PORT OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 746, 8 June 1853, Page 2

PORT OF AUCKLAND.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. ARRIVALS. June 4— Highlander, 14 tons, Rewiti, from Taurangi, with 12 tons potatoes, 50 bushels maize. June 6—Napi, 17 tons, Stewart, from Ngungururu, with 400 kits maize, 10 pigs. June 6—Sarah, 17 tons, Kouahuka, from Matata, with 200 kits potatoes, 70 bushels wheat, 8 pigs. June 7—-Kirkwood, brig, 136 tons, Captain Gill, from Melbourne.—J. A. Langford, agent. June 7— Endeavour, 14 tons, from Waiheke, with 25 tons firewood, Juno 7—Odd Fellow, 20 tons, Harris, from Waiheke, with 22 tons firewood. DEPARTURES. June s—Raven, brig, 170 tons, Thompson, for Sydney. Passengers—Messrs. Bucklaud, Campbell P. A. Phillips, Mr. Sinclair Avery At a. MnTuly, Mr. and Mrs. Reid. W. S. Grahame, agent. J uno 4— Catherine, 14 tons, Werahiko Perera, for Tauranga, 2 horses. June 6 Napi, 17 tons, Stewart, for Ngungururu, with i ton flour, 2 bags sugar. J une <3—Smyrna, American whaling barque, 218 tons, Toby, for New Bedford. Passenger —Capt. Gardner. Bain & Burt, agents. June 7—Herald, 25 tons, J. Tautari. for Russell, with 1 ton flour, 100 raw hides, 1 case glass, I coil rope, I case testaments, 28 packages groceries, 6 bags salt, 10 do. sugar. Passengers—Messrs. C. Baker, G. Wynyard, W. Kemp, Tbos. Henry, J. Scott, one policeman, wife, & 4 children, eight soldiers, ami one prisoner. Thos. Russell, agent, June 7—Endeavour, 14 tons, for Waiheke, in ballast. June 7--George & Mary, 16 tons. H. E. Hanley, for the Bay of Islands, with 4 cases slops, 5 bales prints, 4 do. blankets, 7 bundles spades, 10 kegs nails, 1 ca.sk butter, 5 tone salt, 4 hhds. ruin, 10 cases Geneva. 2 do. port wine. June 7—Odd Fellow, 20 tons, Harris, for Waiheke, in ballast. June 7—James, 19 tons, Wireinu Pohi, for Bay of Islands, with 3 bags sugar, 3 do. rice, 2 half-kegs tobacco, 1 cask honey, 1 box soap. Passenger—J. Busby, Esq. CLEARED OUT. June 7—Border Maid, schooner, 92 tons, Capt. Clarke, for Melbourne. Passengers—Messrs. Dalrymple, Cadman, J. Ninness, T. McConnell, J. Matthews. EXPORTS —FOREIGN, Per Raven, for Sydney. 50 tons potatoes, 50,000 feet timber, 18 trusses bay, 3 tons pumpkins, 1 bale blankets. Per Smyrna, for New Bedford, 900 barrels sperm oil. Per Border Maid, for Melbourne: 4 cases boots, 2 casks do., 21 cheeses, 3J tons potatots, 11 houses, 3 tons onions, 1 do. bacon, 3 caeca do., 10 kegs butter, 24,000 feet sawn timber. The Kirkwood, brig, which arrived yesterda}- morning, sailed from Melbourne on the 24th ult. The barque Signet, (purchased at Port Phillip, by our townsman, Dr. Campbell, for the Auckland trade,) and the schooner Deborah, were to follow the Kirkwood in a few days for this port —the Deborah being the first of a line of vessels to be laid on by a bouse at Melbourne, to load at Auckland with New Zealand produce for the Port Phillip markets. The Waterwitch sailed on the 20th ult., from Melbourne for Sydney, The two steamers—Hellespont and Shanghae—reported in our last, as entering the harbour when the Spencer was leaving, had discharged their passengers &c. at Melbourne, and sailed for Sydney on the 21st ult.; the Screw Steamer Harbinger cleared out on the same day for Southampton. The Derrick Castle, ship, Drake, from Liverpool, the 12th February ; and the Elizabeth, ship, Wright, from Dundee, Feb. 12th—the former with 360, and the latter with 120 immigrants, anived on the 22nd ult. Twenty-six vessels from various foreign porta arrived on that day in the harbour of Port Phillip.

