ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE TOTAL WRECK OF THE TARARUA.

Kumara Times, Issue 1429, 2 May 1881, Page 2

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE TOTAL WRECK OF THE TARARUA.

la Saturday evening's paper we were enabled to publish some particulars of tbe terrible calamity that occurred "to the fine steamer Tararaa and her ill-fated passengers, on Friday morning. last> on the Otara Point rocks, a few miles north of Tora Tois, 'the entrance to the Mataura River. The following additional information -is supplied by the Press Association':—

The Fortrose correspondent of the Otago Daily Times telegraphs ;~" A terrible sea arose with flood tide after the Tararua struck on 'the reet, breaking and sweeping over her. The stem and bows of the vessel filled immediately after striking. The boats were launched, but only succeeded in landing seven steerage passengers arid six seamen. The remainder of the passengers took to the rigging and bows, but numbers were washed off by each succeeding sea, while others, who attempted 'to reach the shore by the aid of pieces of wood and life-buoys, were drowned in the surf. It was quite impossible to assist the poor creatures from the shore, although in sight. The vessel and cargo broke up, and the beach was strewn with wreckage of all descriptions jesterday. Only one person came ashore after the boats Were found useless. The vessel parted amidships towards the afternoon-, and at 2.35 this morning she became a total wreck, the masts breaking and the hull going over on its broad-side, drowning all who remained onboard. The Hawea, Kakanui, and Prince Rupert are' in the offing. The latter picked up the second mate's boat. A portion of the mail bag was picked up at sea, and one child's body by the Kakanui. Those on shore declare it was heartrending to find themselves unable to assist those on board. Two brave swimmers battled for life with a plank. One, who was a splendid swimmer, left the plank at the edge of the surf, and came in with a roller.' lie was seen struggling within a few yards, but was carried off by the back drift. The teefe, extend seven miles, o_ut. The men landed'almost naked. Clothes were sent out at the order of J. C Shanks' to Supply their wants. The kindness, of the Bruntons was unbounded. Singularly enough the body that came ashore had ; a life buoy attached ,to it, and life was scarcely extinct, but all means were unavailing to restore the vital spark. LIST OF PASSENGERS, OFFICERS, AND CREW. The follbwiug is as complete a list of the passengers as the Union Company are able to supply :—• Passenger from Sydney—To Bluff : Mr R. Rogers. . Passengers from Auckland—To Melbourne: saloon.—W.Bell; steerage— Mrs Deraz, Misses Chatterton and H. Strah.

Passengers from Tauranga— -To Hobarton : saloon Mrs Brennan and three children. . Passengers from Napier.— To, Melbourne : steerage, Mr J. Dally. Passengers from Wellington—To the Bluff—steerage, Mr Penman. . To Melbourne : saloon—Messrs C. Brigot, and S. E. B. Marsh, Mr and Mrs Ev W. M. Oownes ; steerage—Messrs Tbolin, T. Oswuliven Williams, Charles Holt T. Davis. Passengers fiom Lyttelton—To the Bluff: steerage, Messrs Lawns, Sharp, Boyle. To Melbourne : saloon—Rev. J. Waterhouse, Rev. J. B. Richardson, Rev. E. Mitchell, Rev. J. Armitage, Rev. E. Connell, Dr. and Mrs Campbell, five children and female servant, Mrs J. B. Jones, Mrs John Gordon,

Messrs J. Waterhouse, Charles Gough, Craford Gillingham and child, J. Wallace, W. Young, B. Hanson, J. Scown, T. Jones, W. J. White, D. Davis, Carl Colberg, Neil Gough, W. Green, W. Bassett, J. Ash worth, John M. Dean, and Crawford. Passengers from Dunedin—To Melbourne 5 Eva, T. Rae> George Grey," James Young, P. Anderson, W. Dobson, J. Dobson,-J. Bainbridge, Harry A. Cook, C. Shrewer, M. Dowdall, H M. G. Andrews, John Barry, Robt. Wright, George Robins, George Martin Anderson, Robert Brown. To Hobarton > Mr and Mrs Bryant. To Bluff: Mr Bailey.

