thereby saved ■ almost miraculously. A swimmer at the last gasp clutched the line, and though buffeted by the waves, one moment high above the South Biilli’s side, and the next yards away, he hung and by prompt action of the rescuers . was at lrwt hauled aboard. The Myola’s captain was picked up by the ship’s heat when clinging to a plank. The heroic launching of the South Bulli’s boat will long be remembered. The story of the*Mvola survivors was that a tremendous wave shifted the cargo and caused the collier to heel over, it was a matter of a moment. In that moment efforts were made to cut away the boats; but the deck went from under the crew before the boats could b« launched.