A VESSEL LOSES HER WAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 260, 24 December 1880, Page 2

A VESSEL LOSES HER WAY.

Some six months ago when the EotomaLana was bound from Wellington to Lyttelton with a large number of bishops and clergy on board, on their way to the "General Synod "about to be held at Christchurch, she encountered frightful weather, and was so long, on the passage .that fears were entertained for her safety. With a somewhat similar passenger list the mission schooner Southern Cross had a narrow escape last week when returning to Auckland from. Norfolk Island after the consecration of the' church erected to the memory of Bishop Patteson. One of the passengers supplied the Star with the following report : ' —We sighted land at about 4 o'clock on Saturday, 11th instant, and the captain, . assuming that it was Cape Brett, stood up 'for Tiritiri. In the night the ship lay-to. Next morning (Sunday) was one of the most anxious and miserable Sundays ever spent by most of us. There was a stiff breeze Wowing, and at daylight we passed close tinder a little island on our port bow. Some said it was Tiritiri, but others who knew better said no. It soon leaked out that no one knew where we were, and that we had lost our reckonings. This was a great disappointment to us, for we had made splendid running from Norfolk Island,, and felt sure of landing in Auckland in the course of the morning. To make matters worse, the, breeze freshened into a gale, and a v.ery ( heavy sea rose;- the weather also became thicker and thicker, till- it circumscribed our horizon very considerably. We kept rimDing before the wind till we sighted a number of islands and rocks, when we tacked 1 about from time to time, keeping well off the; land, hoping the weather would clear. Meanwhile, only a few were able to stand on deck, and as the day wore on everybody , became more anxious lest the night should augment our dangers and. difficulties. But at. about half -past 4 in the afternoon Bishop. ; Stuart and Kerehana, a Maori, recognized Mayor's Island and other points in the Bay .of plenty,. and we discovered ourselves within about a mile of the rock where the Tara- ' naki was wrecked. It was some comfort to realise our position, for we were then, able to . guard against known dangers and. steer our proper course. This we did, and the next day at 4 o'clock in the afternoon got abreast of the Great Barrier. , - How we. had got so : far out of our course and in such a dangerous position no one knows. All sorts of theories were afloat. These theories are sure to 1 come formally before the public, but there is one which should certainly be immortalized in print. It is this : Three .young ladies had been in the habit of sleeping on deck near the wheel, and it was affirmed that the steel in the heels of their boots deflected the compass. Even the sailors thought the girls had been the cause of all their trouble, and ■ "what everybody says must be true. But, ■ joking apart, we have had a very provideh- ■ tial escape^ and are all heartily thankful that We have suffered no more than three days' extra knocking about at sea. j