SHIPPING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4157, 17 July 1874, Page 2

SHIPPING.

POUT OF WELLINGTON. HioaWATBR, 6.53 A.ii.; 7.10 p.m. ARRIVED. July 10.—Phcube, s.s., 4U5 tong, 31. Worsp, from Northern Ports. Passengers—Cabin : Miss Greenwood, Messrs. Pollen. Cawkwell, Hughes, Hood, Campbell, Harper, Stafford, Lawrence, Price, Holloway, Leonard, Frown (2), and Dickenson. Ten in the steerage. K. S. Ledger, agent. SAILED. July 10.—Taranaki, s.s., 299 tons, E. Wheeler, for Northern ports. Passengers—Cabin: Miss Ronaldson, Messrs. Smith, Buck, Parker, and Greaves. Seven in the steerage. 11. S. Ledger, agent. Bangatlra, s.s., 185 tons, C. Lloyd, for Napier and Poverty Bay. Passengers—Cabin : Mr. Minifl. Two in the steerage. K. S“. Ledger, agent. CLEARED OUT. July 1C. —Anne Melhulsh, barque, 341 tons, Davidson, for Newcastle, in ballast. IMPORTS. Phcebo, from Onehunga: 1 qr-cask. 1 pkg, 1 case, 3 pels, 100 kits oysters, 1 box. Prom Nelson : 1(50 hides, 1 pci, 5 bars Iron, 5 cases. From Picton : X coil rope, 2 pkgs. EXPORTS. Taranaki, to Picton ; S pkgs, To Taranaki: 1 pkg, 2 cases, 1 bale. To Nelson : 1 pkg, 3 pels, 2 bales, 2 kegs. Eangatira, to Castle Point : 2S bdls arms. To Napier ; 150 sacks oats, 585 pkgs, quantity pig iron, 5 cases, 7 gunnies sugar, 7 pels,’ 5 sacks Hour, 12 mats sugar, 11-chest tea, 2 kegs, 8 axle arms, 1 bag, 4 bdls, 2 boxes, 1 truss, 3 horses, 2 sacks barley. To Poverty Bay: 38 cases, 11 boxes, 1 trunk, 1 bag, 1 pci, 4 sacks, 2 qr-casks whisky, 2 hales, o kegs butter, 4 do nails, 2 pkgs. EXPECTED ARRIVALS. Melbourne, via Southern Ports.—CUud Hamilton, 18th inst. Melbourne.— Ashburton, via Geographe Bay, W, A.; sailed 12th May. Auckland. — Brigantine Rhyno ; schooner Merlin. London. —Weymouth, ship, sailed 7th April (from Deal) Reichstag, Strathnavar, St. Leonards, Panthea, Euterpe, sailed 28th April; Conflict, sailed sth May. Liverpool.—J. A, Thompson, ship. - PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Melbourne, via the East Coast. —Claud Hamilton. s.s., 18th inst. Wanganui. —Manawatu, this day. Foxton. —Napier, and Mary and Ellen, this day. Southern Ports. — Phcebo, this day; *' Newcastle. —Anne Melhuish, Record, and Frowning Beauty, early. P' The a.s. Taranaki sailed yesterday for the Northern ports with passengers and cargo. The Rangatira, s.s., left for Napier and Poverty Bay, having a large cargo of miscellaneous goods, and three horses, for which boxes were rigged up on deck. There has been quite a dullness in shipping matters on the wharf during the past few days. Owing to the continuous rain, no loading or unloading could be carried on, except with the steamers calling at the port. Icebergs and Navigation. —At the last sitting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, a paper was received from Mr. R. F. Michel on an apparatus recording automatically the vicinity of an iceberg. The recent loss of the Europe, said to have encountered a block of ice, led this gentleman to consider whether there might not bo some reliable way of avoiding such contingencies, which are well known to be most frequent in the present season, when detached icebergs come down in shoals from the North Pole, and are a real danger to ships plying between Europe and North America. In the day time those huge masses are seen from enormous distances when there is no fog and where the sun shines upon them : they are then easily avoided. But in the vicinity of Newfoundland, where fogs are so intense as to require constant ringing of the bell and even firing of guns to avoid collision in a sea literally swarming with ships, other means must be employed to ascertain the vicinity of an iceberg. This is always accompanied by a great fall in the temperature of the water within a very extensive radius, and is on this circumstance M. Michel founds his plan, which consists in having £a bi-metallic helicoM thermometer fixed to the side of the ships When the emperature of the sea falls below a certain limit the needle that marks the degrees is stopped by striking against a small metallic screw, whereby an electric current is instantly closed, causing a bell to ring, which will at once warn the officer on duty.— Hew York Herald, May 16. EXTRAORDINARY STORY FROM THE SEA. ABANDONMENT AND RECOVERY OP THE FRENCH STEAMSHIP AMERIQUE. The French and American Transatlantic Steamship Company lately lost two fine ships, the Ville de Paris and the Europe, and between the two events the English and American public were greatly excited by receiving intelligence of the abandonment at sea of the Amerique, of the same line, the crew and passengers of which were rescued by three vessels—one a Norwegian, one an Italian, and one an English merchantman. The Paris agent reported her as a total loss. The ship, however, did not sink. There was really little the matter with her. She was found at sea, a derelict; towed into Plymouth harbor; released on very heavy salvage bonds (£125,000), and sent on to Havre, where she arrived safely. We abridge the story as'it is told by the Hew York Herald of date 4th May;— Plymouth, Eng., April 20, 1874. On the evening of the 18th inst. two strange steam colliers hove in sight, making for the Sound and having in tow a large derelict steamship, known from her build and her fore and aft red