THE STEAMER ADELAIDE. (From the “ Melbourne Argus,’’ May 12.” We copy below an interesting letter addressed to an Adelaide contemporary by a passenger in the above vessel, giving a full description of her voyage. They give abundant proof of an amount of bungling and mismanagement by the Steam Company in tbe whole arrangemenss connected with the ship and voyage, which otherwise it would be difficult to conceive : To the Editor of the South Australian Register. Dear Sir—Believing that a concise account of a narrative of “ Peril and suffering endured on board the Royal Mail steam ship Adelaide,” will not be altogether devoid of interest to your readers, and might possibly help to p event tbe occurrence of like evils for the future, 1 beg leave to inform you that seeing by electric telegraph the Adelaide had put back to Plymouth, she being in a leaky state, and her rudderdefective, I secured a p.issaee in London, and, prooeediug by rail, found myself safe on board on the Ist of January of the present year. Here 1 found my fellow shipmates, to the number of about 160, chafing at their already grievous detention, several of them having previously shipped by the Melbourne, and the present vessel having originally left London with the majority of them on the 11th of December. A misunderstanding having taken place between tbe Captain and some portion of the Directois of the Company, the former declined to proceed to sea in tbe ship even if j£)000 were offered him. At the solicitation of tbe passengers, however, he altered Lis determination, and tbe vessel having been pronounced seaworthy, we finally left Plymouth on the od of January. After having been at sea a day or two, we found the majority of the cabins ankle deep in water, from, as we surmise, leakage at the hawse holes, hut no official r ason was given us. On tbe 6th, being in tbe Bay of Biscay, about three o’clock in the morning, we were aroused hy the cry of ‘‘Fire,” the most fearful of any alarm at sea, where there is the feeling of no escape, the only ch nee being by which element, fire or water, you choose to perish ; «nd how much more feirfully enhanced when such a cry proceeds in the dead hour of night. On emerging from my cabin 1 found the second saloon enveloped in dense suffocating smoke, and the confusion and panic reigning which-can be imagined in a crowded passenger ship—the majority at sea for the first time. Here might be seen a shrieking, fainting woman, true to nature’s strongest feelings, and her best in her strong agony and intense fear, wildly calling for her child ; and here a group of wondering frigiitened children, all hut crushed in the confusion, shrieking for their parents. Among the horrors of that night, however, a quiet observer: could see much of the ludicrous. The wind was high, the sea running ns it usual y dt es in “Biscay’s sleepless bay,” the rain pouring as il the mountains of heaven

were broken up ; ourselves some hundreds of miles from shore. But here might be heard a married couple bitterly lamenting that though they had come to sea pro* vidrd «ith life belts, yet, alas, they were so sea sick they did not know where to look for them. Ano mr individual had equipped himself with incredible despatch, and rushed on deck armed with an umbrel a in o„e hand and a cash box in the other ; while a third, i„ sober earnestness, was exclaiming that some one had abstracted hi- clothes, and that, although he was ready to meet his death l.ke a Briton, yet he preferred doing 0 in his own trousers. It appeared that the fire had O'h’united from spontaneous combustion of the coals, ~d by dint of all hands incessantly pumping, was got under" by about 6 o’clock a. m. t atbougb it again subsequently broke out, and was not finally subdued for two days after. . , _ On ihe 17th January we readied St. Vincent (Cape de Verds) and our surprise and di-may may be better ‘ imagined than described” on our being informed there were no coals awaiting us. For seventeen days and a h„lf did we remain at this truly uninteresting place, and hopelessly did we strain our eyes each morning for a glimpse of a coal ship. Wandering on shore was to us no relief; the onlv object of interest on that barren island being the melancholy one of visiting the cemetry and paying our silent tear of sympathy to the memory of the many deceased English and Americans there interred, nearly all of whom had been the victims of African coast fever. An American eagle was posted at one end of the