THE ZEALANDIA COLLISION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 280, 26 November 1877, Page 2

THE ZEALANDIA COLLISION.

Weare indebted to a passenger by the Zealandia, now a resident in Nelson, for the followiug graphic account of the collision between that vessel and the barque Ellen Lamb : — " Now that the terrible collision between the ill-fated Avalanche and Forest is fresh in the memory of the public, perhaps it will not be uninteresting if I relate my experience of a collision on the opeu sea. "I left London iv the ship Zealandia 1116 tons register, as a passenger for Wellington, New Zealand. We sailed on the 4th of June 1877. All went well till the 7th of July, our latitude on that day being 6dess 46mins N aud longitude 20degs 31mins W. The night was clear, but there was no moon at the time. The ship was runuing at the rate of seven miles per hour on the starboard tack. I may here remark that our ,'side lights were burning brightly. About 10-15 p.m., most of my fellow passengers having ' turned in » for the night, I went on the forecastle to have a final pipe, and while there the look-out man reported a green light on the port bow. The lookout and myself watched the light for some time, and then he remarked that if we did not see her red light soon there would be a smash. I must now explain for the benefit of non-nautical readers that in the case of two vessels crossing it is the law that the vessel on the port tack shall always give way to the one on the starboard tack, therefore it was the duty of the vessel in sight to clear out of our way, we being on the starboard tack. By this time everybody that was on deck was anxiously looking at the strange vessel. Nearer and nearer she came. 'Will they never give way?' ' Surely they must be mad to keep on like this.' Such were the remarks I heard as I stood on the forecastle. At last seeing that a collision was inevitable I ran down and awoke my fellow passengers. On my way aft I met the chief officer, who was calling out, ' Back the foreyard; back the foreyard.' But it was all too late. On she came, loomiug out from the dimness like a cruel relentless monster, her masts and rigging looking twico their real size as they stood out clear and keen against the starlit sky. Crash! crash! crash' We had struck her almost amipships. For a moment there was a dead silence, and then followed a terrible scene. The crash of falling masts, the ripping of the iron plates, the shouts of the sailors as they ran hither and thither, the sight of strange men, who seemed, as it were, to have dropped from the clouds, and the constant enquiry of 'Is she all right?' 'Will she go down?' mixed with the terrible conflict that racked the brain when brought face to face with death in a moment, was truly maddening. In the midst of all this confusion a cry was raised, ' That ship is going down.' I ran to look over the side and saw the vessel take one plunge forward and then she sank, carrying with her the captain and three other hands. Within three minutes after the collision the vessel sank. I believe fchat such was the force with which we struck that we cut half way through her. Meanwhile the carpenter had sounded our main pumps, and found the well to be dry. The next thing that I remember was a man running to the chief mate and saying there was a hole in our port bow big enough for a horse to walk through. I went to look at ifc for myself and found a large hole in the port bow, not ao big as had been represented, but still big enough for a man to crawl through with ease, and that on a level with the water line, so that every dip she made the >ater came pouring in in tons. The ship was built in watertight compartments, aud to that we owe our safety. The water filled our forehold, but by reason of our watertight bulkhead, ifc could get no further aft. So far then we were out of all immediate danger Oh what a relief that was to all of us after what seemed hours of terrible suspense. AU sail was then furled, and I turned in afc two a.m., after the most eventful night I have ever passed at sea, and they have not been few. If you can picture to yourself a ship's deck with over a hundred persons on it, some dressed and some nearly stripped, rushing about the deck, with terror and despair depicted on the faces of all, aud this mingled with the crashing, grinding, and tearing of the two ships together you may get a faint idea of a collision at sea. Afc daybreak the crew set to work to repair damages, which considering the force of the collision, were' very small. Our jibboom had been carried away, together with all the head sails and gear, aud this with other trifling injuries was all the damage we received above the water. Having rigged out a jury jibboom and made a covering board for the hole, which prevented in a great measure the water from coming in we set sail for Rio de Janeiro, where we arrived after eighteen days' anxious sailing. The name of the vessel that sunk was the • Ellen Lamb,' a barque of 800 tons register bound from Liverpool to Callao with coal. The captain, carpenter, one seaman, and oue apprentice went down in her. There was one little coincidence that I may here record as being rather curious, and it i 3, that the collision occurred on the 7th day of the week, being the 7th day of the 7th month of the year 77. This fact seemed so much to impress the minds of the sailors and most of the passengers, that with few exceptions all had 7,7,7,77 tattooed on their arms asa remembrance of that eventful night."