It is known that several people booked and joined the vessel at Port Chalmers. 'Of these Denis English, William English, and Alex. M'Kenzie, shearer's, are known to have been aboard the steamer.

THE NAMES OF PASSENGERS AND CREW SAVED.

Invercargii,l, April 30. The following are the names of those saved : —Passengers George Robins, G. L. Lawrence, John Chatterton, Henry Deeley, John Williams (English), Gustave £elben (Swede). Crew— R. Lindsay (chief mate), Frank Deenz, Frank Rohl (Geitnans), Thomas Dickson (Tasmanian), John Weston (Swede), Anthony .Cauljff (chief cook), Tkomas Davis (English,). Officers and others } —>■ Master, F. Garrard; chief officer, L. Lindsay j second officer, Maloney; chief engineer, A Mttnro -; second do, A. Livingstone ; third do, A. Sutherland; purser, W. B. Jones : ; carpeuter, J. Morrison 5 chief steward, C. Allen} stewardess, Miss Aitken. Grew «(so far as known) : t. Dixon, E. Johnston > C. Stewart, F. Deraz, J. Gibb, E. M'Davitt, D. Corbett. Frank R. Hoi, S. Armsted, William Brin, William Smith, E. Collins, Charles Silver, J. Weston, J. Bertt, J. Horn, T. Nicholson, H. Poison, W. Adams, T. Amisted, Jas. Maher, James Warren, Robert Burrod, T. Haysres,. W. DavMson, W. M. Eckolaney, and four whose names are unknown.

In addition to above there are those who were saved in second mate's boat— Second mate i(Maloney), six men and a steerage passenger named Hill. The names of the six men have not yet been received. THE FIRST MATE'S STATEMENT. I turned-in at 4 a.m. The captain and the second mate were on deck. At 5.15 a.m. the vessel struck. When I left the deck she was steering west'; from 2.4 had been steering W.S.W. The weather was hazy over the land. 1 noticed nothing unusual when I called the watch. The captain was on deck, and altered the course. I was asleep when the ship struck, and rushed on deck. The engines were reversed, but it was no use. She struck aft, and unshipped the rudder and broke the propeller. The engines were of no use, and were stopped. All hands were called to clear the boats. Ten minutes after the engines stopped the ship was full of water. ' At 5.30 the first boat was lowered, the second mate being in •charge. In it were four sailors and one passenger. * ; Told the crew to -try for a landing for the passengers. Law-rence,-a young man, when the boat was about half way swam ashore, he having previously promised if successful to remain and help the lauding of the passengers. He did so. After fiuding his way to Brunton's and causing a message to be sent to the first telegraph office by a station hand, Charles Gibb, who rode 35 miles to Wyndham, by 12.30. Another attempt at landing the passengers was/rnade. Out of five, two were drowned in the surf. Another boat was lowered with the carpenter, and a couple of men to see if a landing was practicable on the reef. His report being unsatisfactory, the second mate was sent to try for a landing on the reef, but without success, and one man was lost. The captain next sent the first mate in charge of a boat containing three passengers and a boy. All landed safely except the boy> who was drowned. The boat capsized, and opened at both ends and rendered useless. Repairs were made by men on shore, but the sea was too heavy to launch the boat. The vessel was then thumping heavily. Many passengers were in the rigging and clustered on tbe forecastle head, the-sea breaking over heavily (2.30). Now a heavy sea washed several passengers (women and childi-en) over, and after that they dropped off one by one. A survivor, a Maltese cook, who swam bravely for his own life and tried to rescue a girl, states that the captain got all the ladies out of the smoking-house to the forecastle. They had'all been there till 2.30, when the sea washed them off. The captain displayed coolness to the

last. His exclamation when all hope was lost was—"Oh, God, what shall wo do now'!" The steamer soon settled down. After night carne on, cries were heard on shore) then cheers, as the light supposed to be the Kakanui, was seen, then a great Crash, and then only the rolling of the sttrf till daylight The stealner heeled over gradually* only a portion of the spars being visible.