funereal settlement, and a reque t at the entrance entreating Europeans to preserve the burial ground, and to protect the bonesof the dead from insult and injury. On the 3d February, having procured our complement of coals from some colliers that had visited the island on speculation, we again steamed off. On the 10th February we crossed the line. The day opened with a good deal of the usual joculafity attending such oci ahous.but which was checked at about not n by one of the apprentice boyo falling overboard. The engines were stopped and the vessel put about with considerable smartness, the buoys thrown overboard, and the life boats lowered ; but, alas, too late. On the 14th February, one of the engineers died, and his body was committed to the deep with the usual impressive solemnities attending the burial of the dead at sea. His death was not unexpected, and although to his widow and fatherless children may be denied the melancholy gratification to weep and watch over the spot of blue lone sea that hides for ever bis mortal remains, yet it will be some consolation to them to learn that the handsome sum of '£6s was immediately raised on board for their future aid and support. Finding our supply of coals insufficient (our daily consumption when on full power of steam being n-*ar 60 tons per day) to carry us to the Cape, on the IStli February we altered our course for the Island of St. Helena, which, after cruising for north, south, oast, and west, without finding, we ultimately discovered on the 20th, and anchored. Here, as before, we wore greeted with the pleasant intelligence that there were no coals ; but having put all the mules and donkeys of the island into requisition for a supply of green wood, (for which they had to ascend the mountains, and bring down at the rate of a couple of logs each per diem, swung across their hacks), we looked forward for another helpless and long captivity at this frowning and impregnable castle in the ocean, i rusting, however, to the chapter of accidents, we were again befriended by the arrival of 11. hi. steamer Polyphemus, which accommodated us with a limited supply of coals. While riding here at anchor under Ladder Hill, which is ascended by 636 steps, a soldeir fell from the top of the garrison, and rested a crushed and mangled corpse half-wiy down the stupendous perpendicular cliff’. His comrades, unable to recover the body, wrapped it up in a bed and tumbled it into the ocean at the base. After only a fortnight’s detention here, we left on the 6th of March, and arrived without any incident worthy of remark at Cape Town on the 21st hi arch. Here we had been given up as lost, and our arrival was greeted by a perfect fleet of boats crowding arcund the vessel, as if about to take the ship by storm, hampering us to sucli a degree as to prevent us getting the mail out of the ship. The captain immediately ordered the master-at-arms to cut some forty or fifty of them adrift, which order being immediately executed away wi nt the little boats up the harbour, much to the astonishment and chagrin of their owners, who retaliated on us again by charging exorbitant rates of passage to and from the ’shore. Here we met the Queen of the South (the ship that had previously taken me home from the Cape) out again before us, having accomplished the passage in thirty-two da\s from home; also the Harbinger direct for Port Phillip, which bad left London two months after us. After staying here five days, and enjoying ourselves ns weary mariners only can, at Cape Town, seeing the Kaffir Chief Seyolo in bis captivity, and in visiting the Constantias, See., watching the disgusting process of making wine, and each forswearing its future use, and immediately forgetting our vows, imbibing it with the first pic-nic party we met;-~on the 26th March we left the Cape-—the ship ciowded with coal. April 3rd, another funeral at sea, Mr. Lawrenca Craigie, a Scotch gentleman, who had deservedly won the respect and esteem of all the ship’s company, and who had both enchanted and edified us by his ready wit and well-informed mind, paid nature the debt we all owe her. It can matter little to the dead where their bodies repose but the idea is a painful one that over the remains of those buried at sea no tears of affection can flow, or visits of love be paid to their last resting place. In the evening another alarm of fire. On this occasion the coal bags had ignited below. The engine pumps being, however, brought into