WATER-LOGGING OF THE BARQUE KEDAR.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5401, 19 July 1878, Page 5

WATER-LOGGING OF THE BARQUE KEDAR.

TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW.

(From the New Zealand Heiald, July 12.) The schooner Lcetitia, which arrived from the Friendly and Navigators’ Islands yesterday, brought Captain Johnson, Chief Officer Popple, and Messrs. Geo Watson and Sinclair, all belonging to the barque Kedar, which was' water-logged off Cook’s Island, on April 3, in a fearful hurricane. At the time of the disaster the barque was on her way from Burrard’s Inlet (British Columbia) with a cargo of 40,000 feet of timber for Messrs. Hugh Held and Co., of Melbourne, the owners of the vessel. The account of the. disaster, and the subsequent sufferings of the crew, are told most graphically by the captain, in the following report, siipplied to us :—-She left Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, on January 2, with a cargo of timber on owners’ account, and was bound to Melbourne. After leaving ■ British Columbia, she encountered an unusually heavy gale in the North Pacific. The ship did not get to windward of San Francisco until 36 days out. After that date she experienced moderate N.E. trades. Crossed the Equator in l’47deg. west, about the 20th March, .and did not lose the N.E. trades until about sdeg. south, when very dirty and squally weather set in, the wind being chiefly from the westward. This state of unsettled weather continued until March 30, when a strong gale set in from the, N. 8., with heavy rain. The thermometer had been standing at 2970 for six days previous, but it now commenced to fall' rapidly, and from that I began to apprehend that wo were approaching a hurricane from some quarter, but the wind being settled from one point, gave me no idea from what quarter the hurricane was approaching. On March 31, in lat. 17'20deg. south, long. 161'9deg. west, I consequently hove the ship to on the starboard tack, and made every preparation for the hurricane by furling the sails to the yards, putting extra lashing on the boats, and having everything on deck properly secured for the worst weather. At 5 a.m. on April 1 the hurricane commenced to rage with great fury, but up to this time the ship was kept quits free of water, with one pump and the watch on deck. The ship now started to make water in earnest. All hands were working at the pump, bat the leak increased rapidly —so much so that at 8 a.m. the ship was more than half-full of water, and the hurricane still increased to an extent now beyond description. Nothing could stand before it. The ship lay down with all her starboard side in the water, which was up to. the hatches, and I deemed it advisable to out away the fore and fmaintop masts to save the ship, which was promptly done, but the raaintopraast yards got entangled about the mainmast,: and I was compelled to out away the mainmast, and to clear away the wreck from the pumps. Now the ship righted up again, and the pumps were constantly kept at work, every man working with a will, although the men were constantly washed away from the pumps. Still the ship kept sinking deeper-and deeper Until 11 a.m., when she was full of water, and the hurricane at its height, the barometer being 28 20. The wind and sea were beyond description ; solid seas sweeping across the deck, tearing adrift the house, boats, decks, and mingling everything together, getting down the cabin, washing away the cabin furniture, stores, books, and instruments of every description. The crew had to seek shelter for their lives in -the topgallant forecastle, and were not able to save a single article. The hurricane kept raging in its full force until 5 p.m„ when it shifted suddenly to the S. We all passed a moat dreadful night, expecting every moment to be our last. At last daylight broke on April 2nd, with a strong southerly gale and a high sea, and a dieary prospect before us, The most part of the ship was under water, and we had nothing to eat nor a drop of water to drink, and no • prospect of any. We were twelve hungry and thirsty men. . The carpenter, Charles Gullan, a native of France, is missing, and must have been washed overboard with the wreckage. The only eatables wo had was one 41b. tin of preserved meat and a live pig, but no water. The following day the weather got very fine, the sea smooth, and we commenced to look around, and found the cabin completely gutted of everything, every article having been washed (jverboard, all my books, charts, chronometers, all the instruments gone, and not an article of provision left. Wo now commenced to fish up things from the store-room below to the main deck. . We had two tanks of water below, but to our utter disappointment wo found them full of salt water. After searching for some time, we found a tank containing flour, the tank being left only half-full of flour ; it was mixed into dough with salt water. We got that up, and dried it in the sun, and afterwards found some pieces of salt beef. Amongst other things we found an old five-gallon oil-can, and with that I managed to make a condenser. Wo were now six days without a drop of freshwater, with the exception of two mornings, when there was a heavy dew. We succeeded in refreshing our parched throats slightly by suck- ■ ing the dew from, the sails, and wherever it could be found. After getting my condenser, well to work I found that I was «ble to condense about 1J gallons of water every day. The quality of the water was very good, and proved very acceptable. ' We served out regul larly half a pound of what had once been flour, and about a pint' of water. Sometimes the men were allowed to have about 2ozs. of salt beef. With this daily supply of food wo managed;'to exist for nineteen days without a drop of rain. At the end of