TSE SECOND MATE'S STATEMENT-. The account given, by the second mate is substantially as follows:—The ship struck at about five o'clock on Friday morning. The night had been very dark, with a thick haze over the land. Both officers and Captain we're on deck. Captain Garrard thought he was far enough to the southward to clear Waipapa Point, and gave instructions to alter the course to the west, so as to head for the Blufi\ (For which port he was bound) ten minutes before the ship struck. The Captain went aft to verify his course by the standard compass. While be was doing so, the second mate found that the vessel was in a dangerous position. The course was altered immediately) but too late, for she struck on a reef to the northward of Slope Point, the ship being on the weather side of the reef> exposed to the heavy swell. The second mate was sent with a boat's crew and one passenger to look, for f landing; and a second boat despatched with the chief officer with the same instructions. One of the crew of the second mate's boat (James Maher) swam to the reef with great difficulty to see if it was possible to land the people there. Meanwhile the boat in charge of the chief officer capsized. Mr Maloney, however, says that five persons were said to land from her. He (the second mate) afterwards took his boat back to the Vessel* and then returned to the reef, bringing three steerage passengers. Some of the crew who were supposed to be able to swim jumped overboard, but were not seen again. Maher swam to Ihe boat and was taken on board greatly exhausted-. This very plucky action occurred early in the morning. ABBITIONAL PARTICULARS. VlhmDftAM, April 30. One body only was washed ashore j it was that of a well-dressed, tall, dark man > the name is unknown. There was also a -quantity of wreckage. DuKebin> April 30. At present only seventeen are known to be saved, viz. >—Eight men in the second boat, and eight seen to land, besides one who swam ashore with the news. Of the eight saved in the boat, the names of only four have been ascertained-, viz.,:—James Malier* (engineers* storekeeper), William ' Hill (steerage passenger), Mr Maloney (second mate), and James Burnett (sea- : man), two of them being Dutchmen • but their names have not been ascertainable as a boat is away with them. The wreck of the Tararua caused great excitement in town to-day, and over eight thousand extras were issued from the Otago Daily Times office alone.

Bluf* 1 , April 30. The Hawea has arrived here. She reports that the Tararua has totally disappeared. The Hawea picked np a boat containing the second officer, Mr Hill, and six of the Tararua's crew. She could not communicate with the wreck- this morning. The Tararua is broken np i and wreckage is strewn everywhere. A message has been received from Wyndham stating that the Tararua has broken up amidships. The settlers were unable to render the slightesb assistance.

CiißisToauitca, April 3(X The news of the drowning of the pas* sengers per Tararua caused a profound sensation here, as several highly re* spected citizens were on board—some being en route for England. The Bank of New Zealand had £4OOO worth of gold and silver in the Tararua) and which was insured in a Melbourne office, CORRECTED LIST OF SURVIVORS* ONLY TWENTY SAVED. Dunedin, May 1. The following is a corrected list of the survivors from the wreck of the s.a. Tararua : Crew : Robert Lindsay) chief officer,' Peter Malone, second officer j James Burnett, A. 8 .; Edward Johnson, A. 8.; Charles Stewart, A.B. $ Tor Quel Nicholson, A. 8.; Frans Dana, A. 8.; Franz Rahel, Ereman; John Maher, fireman; Antonio MicaU lef, chief cook. Passengers : William Hill, steerage ; John Chatterton, steerage; George Lawrence, steerage] Henry Deely, steerage J George Robins, steerage; Thomas Dairs, steerage; John Williams, steerage; Gustavo Lei lien, steerage*