HOW THE AUSTRAL LOOKS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1306, 10 April 1883, Page 2

HOW THE AUSTRAL LOOKS.

Now that the spacious saloons, music hall, and cabins are laid open to view, they present a appearance, &s may well be eXfKeted after a four months’ submersion. AU the mgnifleent upholstery work and ot her ornaments are reduced to a state of slimy pulp, and the inlaid woods and veneering is all swollen and twisted almost past recognition, and falls to pieces nt the touch. The force of the water as it passed into the vessel when she toppled over can be well imagined by the manner in which many of the cabin doors and fixings are shattered and heaped together in masses. It was in the after part nf the vessel that Mr T. Alexander, the refrigerating engineer of the vessel, w.is drowned in his cabin, and in his cabin on the main deck Mr T. Perkins met a similar (ate. while the three Arab firemen were also drowned in their cabins on the maindeck. It is only by visiting the vessel that an idea can be formed of the great destruction of property, but now this is being hourly removed by gangs of men who are engaged in cleaning everything up. As might be imagined, the storeroom is in a fearful condition, the stench from the stores which have rotted in the water being almost unbearable, but this is all being promptly removed, and in a very short time no unclean matter will remain about the vessel.