THE LOSS OF THE MONGOL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4336, 11 February 1875, Page 3

THE LOSS OF THE MONGOL.

(Prom the Overland Mail, Hongkong.) We much regret to have to record the total loss of the above steamer, Captain Plamank, which left on the morning of the 12th December for Yokohama. She started about 10.30 a.m., with a pilot on hoard, and had fine weather. The pilot left her just outside the Ly-ee-moor Pass at 11.30. At a quarter to two, when they were in the vicinity of the Niue Pins, the second officer (Mr. Fry) was on the bridge along with the captain. The captain told him there would be a rock ahead, and asked him to go down and look at the chart to see if he could discover its position. The second officer went down as requested, hut could not discover it, and came up and told the captain so. The captain then told him to keep well off the island, and he went down to examine the chart himself. He returned to the bridge soon afterwards, and said he could not discover the rock, and only saw an island which would be above water. He then altered the ship’s course a little more towards the land, and five minutes afterwards she struck. The captain then at once gave orders to sound the pumps, and they found that the ship was making water. Believing that the steamer wi?s resting upon the rock, orders were given to hack the engines, with a view to getting her off, but it was discovered she had gone light over the.rock. The second officer then ordered the man at the wheel to turn the ship’s head round and make for the shored The water by this time was reported gaining on the ship forward, and, seeing that it was useless to proceed, orders were given to stop the engines, and attempts were made to get the boats out. The captain and second officer then left the bridge. The mate and the surgeon were looking after the captain’s wife, who was an invalid. Two boats were lowered, and anumber of the crew made off in them, in fact, they were filled before they reached the water. Those remaining on board tried to get another boat down, but the waterwas gainingso much forwardsand the vessel sinking so rapidly, that it was impossible. The second officer, seeing that all was over, jumped overboard and swam from the ship. Immediately afterwards the vessel went down, the captain, his wife, and several others being lost with her. While the second officer was in the water, the bodies of the captain’s wife and chief officer were floating close to him. As the vessel was sinking, a violent explosion took place from the water coming in contact with the boilers. The boats which made off were away some little distance, and after a time came back and picked up the second and third officers, a fireman, and a Chinaman, who were all struggling in the water close together. The vessel at the time she struck was going about nine knots an hour, with a strong monsoon and a heavy swell against her. So sudden was the sad catastrophe that she sank within five minutes after she struck. The two boats were taken in tow by a junk, and arrived here about 5 o’clock this afternoon. The Mongol was a new vessel, built on the Clyde in 1873, and was one of the new fleet of the New York, London, and China Steamship Company (Limited). She had a crew in all of fifty-two hands, of whom fifteen have been lost. The names of those drowned are as follows : Captain J. Flamank, Mrs. Plamank, W. H. GawthorjJe, chief officer; W. F. Ring, fourth officer ; Campbell, second engineer ; J. Smith, fourth engineer ; J. Gentle, boilermaker ; Smith, carpenter; Jewell, second steward ; S, Bevis, mesa steward ; Ludlow, Murdock, and Lewis, firemen ; Fraukstone and Stone, sailors ; and two Chinese.