funnels, to be one of the vessels of the Compagnio Transatlantique, At first the rumor got abroad that it was the Europe, as it bad been positively stated that the Amerique had foundered. By aid of a powerful glass Amerique was seen, painted in white letters, on the bow, and all conjecture as to her name was thenceforth ended. The only difficulty was in trying to understand how a steamer with her rigging, so taut and trim, and with ; her hull complete and whole, a*>d by no means sitting deep in the water, could be this same unhappy vessel, whoso mishaps had already been chronicled so graphically in the daily press. A Herald correspondent took an early opportunity of boarding the derelict to obtain the salvors' account of the rescue, and to see the condition of an American liner's saloon after the passengers have had precipitately to flee for their lives- From those in charge the following story of the salvage was obtained: —The Amerique was abandoned in a terrific gale on Tuesday the 14th inst. Her crew and passengers were taken by three ships—the Michigan, an English vessel, bound from Naples to Callao ; the Aladdin, a Norwegian, and commanded by Capt. Erickson, and another vessel hailing from Italy. The transfer of the crew and passengers was effected without loss of life, except in the case of the second officer, M. Garay, who was drowned by the upsetting of a boat. The rescued, except those in the English ship, which has not yet come into port, were landed at Havre. On the day following her abandonment a barque named the Auburn, of and from Sunderland, with coals for Alexandria, and a steamship, the Spray, Captain Clark, of West Hartlepool, from Newport, with coals for Gibraltar, both sighted the Amerique ploughing solemnly along under canvas, with the signal of distress flying at. half-mast. A boat's crew from the Auburn boarded the drifting ship, and there found every evidence of the precipitate departure of the panic-stricken passengers and crew. Dinner was on the table; some of the passengers had been served, while others had not. In the galley savory soup was still in the coppers and some prepared dishes stood ready for service. In the staterooms everything was in the wildest confusion. Costly dresses lay on the floors, books and private papers were lying around, boxes, trunks, valises and pocketbooks were left by their owners, who had In some cases apparently been “ assisted " in the process of emptying them. From the private journal of her commander, found among the debris on board, it appears that the ship had had a peculiarly favorable voyage as far os the 12th. There the journal stops. NAUTICAL SURVEY. A party of seamen, with the carpenters, the engineeers and the mate of the Spray, went on board the Amerique to report. They found that she was built in five compartments, and conjectured that during the gale she mast have shipped some very heavy seas over her engine room skylight or admitted immense volumes of water through three dead lights that were found knocked in by the action of thewaves in striking against her sides. That conclusion was strengthened by the fact that they found the engine room stoke hole and coal bunker compartment flooded with eight and a half feet of water, which water has not since increased. Every aperture in the deck was found closed, but this battening down was believed to have been adopted, bo far as the engine room was concerned, after a considerable quantity of water had found its way into that compartment. It was clear that by the flooding of her engines she had lost the means of working her main pumps, and the other pumps appeared to have been by some as yet undiscovered cause wholly choked up. While this had been going on amidships, a leak had apparently sprung in her aftermost compartment, from six to eight feet of water being discovered there at the period when first boarded by her salvors. This leak, however, did not make any dangerous progress from the Tuesday up to the Saturday evening, and the other compartments are believed to be sound. Her spars, rigging, sails, and steering apparatus were Intact. TAKING POSSESSION. Captain Clark arranged with the captain of the barque that what help he required would bo readily granted him; and William Brown, the boatswain, and Edward Colo, an able seaman of the barque Auburn, were left on board the Amerique, while the barque proceeded on her voyage. The whole of the Amerique’a boats had been swung off her upper deck from their chocks, ami carried away with the crew, with the exception of a small gig that happened to be left hanging to the davits. Part of the crew of the Spray was sent on board the Amerique to utilise some of her largo warps, and one of these being bent to one of her cables, the other end was taken on board the Spray, and at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the 15th, she commenced to tow the derelict, heading her course for Brest. At 8 p.m., the weather looked threatening, Captain Clark had his consort’s foretopsail, foresail, jib and forestaysail set, helm lashed, and recalled the men to the Spray until daylight, At 4 a.m., Thursday, Mr. Cooper, the first mate, returned on board the Amerique with a prize crew and the Spray continued to tow and make all possible haste for Brest. At this stage, very fortunately, another