ChAIN-BHOT USED BY/ THB RUSSIANS. •A-A. naval correspondent of the Times, in describing the battle of Yeui-Saghra says :— " the Turks remained in their l lines 'of defence untii nearly 1 a.m., the fight having bagun at 11, when they were driven into the plain, and there their destruction waa completed. There were nearly 1500 Turks present of whom, only thirty or forty escaped. The rest were all killed, no quarter being shown in the early part of the affair. 150 Turkish prisoners are supposed to have been made. The station-house was completely destroyed by the artillery, and a train which [ had bsen converted into a temporary hospital, in wbich were aome forty or fifty wounded, was also destroyed with the wounded in it. This was of course, accidental, as the Russians could not have known the contents of the railway carriages. These witnesses who aFe'most of them Europeans connected with the railway company, are unanimous in atating tbat chain shot were used. They describe it as five or six short chains fastened in the centre, with a ball attached to each end. If this ia true, it should become a special matter of inquiry, for I believe I am not wrong in saying that every civilised nation has tacitly renounced the use of tbis moat destructive missile. That officer in command was an old colonel of between 70 and 75 years of age. It appears that no officers have escaped. I believe there is no great dissatisfaction among the Circassians. They say that, as they are not to be allowed to loot, they will not fight. This is only the first etage of the trouble these ruffians will bring on the country." The Melbourne Correspondent of the Dunedin Times thus writes : — • ' Levy, the great Levy ! the man with the long moustache and short temper, has been the chief introduction into the colonial constellation lately. Hia wonderful cornet-playing, his vagaries, dress, manners, and peculiarities have amused the theatrical world since his arrival. He haa done Sydney, Melbourne, the mining, north-eastern, western diatricts of Victoria, going twice over the border in New South Wales, Tasmania, and Adelaide, each with unprecedented success. Everwhere bis wonderful command over the cornet has as* tonished even those people who were unaware of his great name. He takes everywhere with him a magnificent company, the members of which he is constantly changing, for it is not in his nature to agree with anybody long. Thatcher — lucky dog — who has got bis agency, is the only man with «?uom he agrees, and he takes care never to meet him. As soon aa Levy arrives the astute Richmond iB off to fresh fields and pastures new. It cannot be questioned, however, that he heralds •* the greatest living instrumentalist" thoroughly well. Tbe Colorado beetle haa not apeared id the colony, and it is to be hoped it never may. In caee it should it would be well to bave a supply on hand of the insect referred to as follows in a home paper: — "An insect which may be sent by post, and kept as a pet, and whose escape will be a benefit rather tban an injury to the public, is oue of the pressing requirements of the day. Such an insect appears to have been ; discovered in Sandusky, lowa, United States, where it is stated a gentleman named Whitney bas lighted upon an icssect which asks no batter food than the Colorado beetle. Mr Whitney's insect has a proboscis somewhat resembling that of the house fly, but which seems to be hard like bone. The insect is of the bug genus, and when it meets with the Colorado beetle makes Short work (of it. Striking: the beetle a tremendous blow with ita proboscis, the bug appears to suck the life out of its victim, and being happily blessed with a good appetite, has no sooner made an end of one Colorado beetle than it is ready for another. Mr Whitney, who by latest accounts, had not bad time to watch the bug very much, saw it nevertheless kill two beetles in ten rainutas. One Whitney bug would at this rate destroy twelve Colorado beetles sn hour; and as the bug feeds greedily from 3 p.m. until durk, besides pccasional • snacks' at other periods of the day, it is evidently an invuluable insect, well deserving encouragement, and one to whose comfort and convenience every attention should be paid in transit ihrough the Postoulcfc. Indeed, if the character given of it proves accurate, it raight almost be allowed lo travel post free. % There are certain persons (says the Melbourne Argus) who are never so

