LOSS OF THE TAINUI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2030, 18 September 1919, Page 3

LOSS OF THE TAINUI.

Christchurch. Bept, 16. News received from Cheviot states that the coastal steamer Tainui, 128 tons, which loaded a cargo of benzine at Lyttelton yesterday for Wanganui, was beached at 2 o’clock . this morning, on lire, at Gore Bay, off the Wairau river. The vessel is owned by the New Zealand Refrigerating Company. Eight lives were lost, only one member of the crew being saved. The following are the names of the crew; —Master, J. C. Cowan (Wanganui) ; mate, W. H. Stevens (Wanganui) ; engineer, E. Greenwood (Wellington); firemen, A. Fuller and W. Townsend (Wellington); sailors, C. Williams, D. McLean, .1. Har-. ward (Lyttelton); cook, W. Farrad (Wanganui). The Tainui was built of wood in 1903, by Logan, of Auckland. She was 92.3 feet long, 19.2 feet beam, and 6.7 feet deep. She traded for many years between' Waitara and Wellington, and has of late years traded i|p and down the coast, chiefly between Lyttelton and Wellington. Her first captain was Captain M. Jensen, and her command has since passed to several others. She was last in Wellington on 3rd September, when she sailed for Lyttelton.

Captain Cowan had his homo at Wanganui, where he leaves u wife and family. He was in charge of the old Himitangi, which was wrecked at the Chatham Islands last year, and before joining the Tainui was captain of the Storm, trading on the Canterbury coast.

Mr Ephraim Greenwood, the engineer of the vessel, was partieularly well known in Wellington, having had his home there for a great mar.v years. He served his ap■prentieeship with Messrs E. \A. Mills and Co., of the Lion Foundry, and afterwards went to sea, being engineer at different times on some of the vessels whose home port was Wellington. He was in the Huia and Slormbird trading between Wellington and Wanganui, and the Dpawa ( Wellinglon-Blenheim trade), for a considerable period, and afterwards lie carried on business as a sawindier at the Upper Hull. He was a man of a most genial disposition, and very popular. His wile, who was a daughter of the lale Mr holier! Sutcliffe, of Wellington, died at her home in Oriental Bay a. short time ago.

SUKVIVOirs thrilling experience. STONY OE THE DISASTER, Christchurch, Sept. lb. W. H. Earrand (cook) was the only survivor of the coastal steamer Tainui, which ran ashore on lire in Gore Bay, off the Waiau river, South island, early yesterday morning. A si a lenient by Earrand shows he was awakened at 2.30 o clock on Tuesday morning by the sound of an explosion, tic got out of his hunk and went forward to see wind had happened. He found nil the forward hatches thrown off, and the Avhole of the forward part of Hie vessel on tire. He awakened all hands. A lifeboat was (hen launched, and all the members of the crew, with the exception of the mate, Stevens, and Earrand himself, got into the boat. There was a heavy sea, and the Jifebogt drifted away from the vessel before Stevens and Earrand could gel into it. A moment or two later the lifeboat was swamped, and all the occupants were’ swept into the water. Earrand dived from the vessel, and a couple of moments later was followed by Stevens. Those who had got into the lifeboat were hanging on to the capsized boat. The lifeboat was turning over and over in the heavy seas, and the first man to let go and drift away was the engineer. He soon expired. Seaman Williams Struck out from the lifeboat, and called out to the others, “Come on, hoys, follow me.” The captain immediately followed Williams, and when the others struck otif from the lifeboat Earrand and Stevens held on to it* The others gradually disappeared. Earrand held on with one hand, and was badly battered about the logs. Eventually the boat with Earrand hanging on to it, drifted on to the beach. He was in a semi-conscious condition, after having been battered about in the water for some three hours. He lay down oh the beach for several hours before he was found by two brothers named Winskill, from Gore Bay. Earrand said the men who were on the lifeboat hung on in the hope that they might be picked up by the Maori on her way to Lyttelton.

A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION. The Tainni is lying broadside on Hie beach. She was devoured all day by flames, while overhead a dense smoke blackened the sky. The explosion must have been terrific, for heavy timber and wreckage, splintered and twisted, strews the shore. Five bodies have been washed a-. - shore. Three have been identified as Greenwood, Townsend and Fuller. There were no marks on the bodies to indicate that they had been injured by the explosion. Captain Cowan's body has not yet been recovered.

A MAN OF DAUNTLESS COURAGE. SEAMAN CHARLES WILLIAMS, D.S.M. Christchurch, Sept. 10. A particularly well-known member of the crew of the Tainni who lost his life was Seaman Charles

Williams, D.S.M., son of Captain H. Williams, of Tuam Street, Christchurch. His career was marked by dauntless courage, and the- 3S years of liis life were crowded with adventure. Williams entered the merchant service on a schooner engaged in the Xew Zealand trade in 1897, when 10 years of age. Shortly after leaving school at Lyttelton he received his first naval training as a meinbor of the Xew Zealand Xaval Reserve, and later served on H.M.S. Tauranga. It was on hoard this boat he first revealed his reckless courage in succouring the crew during a terrific gale. In 1909 Williams received his discharge from the Xavy, and a year later he went to Antarctica in the Terra Nova. In a terrific storm the pumps of the, little sliip became choked, and Williams went down between the boilers in the blistering beat and relieved the obstruction. His action was the means of saving the ship from foundering. He had been twice to Antarctica, first with Captain Scott, and afterwards with the relief expedition under Commander Evans. He possessed the Antarctic Medal, and (hat of the Geographical Society. At the outbreak of the war he volunteered for service with the North Sea Elect as a stoker. Williams was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for conspicuous bravery during the engagement off Dover between H.M.S. Broke and 'H.M.S. Swift and six German warships. Stoker Williams was serving, under Commander Evans on the Broke. Feeling secure in their superiority of numbers, the Germans essayed to sink their opponents. The two British boats were surrounded, and put up a magnificent fight. Stoker Williams was asleep in his hammock when the fight began. He went on deck and devoted, liis 4 attention to carrying Die wounded below deck, a work which was attended by extreme danger, when the German sailors hoarded the Broke and hand-to-hand fighting ensued. Commander* Evans recommended Stoker Williams for I lie D.SiM for bis bravery. Previously Williams was on H.M.S. Viking, which si ruck a mine in I lie North Sea, and later be was on H.M.S, Conquest, lie look part in the Zeebniggo fight, and was one of the volunteers from the Broke who landed on'the mole there.

THE CAPTAIN AND MATE,

Wanganui, Yesterday. Duilc a painful sensation was caused to-day, upon receipt of the news of the disaster to the Tainui, owing to the fact that the captain and several of the crew had their homes here. Captain Cowan, master of the vessel, had resided in Wanganui for several years, and was well known and highly respected, both as a man and a seaman. He took a keen interest in public affairs, particularly in local harbour developments, and an active part in ■temperance and social reform. II is only a few weeks ago that he re!in<|uishcd the captaincy of the Canterbury Shipping Company’s

steamer Storm,' with which he was connected for .many years. lie leaves a widow and seven children. The male, Mr Stevens, was also a married man, and leaves a widow and one child. He avus also a resident of Wanganui.