WRECK OF THE QUEEN BEE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5113, 13 August 1877, Page 2

WRECK OF THE QUEEN BEE.

STORIES OF THE SURVIVORS.. FULL DETAILS OF THE WRECK, AND SUBSEQUENT SUFFERINGS, • ; Nelson, Sunday. Several thousands of people assembled at the port this-afternoon to meet the Naval Brigade’s boat Aurora, with Mr. and Mrs. Maunsell and family, two Misses Fosbery; and four of the crew. The Volunteers assembled in forpe, and there was a perfect storm of cheera from the crowd that lined the sides as the-Aurora pulled up the harbor, the band playing “ Home, -Sweet Home.” -The passengers are hut little worse for their adventures. The Maori boat, with the other passengers, has not yet arrived, but is expected to-night. - The following is Captain Davis’ account of what occurred after the .passengers left the ship, which he said they did in defiance of his orders, as he wanted.thera to remain alongside“ We set to; work and constructed a raft, as I, thought we should be too many for the only boat that was left, and we finished it about 4 p.nv Af this time the sea was becoming rougher and rougher, and the wind was blowing very hard from, the W.N.W., , and increasing in force. Such a sea was rolling 1 in that we could not ; get anything into the boat but a bottle of water, a tin i of biscuits, and two tins, of meat, the latter ■ of which were washed overboard j in - beaching the-boat. I was frightened to i bring, her close alongside lest - she should be stove in, or I would have put more provisions on board. Eventually we contrived jto. scramble; on to her and the raft by watching bur chance, nine getting into the boat and six.' bn . to ■ the raft, which we towed after us. It was then blowing hard from the same quarter ; and just before dark, finding that it was impossible for the men to 1 reihain on the raft all night, we got under her 100 and took them in. The whole night it was blowing frightfully, and how we-escaped with our boat so heavily laden is to me a perfect .miracle. I did not know where we were going, and all I could do was to keep her head to sea. ; , At daylight we saw- Stevens and D’Urville , islands-some six or seven , miles distant, 'ahd ; as we got closer we saw several little bays as they appeared to he, and these I fried to make for, but could not, on account of the currents. All this while the boat was leaking badly, and. we had all .we could do to keep the water down by bailing; and finding that she must sink if we remained at sea, l determined to beach; her at five o’clock. I saw a ismall- indentation in the coastline where the mountains wore very precipitous, and the'base of them only about forty- feet from low-water mark.- There was .a fearful smirf on; but there was nothing for it but, tp make the attempt, so we ran in. A tremen-, dous sea/caught and lifted the boat right on end,- bow downwards. We 1 -were thrown, ’ashere, and the boat turned right over, keel upperm6st,Tahß"'in' "two “ mhules“she''was smashed' to' atoms;'. On mustering our numbers we found that the carpenter was missing, and he'must;have been drowned. Shortly afterwards one of the men started off of his own accord over the hills, and was followed by Mr. Hilliard, who, on "climbing the hill, fell

down the side of the cliS and hurt his feet very severely. We made for the snuggest quarters we could find, and tried to obtain some rest by lying down on the stones; but the tide came over us at high water, and we had to get as far back as we could, and even then we could scarcely get out of reach of the water. We passed a miserable night, and had, no sleep, and nothing to drink or to eat. The next morning the steward procured a box of matches which he had saved, but they were saturated with water. However, the mate fortunately had a burning glass with him, and by its aid we ignited one of the matches and lighted a fire with some driftwood that was lying about, and dried the rest of the matches. .We spent the whole day on this little patch of land, which was' certainly not 100 yards in length. We were fortunate' enough to find water, but looked in vain for birds or fish of any kind. We could see vessels in the distance ; but none noticed our smoke. During the day Sir.' Mason, the third mate, who is now missing, went oyer the hills, and we saw no more of him. Thursday night was a repetition of the previous one, and a wretched time it was ; but there was this incur favor—that the weather was -fine. ‘ On Friday morning it came on to rain and blow. We ; saw one or two Vessels, and a little later a steamer (the Lyttelton), which was dodging about at some distance from the land. By her movements we felt sure that she was looking for us, and in desperation we set fire to the bushes and everything we could find about, to create a smoke to, attract her, attention,; but all in vain.' Just then (about 2 p.m.), to our intense delight wo saw the Manawatu rounding the point about a mile away. She saw our smoke, and to our great joy we saw her hoist I the ensign in response.” The captain i speaks in high terms of the kindness he received- on board the Manawatu. The cook of the Queen Bee was brought here last night in the Lady Barkly, into which vessel he was transhipped from the Lyttelton, which found him in a little nook on D'Urville Island., A very faint “ cooey ” was heard, and, the boat was sent ashore; when he was found in an exhausted state, having laid , down to die. He was on a cliff, and saw the other, people taken by the Manawatu, but failed to make himself heard. The Lyttelton has remained to search for the other man. -We are indebted to the Commissioner of Customs for the following telegram : Nelson, Sunday. One of the two men missing from the .captain’s; boat of the Queen Bee was found alive by the. Lyttelton -yesterday morning,- and a party is searching in the bush for the other. The Lyttelton is still out. , We are indebted to the Hon. George McLean, Commissioner of Customs, for the following important,, and, it may be added gratifying information with regard to the passengers by the wrecked ship Queen Bee, reported by us this morning as still missing. 1 | Wakapuaka, August 11, 8.7 a.m. The Queen Bee’s passengers (women and children) on board the cutter were found on D’Urville’s Island by the Nelson Naval Brigade boat. A portion of them arrived here an hour ago. The rest are coming on shortly in another boat, and will be in Nelson to-night. * LATER. . The cutter with her passengers was found by the Naval. Brigade at ElmsUe’s place, near the French Pass. Further intelligence 500 n... . ; THE LATEST. ' All the passengers are safe and well, as found by the Nelson Naval Brigade boat, and they are now at Cable Bay. They will leave at 3 o’clock this afternoon for Nelson.