SHOCKING GATASTROPHE.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1052, 27 June 1883, Page 2

SHOCKING GATASTROPHE.

COLLISION IN THE CHANNEL. [REUTER COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, June 25. News has been received here that the ships Hurunui and Waitara, both outward bound for N.Z., came into collision in the Channel, and that the latter vessel s rt nk in four minutes. Twentyfive lives have been lost by the catastrophe. ■ . • (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, June 25. The New Zealand Shipping Company have received the following message :—London telegrams of Saturday, report the sailing of , the Waitara for your port, and the Hurnnoi for Otago. To-day we are cabled that the Waitara has been in collision with and sank by the Hurunui. Twenty-five lives were lost. The latter vessel put back to discharge and dock. •: Later. Mr Gibbs, of the New Zealand Shipping Company, has received a cable advice of the collision of the VVaitara and Hurunui, of the sailing of which he had received a cable, dated June 21» The Waitara sank. Sixteen of her passengers and crew were saved, including the master, chief officer, and apprentice Worseley. Twenty-five of the passengers and crew, with apprentice Gotterill, were drowned. The Hurunui put back, and will have to discharge and dock. She was bound for Port Chalmers, with a full cargo. It is not known who the officers were, as, since the establishment of the line of steamers, changes have been very frequent. FURTHER PARTICULARS • ~ (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, June 26. In connection with the sinking of the ship Waitara, it is mentioned; that Mr Cheek, one of the cabin passengers by the Waitara, reported as having been drowned,' was brother-in-law of Mr John Watt, bookseller, of this city. He was accompanied by his wife, who went home to meet him* some months ago. Apprentice Gotterill was a son of the late Dr Gotterill, of' Nelson. The insurances on the hull of the Waitara are not definitely known here yet, but, if arrangements hold good now which existed some time back, the Sooth British, National, and Union offices will have £3OOO. each on her. The Shipping Company has an insurance fund of their own, which is liable to the extent

of £3OOO. The Colonial Insurance Companies nearly all have heavy lines on her cargo. The following are the names of the cabin passengers by the Waitara, who lost their lives by the foundering of the vessel after collision with the Hurnnni:

—Martin Cheek, Arthur Noble, Mary Hnylor, and Alice Haylor.