that time—thanks to God—we had several - very good showers, which were extremely refreshing. Everything we had at hand capable of holding water was filled with, the precious fluid. For about fourteen days after this time a strong head wind continued to blow, and we were, therefore, unable to condense any more water. This had such an effect upon the crew that they became very weak, and finally they could scarcely crawl about. At last, on May 16, having been 46 days on the wreck, wo sighted a high island to the west, and shortly after that time we saw several other islands, which were lower. We believed them to be part of the Friendly Islands, and thirf surmise afterward proved to be correct. We had then been 48 days on the wreck. The barque continued steadily to drift past the islands, and we saw several small craft, but they did not appear to notice us. . The wreck was utterly unmanageable, and although it had drifted past, and was only four miles from some of the low islands, we had no means of reaching them. There were no boats on board. Thus we continued for two days, and on the 18th the barque had drifted towards the high island, which was then almost 12 miles to windward. ‘As the vessel had commenced to drift away from it, we considered what was best to be done, and then decided to make a last effort, and endeavored to construct a raft. With this object in view, we got six small logs over the side of the vessel, and with them we made two rafts. The chief officer with six men got on to the larger one, while I took possession of the smaller one, having with me four men. There were no passengers ,on board, and, therefore, these were all seamen. We started from the wreck at about 9 o’clock on the morning of the 18th, on two rafts, and made for one of the small islands. At the time we left her the barque was full of water, the masts were all gone with the exception of .the lower foretopmast, the boats were gone, the decks washed and torn up outside, the rudder missing, and the planking started from stem to sternpost. In fact she was utterly unmanageable, and there was,nothing on board to eat or drink. We reached the island of Kau at about 5 o’clock on the day on which we left the wreck. The island was a small one, being altogether, about ten miles in circumference. The chief officer and his party landed on the windward side of the island, while I managed to .get to the leeward. After getting on the shore we went in search of food; and' succeeded in finding some cocoanuts. We could not, however, get any water, but' we fared better than the chief officer and his party, who could not find anything to eat on the- side where they landed. The island we found to be uninhabited,- but we observed :smoke on a neighboring island, about five miles distant. On the seventh day after lauding we succeeded in attracting the attention of the natives. They came across in a large canoe, and brought my party across to their island, at the same time leaving five natives to institute a search for the chief officer and his party, who were found the same day. Fortunately for us his Majesty King George, of Tonga and Friendly Islands, in the meantime came on a- visit to the island in his schooner. Ha immediately took us on board, and treated us with . the utmost kindness. We went to the island on which we had first landed, and on arrival, to our disappointment, we learned that Mr. Jamieson, the second mate, and John McGowan, A. 8., were not with the party, the former having hurt his foot, and the latter being sick with fever, and they were obliged to leave them at the landing place. The King sailed round the island, but could not find them, although natives were sent on shore where the chief officer had been landed. Myself and nine of the crew were then taken by the King to Tonga. Up to the 16th June no tidings of their whereabouts had been received. On that day, the chief officer, two seamen, and myself left Tongatabu in the schooner Lsetitia for Auckland. During the voyage up we have been treated very kindly by Captain Dickson, of the Lcetitia. At the time wo'encountered the hurricane the ship was in latitude 17'20deg. south, 16'9deg. west. The Kedar was a wooden barque, and was built in Quebec in 1884, She was 532 tons, register, and of the following dimensions Length, 140 ft. 6in. ; breadth, 25ft. 2in. ; depth, 18ft. 3in. Captain Johnson believes the Kedar is insured in the Derwent and Tamar office for about £3OOO.