steamer hove insight. She proved to be the F. T. Barry, of London, from Poraaron with iron ore for Garaton. Captain Clark made arrangements for using this new and welcome aid, and both the steamers kept towing towards Brest till four that afternoon. FOR AN ENGLISH PORT AND MOORED. Hitherto the wind had been from the northward, but It had now shifted to the westward and it was resolved to tow for Plymouth. All through Thursday night, Friday and Friday night, the towing was continued—a monotonous, weary kind of work, which wasn't once relieved by any incident of a more serious character than the occasional breakage of warps. Twenty miles south west of the Eddystone, at 8 a.m. on Saturday, a pilot was taken from the Plymouth pilot cutter Whisper, and in the afternoon, on the steamer's nearing the breakwater at Plymouth, the Spray ceased to tow. Subsequently tho F, T. Barry

and tho Sir Francis Drake steam-tender, towed the derelict to a buoy mooring in the Sound. HISTORY OF THE UNFORTUNATE. The vessel and her machinery are English. She Is one of four vessels that were formerly paddle boats, but have been lengthened and converted into screwboats by Messrs. Andrew Leslie & Co., of Hepburn-on-Tyne. New engines were also supplied this year to tho Amerique, furnished by the Messrs. Maudslay Sons and Field, of London. The derelict and cargo are estimated as worth little less than £300,000 sterling. SCENES IN THE SALOON AND STATE CABINS. On entering tho saloon the correspondent noticed the piano open, and the piece of music which some one had been playing was “ Ah! Che la Morte.” One letter I picked up, says the Herald's correspondent, was in French, and tho first sentence that caught ray eye showed that it was from a young lady to her sweetheart. ’ INTERVIEW WITH THE SECRETARY. Paris, April 20. As soonas tho report of the total loss of tho Ameriquo reached Paris I called upon Mr. George Le Roy, Secretary of tho General Transatlantic Company, “The Amerique,” gasped tho Secretary, with a deprecatory bow and smile cut short in the middle by the contents of a telegram, “Cleared from New York on tho 4th of April. She had good weather and a quick passage till the 13th. On tho morning of that day the passengers were awakened by a stiff breeze from tho west. There was a very heavy sea. At two o’clock p.m. tho wind changed to north north-west and rose into a gale. The ship was struck by an immense wave 115 miles from Brest, and the water swept over her, doing some damage. Captain Roussan, in whom the Company has groat confidence, showed courage and judgment in this danger. He wisely forebore to alarm the passengers, who were kept in complete ignorance of their peril as long as there remained a hope of saving the ship. Daring the afternoon the gale continued to increase in violence. The ship rolled fearfully, and does not seem to have behaved well. The struggle with tho elements lasted all day, and at seven in the evening the water got into the engines and cabins. A terrible hurricane now raged. Still the Officers and crew behaved admirably. Three times the fires were extinguished by the sea and three times relighted, the engineers groping up to their waists in water for coal. On the morning of the 14th tho weather became calmer for a short time, and all hands were ordered to the pumps. Their efforts, though vigorous and well directed, were vain. The water continued rising. The engines of tho Amerique stopped at ten o’clock on the morning of the 14th inst., and it was found Impossible to light tho fires again. The Captain now suspected that there was a leak ; but, after careful examination, no leak could be discovered. The Chief Engineer showed a high sense of iduty and repeatedly risked his life without results. The engines were swamped and drowned in salt water. Nevertheless all hands remained steadily at the pumps. But the gale returned with redoubled fury, and towards nine in the evening tho ship could be scarcely kept afloat by the most heroic exertions. At one o’clock a.m. on the 15th the Eliza Queirolo, Captain Gaggiono, from Genoa, sighted the Ameriquo and exchanged signals with her. Then Captain Roussan assembled the passengers and told them the vessel was sinking. The passengers were as much surprised as terrified by this unexpected announcement; but the Captain raised their spirits, distributed swimming belts among them, and told them they would be all saved. The women, children and . sick were first sent away; and though the boats in which they embarked were small and there was a mountainous sea, so strict was the order and discipline which prevailed that not one of the passengers’ lives was lost. A few only were bruised, and all passed over withont accident till seven o’clock. Unfortunately, as everyone was rejoicing over this deliverance from a watery death, M. Garay, our second captain, who had courageously remained till the last on board the ship, was swept off and drowned. While the passengers were being transhipped to the Eliza Queirolo the Norwegian vessel Aladdin hove in sight and received some of them ; a British vessel also took a few. The precise time at which the Amerique sunk is unknown, so deep was the darkness and so fierce the tempest round her. The whole of the cargo and most of the passengers’ baggage are lost."