WRECK OF THE SHIP QUEEN BEE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5123, 24 August 1877, Page 7

WRECK OF THE SHIP QUEEN BEE.

M!ost of qnr readers are aware Of tno.wrecK O.L, 'this ship which occurred ;PA Gape.-FareWPlli Spit, Nelson, at midnight: on Monday; the, 6ths Tusfout. . had W darge auduSOi , pafcselig :rs for Nelson. The mate of the Queen Bee. reports that thelsbip.imade. the Ne ,v' Zealand; coast-on Thursday; week. weather ;) i';FareweU, i 'and' on Monday night wan abreast .of the lightL Koundeditp, and. atj jnjdnightf struck, tbedight.' bearing N.W-> and showing'.red,-;. ■lt'iWas.tfieu,. menced to'break over hpr, : ahd she-pumped aoj heavily that the men,could soarcely.keep'..their: legs. Had she, been 2Q9. yards further put she. ,woiild: cleared,;the f( Spit end. i.. At i.six ■ o’clock the passengers and crew leftithe ahfp, 1 The, captain f.and ofiicers -and itwP passengers! '(Helliard ’and- Beckett) in the gig,;; theilifeboat,, 'with* some of the’passengers, and the cutter,: with Dr 1 , agdiJtdrs- iMaun.sell and two.'children,. Misses Fosoberry (2), Mr. and,Mrs.);Qibbs and children) • Messrs,’.,; White and.:HartelljVMi;s;. Gheel ’ and son, one AB and,three'Ordihary seamen. 1 <The lifeboat wap ,jnuoh! damaged ;in daunphMg, atid while knocking about .'dll' day ye|teida(y. the, women,had to bale her out.!. Off. Awaroaithey yypre picked ' Apr by; the schooner Merlin, ahdl we re f' B h o Ttly after transferred rto. the iLadjy ' darkly;,.which . -was.! returning from: the.wreck. ■ ' C•‘ ■■'.l !

The p.s. Manawatu subsequently brought the captain and crew excepting _ the .<oau>': penter, who was drowned' in landing owing* to the capsizing ! of thej bpat. ? Two men ..are still in'the, scrub on D’Urville, Island.,,. They 1 , couldinot b.e.iound when the? Manawatu left. Instructions are urgently .required to despatch the Manawatuhack immediately in- search of the other boat and-men.lost.; -m >■ w:l! The, captain/, and the .first mate and parti ;o£. .the crew and-two passengers leftljthe wreck,-at’ 6 p.in. oh,Tuesday.' Theyhad/fearfuDweSther') /dming the night. SAt) dusk on Wednesdayithey; made [Port, -Hardy,, the,!sea’/belngii,still;ivery.: rough? iThejhpat, capsized In htading/and ithe -carpenter! was: drowned, and .the,.feet,of ,iHil<; ■ land, ia went? oh the hills, and are now missing, I. •Thel whole ( ,of.lthose;, brought.in are in a fery*. emaciated condition, 1 having had j nothing to. eat'since they left the ship. ‘ I Theu captain thinks there la Uttle. chance ,of. finding,, the other b6at containing the women and children. The p.s,.iLyttelton.\iS, 'at Port Hardy,' searching for the.two men and the outter/1 On the Saturday-following-the Queen Bee’spassengers' (women .and .'children) 6n board' the cutter were 'found on D’Undlle’n Island