: happy as when they alight upon some facta or figures wliich seem to show that the prosperity of England is on the 1 wane, and that everything; is tending towards her speedy extinction as a firstclass power. They delight to contemplate their country as ruined by free trade and crushed by debt, slowly dying of vice aod inanition. Unfortunately, however, for their peace of mind and complete satisfaction, the "onnateral old critter" takes a great deal of ktllin?, aod instead of composing her limbs quietly for a comfortable "die," she struggles up from time to time, and casts facts in the teeth of her detractors which compel them to acknowledge that after all she has a good deal of vigor left in her still. A Parliamentary return from which we quoted recently shows tbat whereas in 1858 the national debt of G-reat Britain amounted to £839,159,328, on the Ist of April last it stood at £775,873,713, showing a decrease in nineteen years of £63,645,613. Thia, however, does not give an adequate idea of what has been done in the way of paying off debt. We are told that " if the amount created in the interval for special purposes, such as purchase of telegraphs, .fortifications, and army localisation, be deducted, the the decrease amounts to over £95,000,000." This is not so bad for a country which, having carried into its dotage the extravagant habits of youth, annually disburses between £70,000,000 and £80,000,000 sterling for interest, military establishments, and oivil administration. It is evident that if the national wealth goes on increasing as it has doae, the great debt which waa to cripple England for all time to come will have been liquidated with ease before the lapse of a century from the present time. We do not defend in any way the manner in which this huge burden waa laid upon the British nation, but still, thanks to free trade and the marvellous prosperity which has resulted therefrom, it cannot be a very intolerable incumbrance nowadays. Year after year will see it gradually diminishing, aod its final extinction will be a lasting tribute to the achievements of that fiscal polioy which the enlightened people of Victoria despise. A London paper relates the following somewhat romantic story :— -" Four I young lads in their apprenticeship pupil : teachers in the F.C. School of Lochgilphead entered into a solemn contract on the 21st July, 1857, to return to the Argyle Hotel, Lochgilphead, unless: death or sickness intervened, on 21st July, 1877, and there relate their past pursuits and experiences to each other and sing 'Auld Langsyne.' On the appointed day (a Saturday), the four gentlemen turned up in the shape of two captains (merchant service) and a couple of successful dominies, the one hailing as n head master from Greenock and the other in tha some capacity from Islay. They dined together in the hotel, and spent the afternoon in carrying out the pro«r*muie to the very poetical partof lustily singing the wellknown « Auld Langsyne.' Before closing the proceedings, aud thanking the host for his kind attentions and excellent repast, they subscribed amongst themselves a few pounds for fhe funds ot their old Sabbath school. Only one of four is a beiedict, the other three continuing bachelors." There is a story they tell in the Highlands which has the merit of being true. A few yeara ago a gentleman; from the south, moved by the spirit which impels every man of ambtlion, took a deer forest and brought with himi hiß Suffolk keeper. This keeper accompanied bis master and a regular ghillie out stalking, and after some eight houre of the usual hard labour the party were lauded behind a shelter of! rock within forty yards of a " royal " stag. Tha gentleman was adjusting.; himself warily for his shot, when the Suflolk keeper took a peep over tbe rock, and seeing the prey for tbe first time could not contained himself but exclaimed, " Good gracious ! that's a donkey with a chair ou the top of hia bead 1 "