play, soon extinguished it. April 2-I—Anchored at Albany, King George’s Sound. Thirty days out from the Cape. The ship had continued all the way from thence in a very leakystate, fore and aft, arising from the imperfect manner in which she had been put together. The leaks, however, have been kept under by the donkey engine, worked by steam, and the ordinary pumps ; the crew being relieved iu working the latter by relays of volunteers from the passengers, who took their stations morning and evenmg. At this settlement we found great scarcity of provisions, being able to procure on shore little or nothing for either love or money, the various ocean steamers calling here having drained the place. The settlers also complained bitterly of their still being unable to eradicate the noxious weeds that poison off their live stock. Here we left one solita-y passenger, and bliried another—the fifth death at sea, all adults. The name of the latter was Mr. Alfred JDundas. Poor fellow ! in perfect health mid the highest spirits one week,n tenant of the tomb the next. Left King George’s Sound, April 28tb, and arrived at Port Adelaide on the 4th May, having been 142 days from London, and 120 days finally from Plymouth. When we had a good supply of coal, we seldom had but half the fires alight; when of wood the complaint was, it had not sufficient power to get the steam up. When we had light winds, we moved sluggishly as a log on the water ; and when strong breezes, we found the masts too weak to spread any amount of canvas out, and upon nearly all occasions the splendid steamship Adelaide, carrying Her Majesty’s mails, would move along at a miserable rate of speed. Doubtless Captain Jackson had may adverse difficulties to grapple with. This gentleman is the brother of our former Colonial Secretary, J. A. Jackson, Esq., and was distinguished, upon all occasions, for that gentlemanly deportment urbanity, arid courtesy which are so peculiarly characteristic of the intelligent British seaman. For the quantity and quality of the provisions, as laid in by the Company, they de-erve credit, although often we had to go upon short commons through the mismanagement or something worse, of the underlings of the ship. The enrolment, for the future, of a superior class of servants would not impair the interests of the Company. Our voyage all along was pleasantly distinguished by the utmost fraternity and good fellowship of the passengers, who, ns a class, are of a verysuperior order, both in respectability and intelligence. The pleasure of again landing, after so tedious and protracted a voyage is, in a great degree, neutralized by the severing of many sincere friendships formed during the voyage. ° I am, dear Sir, yours very truly, J. Bonp PhipsoH. On board the A. R. M. S. Co’s steamer Adtdaide, May 4th, 1853. Transfer of the Australian’s Mail.— On Monday evening a singular scene took place at the General 1 o v >t-othce, in St. Martiu’s-le Grand. Early on Monday morning the mail bags, thirty-three in numb' r, recently sent to Plymouth to be carried by the Australian to Melbourne, Sydney, and the vicinity of the gold regions, were brought back to the Post-office, in consequence ol the vessel being disabled ; twenty-eight of these hags were completely saturated, so that it was considered necessary to open them and examine the mass of correspondence they contained. The large leather receptacle (or the hags having been unfastened, they were taken ou. and opened, when it was disc\-

vered that tbe letters and newspapers, several thousand in number, were soaked through, it being scarcely possible to handle them without their falling to piecea or the outsides peeling off. Shortly after the receipt of the mail at the Post-office, orders were given by the superintending president that its contents should be, without delay, removed to the long range of carpenters’ workshops situate in the basement in front of the building, where a large number of charcoal 6res were kindled. The letters, papers, &c., were then placed along the rooms cn benches, several men being employed to keep them turned. Eight sorters were ordered to remain during the night to put aside all the legibly addressed letters and papers, it being the intention of the authorities to send off the whole of those that can be made out by the overl nd mail on the 4fb inst.— Globe. [This statement will account for the very tattered condition in which many of the letters reached Melbourne.—Argusfblay 23.]