-,by„the .Nelson..,NavaLßrigade,boat.--All-the-passengers were safe 'and well, as found by the Nelson Naval Brigade boat, and were sent on to'Cable'Bayb'. A • , , ! i ’ Several thousands of people assembled at the port ,on Sunday .to meet the , Naval Brigade’s 1 boat Aurora, 1 , with 3Jr. and , Mrs, ’hlaurisell and family, two, Misses Fosbery,'and four of tjie y crew. .assembled ,in fored, ,and ’ tlffire' was' a perfect j storm of. 1 cheers crowd' that lined the sides as. the" Apfdfa' p’ulled.'up -the ,harbor,! the band jiliijmg “ Home,” Sweet Hoiri’e’’ " The passengers, aye hut ! little‘:worse for 1 their 'adveutures. The |ilaori,h'oat; vvith thritOthef passeri'gers, has not yet arrived!hut is expected to-night. 1 The following is j Gpptain Davis* ’ account of eyhat ’.Occurred after' the 'passengers' left :: tHe‘ 'ship, which jhe 'said they .iiid : in defiance of his orders, as he wanted them to remaih al6ngSide :—“ We .set to! work and constructed a* "raft,;'as. I thought .we should 1 be too' inariy ■ for the only hpat that was left, and we finished it about j !4 p.mj At this’time theA'sea was becoming rougher and rougher, ’arid' the wind was blow;ing very hardfrom the.W.N.W., and increasing in ' force. Such a sea' was rolling in that, we , could riot get anything into the boat, but a 1 bottle of water, a ni of ■’biscuits; andtwo tins of meat, fhe letter of , which’ weye washed overboard i iri ' u beaching ” fhe' boat. 'I . was frightened to bring her!',pjdse alongside .lest she should be stove' in, "or T would have put more provisions oil board. , Eventually we contrived ; to ' scramble on' to her-aiKi the raft by watching, our chance,' nine getting ' mfco, the boat knd 'six [ ,ori' to , the ! raft, which we towed lafter *us. ; 1 It was ‘then blowing hard from the same quarter V’arid; jiist before dark, finding thkt 1 it was iriippssible' for the meri to remain On'the raft all - night, v?e got under, her lee and took thpm in. Thp whole’night it was blo wing'frightfully, and how we'escaped with; our boht so 1 heavily laden is to me a perfect miracle. I did npt .know .where we were go-; ing! and all X could do was to keep her hpadto. sea. jAt daylight 'we sa>v Stevens and 'B’TJrVjille islands '■spme‘ : s.everi miles 1 distant, and' as we 'got' closer we ‘ saw* Several' ijdttlejbays as they -appeared 'to be,^arid^'these“l, tried,to make’-forj'but'cbuld not! bri accbiirit ’of the.vpjrents. , Alii‘ this -while ; the boat was leakipg badlypand" weffiad" all' we _ could do .to Jjceep the water 'doafrtf by bailing,;* and finding that slje must sink if we remained at sea, I detetmiried to beach her, at .five' o’clock. I ‘saw a .small iudentatibn’'■‘.'in’; the coast line vyhere* the ’mburitmns .were very pre-, cipitoqs, and the base bf Athem" Only' about’ forty feet from low:^water mark!'" There yyaa .a fearful] surf on; but'there' wasriothirig’fpr it'but. to make the attempt, 80;we ,‘A tremendous sea caught and lifted the. boat. right bri ; end, pbw . ddwrijvards.' Wei" were] thrown ashorej and ' the [ boat, turned; riglit over, keel uppermost,’ "ajid • iri I '' two" immutes ’she■ ■!waß , smashed-to’ 1 atoms:'' ’Ori : mustermig' bur 'n'um-! bers we found that the carpenter' was mis'siri’g; ] and hb .miiSt'; haye-'beeri ’ drowned:’ ’Shortly atterwards f ’orieJ' bf ,the‘ riieri startpd ! ;bff ,bf’his* own aqom-ii liver the' hills! 1 arid was’fpllowbd by Mr. Hilliard, who, on climbing'the 1 hill,'fell down the side of the clifl| and' hurt his feet very severely. We made' ' for ' thb snuggest ,quaisein we could find,, and, trieii to obtain. sompjrSsst by lying downbri the stories'; but the ,tldp,ca;me over ,us;a,t.high; water,-and-..w^.had i to. g§jb us far back’ as we could, and even then ■;}ye .could...scarcely .out; jot, rpacfi;o£...the, waiter. | b.ad no de^' i < ,l^’ea^',r r |nie. matches which “he ’had" saved! but they were -saturated with water. Hoyrever, the mate fortunately had a,burning, glass with him, and by its kid. we ignited ;prie' of the matches iand, lighted; a fire’with 'some driftwood’., that was, lying about, and dried tile rest of the matches. Wb;.;Spe'nt . .the whole,'! day. pn .-'this, "little., patch; 'land,' which was certainly, riot 100 y ’length., W!e were.fprturiatb ;pripugh •to find water, hutdobked '.jh Tor, .birds or, fish of jany kind."' ‘We c'offid .see.yessels in. the. distandejjtmt smoke. I)ur.ing'thp day l\lr, third mate,-.jyho is now. ’njissing, went byer, L tbp hi^ B » saw no morej of him; , Thursday night was a repetition, <jf the .preyioiis’ pile,‘ a-wretphed tiirie it was j but’ there 'yaSj this in buriyVOr—that'; the wpather. was fine..' On Friday morning it, came bn''h)!rairi and Wpiy, jAVe saw one or two vbskpl'BjJarid a steairier (the T>ytteltori), which; was (lodging about at som e diatande'irbm'the land.’"By her riibvements we felt sure that she was looking for us, arid in desperation we set fire to . the bushes and everything, we could t find about,’.to? create .a; smoke aitra’ctVher ,attentipn ; ,'but all‘.ip vain. (about, 2 .plm.); to oiir in-, tense delight ’we' ’saw 1 the ManawatuJrounding the point, pbout a .mile ayfky.’ (S£e'fi»Wiburfsmoke,! kriq'.l tof jour"’(great'joy,! we‘ saw her "hoist" j;he ■ ensign ,“in ' response.” ’. The-, cap:, tain speaks in high terms pf - , the kind-mess.-he received on board the Manawatu. O The j cook of the, .Quopu, Bee was,, brought heM'Jri , 'the J Lady Barkly!' into which yessel he -waS transhipped from the Lytteltori,‘which .found {him in a little nook .on D’Urville Island. ■;A;/;Vsryi tfaiat:Jf‘ cboey ” was: heard;; -and the. hQrit fwasi sent ■,ashore;i wheri : he .was ifourid iri an, exhausted! state,(having laid down ~to die. He,Svaa,dn.a'cliff, , -p.nd. saw ithfe/other!. .people takenf!by ithei.Mariayiratu,.‘but . failed ;to make|.himself beayd;vjiThe .Lyttelton, has : .remained to search for the other man.

