The Cutter Swallow arrived

North Otago Times, Volume I, Issue 4, 21 April 1864, Page 12

The Cutter S wallow ar rived

in port yesterday from the

great Barrier Island , and

brought intelligence of a fear

-ful disaster which happened

to the schooner Rapid while on

her way from Mercury Bay

to Auckland, William Page,

one of the Survivors, was a

passenger by the Swallow,

and we have taken the fol-

lowing partient are from his

own word of mouth. He Says;

- "We left Mercury Bay in the

Rapid on the Evening of th e

19t h . instant (Saturda y) for

Auckland, and loaded with

timber. W e passed through.

mercury Islands with very

light weasher, and it continued

so until Sun day morning.

The wind then freshened and

Kept fres hening gradually all

day, want belo w answer or

Eight o'clock that Evening and

the wind still kept freshening.

The Rapid is a new boat of

about 30 tons. About nine or

ten o'clock they shortened

Said; two re efs were ta ken in

in the mainsail. While below

I felt the vcssel plunging

into th e sea very hea vily. I

went on deck an das I passed

along th e dee k I sa w one man

hanging on to the fore rigging.

He wa s a pa ss eng er , and he

Cried out to me, "we are gone,

Bil l." All said was then d own,

the fore said and mai nsail

hangin g down over th e lee

Side, in the water. The vessel

was the n going wel l fr ee from

the wind. I ha ve been a s ail-

or , and I Sa id to th e Capt-

ain that he had better pr ist

the peak up adn tr y the vessel

up to the wi nd. I was trying

to do that myself, but f ound

that the peak halyar ds had

ru n alo ft, and I Cou ld not

doil . The Captain said hoist

a bit of th e for es ail agai n,

but I re p lied that speared it

wa s no use . Abou t this time

one of the Se amen want to the

fore castle, looked down, and

sang out that the vessel was

filling with water. This was

ca sued by her plunging into

the sea so heavily. Directly

after he sang out that she was

filling with water, she fell

over on her beam Ends and

filled. When I Sang out to

The Exptain to set sa il, the

Jad gen wa s standing on the

quarter deek, and he cried out

Come hern-do come here, Bill

These were the Last words I

heard turn speak. After the

Vessel w ent ove r we wer e quite

helpless. fo ur of us book to

the forer i gging, and Paget,

a pa ssenger, was below, in

the Cabin, an d was drow ned

by th e ves sel filling with

water. He was a bad sai-

lor, and was alarmed, and

was probably helpless to save

himself. Thus all occurred on

Sunday might last, and we

were then between the Sittle

Burrier Island and Jiri Jir i

As the Veseel was filled with

bimber sh e was of Course water-

logged. Mr Me Jadgen was at

first on the quarter deck, and

When the vessel werk down.

on her beam Ends, he floated

away on two plants to the

must hea d of th e, vessel. He

then got off the boards , and

worked himself up to where

We were holding on About

half an hour after that Capt-

ain Meihlejohn called out

th at Mc Jandgen was dying,

and I said t ake a r op e and

lash him to the rigging , which

the Captain did, Shortly

after that Mc Jadgen died,

and ab out an hour afte r that

Portugese for died in the

rigging where I was. He was

washed opp three times, and

we pulled him in again, but

at last we found that if was no

use, that he could not hold

on. I can't remember now

Whether if was the same day

or next night, but they want

of f one by one after that

The last one that went was

just when wewer e le aving

the wr eck at the great Barrcer.

We saw one ashore, and this

man Either dropped off, or in

attempting to swim was

drowned. We had pulled him

into the regging two or three

times, but he was so far gone

that we could not puff him

on any more. We were not

far from the shore, the Vessel

having drifted in close to the

rocks. As soon as the three

of us who survived I of ashore

We lay down, and had a

sleep till daylight. We got

up and treed to walk to Mr

Harding's but the Captain

being best able to walk,

said he would go on and

send a boah for us, which

he did; and we were taken

to our arding's house,

and treated very kindly, and

Jeame in the Swallow to

Ancpland.

The following are the names

of the unfortunate men who

were drowned:-

Mr Neil Mc Jadgen, a shore-

holder in the Mercury Bay

Saw Mill Compans.

Our Paget, a passenger, and

settler from Mercury Bay.

for, a Portuguese, a passenger.

Mr Burns, a passenger, and

a working man from mercury Bay.

Bay.

Mr Robert Clarke, a farmer,

and a passenger, who was

alrowned just as we reached

the Letter Barrier.

Mr L 'Mickle john, son of the

Captain, and one of the erew,

a yeel about 17. on 18 years.

The following are the names

of those who surowed the

disaster:-

My self (William Pa ge) a

Settler in mercury Bay .

Captain Mi cklejohn, ca ptain.

of the Swallow, and

Frank, a fre nc hma n, and one

of the crew.

Before I left the Rapid was

rightref, and sailed for Oma

just below tire tirh.

We Should say that Page

Who gave us the above narra-

tion of the sufferings of himself

and hi s comp amous,ap peared

as might naturally be expected,

to be still suffering from she

disaster, which with account

for his statement not being

so precise as it might or Exactly

Consistent with the Captains

account Each of the surverves

Evere floating about for there

days on the wreek, and under

a burning sun, and with the

sea washing over them, so that

is can be will supposed that

they were thorougly prosts steel

when, through Prordence, they

were Enabled to reach land.

Auckland Weekly News march

30th.

Inhabitants of Hentsin.

The men of these parts are among

the bargeat in the world-certainly

much larger than the people of

England. Although so surrounded

with dirt, they appear, clean in this

persons, and were frequently dressed

in long robes of white, with white

trowsers, gathered into their curious-

ly formed boots or shoes. They

walked under the rays of a sun

unequalled in power, save in the

north wish proomess of India with

Clean showed heads unprotected

by any covering. Their tails were

formed Enterely of there own hair

not awin the soush, with a large

intermiseqre line of silk; nor

reaching, like those of canton and

Honkong to their heels, though far

handsomer, for I began to under-

stand and appreciate tails.

old women were frequenlly met on

the streets, and pretty young girls

disfigured by the usual deformety

young women wouldrun to the doors.

and comers for any right attracting.

curiosity. They dress the hair combed

off the forehead, decorated with

artificial flowers, and fastened in

masses on the top, and at the sedes

by golden skewers, which appear

to be among their most valued and

highly wrought ornaments. Not

unfregnently their jaees were pow-

dered and wouged. Though gene-

rally the eithzens one well dressed

and have a unfortable look, there

are many of the most hideous

objects.- Jravels in china.

x (omitted above) the keel of the

vesel being to the wind, the sea was

breaking over us, and we found grand

difficulty in holding on

imsprent in Rapid

12