WRECK OF THE BARQUE KEDAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 170, 16 July 1878, Page 4

WRECK OF THE BARQUE KEDAR.

TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OP THE CREW.

The following particulars of thia wreck, of which we were informed \,y telegraph last week, are frorn the Post of Friday : — Auckland, July n. The schooner Ltetitia has arrive* from, the Friendly and Navigator Islands, and has brought Captain Johnson, the Chief Officer, and Messrs. George, Watson, and Rinc'air, b«longiner to the Melbourne barque Kednr which was waterlogged off Cook's Island on 3rd of April in a fearful hurrirane. At the ti m9 of the disaster the barque was on her way from Burrard's Inlet, British Columbia, with a cargo of 40,000 feet of timber for Messrs Hugh Reid and Co., Melbourne, the owners of the vessel. The captain's diary says that after leaving British Colombia ho encountered unusually h'-avy gales. He wbb in the North Pacific on the 30ih March, when a strsng gale set in from the north-east with heavy rain. The barometer had been standing at 29.70 six days previously, but commenced falling rapidly. The captain hove the ship Jo and made every preparation for a hurricane. At 4 o.ra. oa the Ist April the storm commenced and raged with great fury. The ship started making water, and all hands were set. workine at the pumps, but the leak increased rapidly. At 8 a.m the Bbip wbb more (ban half full of water, but the hurricane still increased to an extent beyond description; nothing could stand before it. Finally she went down with all her starboard side under water. The fore and main topmast was cut away, but the maio yards got Jangled about the mainmast. They were then compelled to cot away the mainmast to clear away the wreck from the pumps. The Bbip then righted again, and the pumps were kept constantly going, every man working with a will, although men were constantly washed away from the pumps. Still the ship kept sinking deeper and deeper until 11 a.m., when ehe was full of water. Tho hurricane whs then nt ifs height, the barotnster stood at 28.28, and the wind and sea were beyond desciiption. A solid masa of water was 'pouring over the vessel, tearing awny house, boata, and decks. Getting down into the cabin the sea wftsh«i! away cabin furniture, stores, and everything in its way from the storeroom. The crew had to seek shelter for their lives in the topgallant forecastle, and were not able to save h single »rticle. The hurricane kept raging in Ur full force until five p.m., when it shifted suddenly to the south! The captain continues :--" We all passed a most dreadful night, expecting every moment (o be our J-aßt. When daylight broke on 2nd April, there was a atrong southerly gale and high seß, and a dreary prospect was before us, the most part of the ship being under "water. We w^re twelve hungry, thirsty men. The carpenter, Charles Gulden, a native of France, missing, and must have been blown overboard. The only eatablee in our possession were four pound tina of preserved meat and a live pig. Worse than all we had no water. The following day the weather i>ot very fine and the sea smooth. We commenced to look around, and found the cabin completely putted, every article having been washed overboard. All my instruments, books, charts, and chronometers were gone, and not an article of provisions was left. Then we commenced to fisii up things from the store-room below, and brought them on the main deck. We had two tanks of water below, but found them full of salt water. We alao found one tank half-full of flour, which whs mixed into dough with salt water, and we dried it in the sun. Afterward we discovered some pieces of salt beef and an old five-gallon oil can, and managed to make u condenser of the latter. We were for six dnye without a drop of fresh water with the exception of two mornings, when there waa a heavy dew, and we succeeded: in refreshing our parched throats by sucking the dew from the sails wherever it could be found. After getting our condenser well to work we found we were abie to condense about six quarts of water every Jay. The qualuy of the water waa very gooJ, and it proved very acceptable. I served out regularly half-a-pound of salted dough and about one pint of water to euch man every day. Sometimes the men were allowed to have about two ounces of sait beef in addition. With this daily supply of food we managed to exist for nineteen days without rain. At the end of that time, thank Proviilence we had several good showers and everything that we had that was capable of holding water we filled with the precious fluid. For about fourteen days after a atrong bead wind continued to blow, and we were therefore unable to condense more water. The crew became very weak, until finally ihey could scarceely crawl about. At last we sighted a high island, and shortly after we saw Beveral other islands. We believed them to be the Friendly Islands and this surmise proved to be correct. This was on the 16th May. We had been 48 days on the wreck. The barque continued steadily to drift past the Islands, when we saw several small craft, the occupants of which did not appear to notice us. The wreck waa^utterly unmanageable and although we 'were only four miiea from some low-lying land we bad no means of reaching them there' being no boat*

on board. This continued two days. Oo the 18th the barque had drlftea towards the high Island we had at first seen, which wb6 then almost ten miles io the windward. As the vessel comffi&hced to drift away from it, we coneiJGred what was best to be done. We decided to make a last effort, and endeavored to construct a raft. We got six small loss over the side of the vessel and made two rafts. The chief officer, with six men, got on the larger one, while I took possession of the smaller, having wiih me four men, there being no passengers on board. We started from the wreck and mado for one of the small islands. The barque was then full of water, and the masts all gone with tbe exception of the lower foretopmast. The boats were washed away, and the decks torn up, while outside the rudder waa missing, and tho planking started from stem to stern-post. She was utterly unmanageable, and there was nothing on board to eat or drink. *We reached the island which we found to be Kau Island. It is very srriall, beiDg together aboat ten miles in circumference. After getting ashore we went in search of food, and succeeded in finding some cocoanuts. We could not get any water, but fared better than the chief officer, who could not find anything to eat on tbe side where they landed. The island we found to be uninhabited, but observed smoke oc a neighboring island about five miles distant. On the seventh day after landing, we succeeded iu attracting the attention of aomo natives, They came over, and brought my party across to their island, at tbe same time leaving fire natives to institute a search for the chief officer end his party. Kiug George, with Tonga, aud other Friendly Islanders came on a visit to the island in a schooner, and immediately took us on board, and treated us with the utmost kindness. We went to tbe island on which wo first landed, and found the natives had discovered the mate and his party a considerable distance from where they had gone on shore. We then learnt from thorn that two of their men missing. One of these was the second mate, Jamee Jamieson, who got his foot twi&tod od landing, and was thus rendered incapable of of waikiDg any distance; tbe other was an able si?umau, John M'Gowan, who was taken ill with dysentery. They were left behind while the others went in search of food and assistance. King Greorge used all the means in his power to find them, and when going uway from the island he left natives to look for them. Up to the 19th June, however, no tidings of their whereabouts had been received. On that day, the chief officer, two seamen, and myself left Tongabua in tbe schooner Laetitia for Auckland.'