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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 27 July 1929, Page 9

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THE HYDERABAD INTERESTING HISTORY The Hyderabad, writes tii© l’oxtc: correspondent of the Munawatu "btancard” was wrecked on the ilokio beach, sonic six miles south cf Ike r. River, oil the night of 24th June, ld7B, but the hull, after 51 years of exposure to the elements, it; still a well-known landmark along the coast. Tradition has it that the Hyderabad was built for the Indian Sultan of the State of Hyderabad. She was a three-masted steel vessel of 1100 tons and was en route from Lyttelton to South Australia when wrecked. Her cargo consisted of broad gauge railway material belonging to what was then known as the Provincial Government of Canterbury, which material was lying on their hands useless after the Canterbury lines had been taken up and altered to the uniform gauge of the Colony. All this material was shipped at Lyttelton, for South Australia and insured in the usual way, but on tho night of 24th June, 1878, tho Hyderabad, then en ■Vouto to South Australia with its cargo, %as blown ashore on tho Hokio beach in a howling south-westerly. The people living around Hokio heard tho rockets sent up by the distressed vessel at three o’clock in tho moruing and at daylight discovered tho boat ashore; Captaiu Holmwood, who was in charge of the vessel, obtained a horse from the late Mr.J. R. McDonald, of Heathcrloa, and rodo to Otaki where ho dis- ? atched messages to the vessel’s agents. h 0 Hyderabad was stuck bow on te the sandy beach and was swept ironi end to end by heavy seas. Every stitch of canvas had been blown Horn the yards. Tho vessel was manned by a crow of 40 and carried one passenger, all of whom had taken to tho boat overnight and landed safely on the beach whero they found a temporary refuge in some Maori fishing w.iuies nearby. ~ , Later in tho day the weather moderated and tho first and second mates and a number of the crew returned to the boat, but no effort was made to salvage the vessel for several months, during which time the crew remained on the beach. When tho vessel struck the beach tho insurance companies decided to salvage the raUway material and reship it to South Australia. IJis would have been a simple matter but the owners of the vessel objected to such a procedure on the grounds that if the cargo was removed the boat would becomo lighter and be driven further inshore, and insisted that the refloating and salvage work should go on in conjunction. As part of tho process of recovering the vessel was that oi keeping her a certain distance out, it was* necessary that she should be sunk iu order to prevent her from being blown back on to tho beach by an a; verso wind. In this manner the vessel was sunk several times, and on each occasion it was filled with water and a considerable amount of damage done to tho cargo. Finally, all' hope of recovering the vessel was abandoned and by 9tb September, 1879, most of the cargo had been removed either by tne Samson to the ship Matilda, or hauled over tho sandhills to Foxton wherp it was reshipped. The South Australia Government, however, refused delivery of tho cargo and later took an action against the insurance companies to recover the amount of tho insurance, £25,000. On 7,th October, 1879, the hull of tho Hyderabad was sold by auction at Wellington to two speculators who in turn endeavoured to quit the vessel a few days later, but they did not receive a single bid. The Hyderabad was, however, disposed of privately to Mr Bell, of Dunedin. • Strenuous efforts were then made to refloat the boat and a great deal of money w.i spent on the project. In 1889 the vessel, now belonging to Mr Keltie, was still being worked on and by 31st December had been turned hall round with its head in a north-westerly direction. Hopes rose high during tho next week or so and it was thought tliaf. the vessel would be successfully refloated. Indeed, a wooden rudder had been rigged and arrangements made to tow the Hyderabad to Wellington when slio came off. Mr Keltic was supervising operations but while waiting for the next springs to refloat tho boat his hopes were dashed by the Hyderabad catching fire on the night of 21st February. Fivo men were living on tho vessel at the time and they were awakened by tho smoke and poise of the fire during the night. Tho ( cause of the outbreak was put down to j sparks from the donkey engine used on the deck for hauling on the sea anchor j igniting a large stack of firewood oil tho j decks. Despite tho fact that tho vessel | was of steel construction it was com-! pletely gutted. .MX Keltie finally sold the Hyderabad to Mr Joseph Birchley on sth August, 1881, for £5. Tho Hyderabad was so

strongly constructed that it was found to be impracticable to break the vessel up and sh 0 was left- to be eaten away on the beach by rust. Its decay has been slow but sure and, although none of tho three masts is now standing, the hull of tlu- Hyderabad still constitutes an attractive landmark on tho southern coast, line and a reminder of one of the most remarkable wrecks along this coast. -