. ;Otffe j>f the two men missing from the captain’s boat of. the’ Queehißee was found alive .by the Jjytteltou-yesterday 1 morning, and a .'party in searching .i ini the bush -for the other, iii There ;vvas -a vgrC&tb demonstration-at Nelsoncih connection) with .the rescue ‘of the ,Queen See’s; passengers;! -The volunteers. and the seameni'and .marines oof ’ H.M.S- Sappho paraded .in-Trafalgar-square, at the ; foot of Church! Hillj pn jwhich sat! least 2000 people . had assembled;- The Bishop of Nelson,'bn behalf ■of the [community, addtessed them in complimentary terms, on> their-readiness to turn out ,to search-for; the -missing. people,, and then ihanded tft tbe,representatives of the, different ■icrews, and also to those individuals who had igone out in their own boats, the resolutions •passed atithe-Wreck Kfelief Committee’s meeti jdg, expressive- of the' thanks' of the community ifdr the Be,rvices,they had rendered;;. The.whole i Ceremony passed off most successfully. SubLisdriptiohs are being raised,to aid those who •lost their,all by the disaster. It is calculated -that at least.£soo,will be required, —Messrs., “N.; Edwards and .Co. have received: adelegram from Messrs. Shaw,, Savill and Go., liondonj stating that the Queen Bee was uninsured.! •' “ '■ ■■ '■

, i . .\o, .U. Kelson; August'22.-’ 1 V;The Queen Bee wreck inquiry concluded to : 'day, when-judgment' 'was given tb the'follbwmg,<jffe(jt;-'— (I.)' That 'there had 'been a waiit' of, proper 1 navigation ' between the time of sighting the Spit' light and'the ship striking. (2.) That there was culpable neglect in not fusing, jthe lead. (3.) That' a' bad ■ lookout was kept. The 'oaptain’s certificate was suspended for, , three' years; and the seophd mate’s for six mpnths.) ;The Court • considered that the first mate erredin judgment as' muchasthe captain ; but the l responsibility ' rested -frith the {latter and the'second-mate; ! who was; the officer of the, watch at'the'time of the wreck. ,