AUCKLAND.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 35, 10 March 1863, Page 2

AUCKLA ND.

WRECK 'OF TIJE ORPHEUS. i FUNERAL OF THE LATE COMMODOEE ] BURNETT. (From the New Zealander, Feb. 25.) t The obsequies of the late Commander-in-Chief of the Australasian Naval Station were solera- j nized yesterday with a degree of military gran- i deur to whicli the inhabitants of these Southern s colonies have never b_fore been accustomed. At an early hour detachments of the 14-th. 65th, and * 70th regiments marched iEto A uckland from the ' camp at Otahuhu, in order to augment the 40th l regiment to full battalion strength. They were c headed by tho beautiful band of the 70th, and en- c camped in the Albert Barrack Square. The corpse 1 of the deceased officer remained in tho marquee, £ under a guard of honor of twenty men of the c 40th, commanded by Lieutenant Hobbs. The shell c had been enclosed in a handsome coffin, covered e with black velvet and black mountings, the plate ; bearing the following inscription : — t William Farquharson Burnett, C.B. s Commodore Royal Navy, Commanding Officer ' Australian Naval Station, ! Drowned 7th February, 1863-. Aged 4(5 years. The Union Jack floated half mast high from the s •flasjstafT on ITort Britomart; the colors of the ships in harbor, and the ih'-gs of *many private citizens were also similarly dipped ; the banks and public offices closed «t noon ; most of the shops in town following the example,—in a word, the most _. respectful as well as the most becoming sympathy wr.s manifested on the sorrowful occasion. ' At half past one o'clock the bugles sounded tho | Assembly,* and (he troops were immediately formed \ in the Albert Barrack Square, from whence they <■ shortly afterwards marched to Fort Britomart. Ai * half past two, the order ofthe procession having c been arranged, and tire coffin, covered with^ the 1 Union Jack, having been placed upon a platform ' over the field gun belonging to 11.M.5. Harrier, i the first gun of twenty, fired from the fortduring • the progre s towards the cemetery, gave intimamation that the last dread march had commenced. ' The procession then moved off in the following ( order, the regiments lining the streets on both j sides from Fort Britomart to St, Paul's Chu'rch, ' The cortege consisted of — ' Under the-coramand Suhal- Serjeants, , of Col. D.Leslie, Captains t„„ " Rank and , C.B.,4othßegt. tCIDS- File. 14th Foot ... 1 ... 2 90 6oth „ ... 1 ... 2 00 70th „ ... 1 ... 2 90 40th „ ... -i ... 8 400 Bands of H. M. 4 jth and 70lh Regiments, relieving each other and playing alternately the Dead March in Saul, and Swedish Dead March. Royal Artillery. ; Captain Alercer's Battery! ' Pall Pall ! Bearers. / o \ Bearers. Lieut. Swan, Harrier > m < Col. Golloway, 70th J Lieut. Hunt, „ V kj / Col. Chute, 70th Dr. Ayres „ J ' Mould, c.b.,r.e. \ On Armstrong Gun, ] Drawn by Sailors of lIYM.S. Harrier. • Commander Sullivan, H.M.S. Harrier, Chief Mourner. Followed by the survivors of the wreck, officer.'. sailors, and marines of H. M. >S. Harrier, the officers and men of the Volunteers and Garrison, the members of tho General Government, General Assembly, Provincial Government, Provincial Council, and a numerous body of inhabitants. The head of the column having arrived at the gates of the cemetery the troops opened out right < and left, forming a lengthened lane through which the body and the mourners p sed, the soldiery, wliich constituted a firing party, numbering no rly 700, closing up after them. At this spot the corpse wr.s received by Bishop Patteson, who pr, eded it *i- • the grave prepared for jt, side by side, and wit" in a few inches of that of John P- coe. TiiC'.-e w a great anxiety to witness th' part of c ceremony, and to hear the impressive delivery of the burial service; but the soldiery a ne .e sufficient to o. cupy more than the vac. « space, and it waa veiy difficult for the police, who wero present under Mr Commissioner Naughton, to keep anything like a clear passage. The crowds that U^ed the rosds \vere f if pos^ibl^

greater than those present at Pascoe's interment * B indeed, it seemed as if Auckland and the country S round had contributed tlieir thousands to- witness 1 the solemnity. Captain Mercer's battery of Arto. 1 strong gun? unlirnb-ered and drew np on the rond facing the grave yard. From thence they ffrecl nine parting guns ; these were followed hy threo Volleys fromthe soldiery of tbe line; and then the luckless Commodore was left to his last repose. He is tho second of the rank that sleeps in southern soil. Commodore James Brisbane, off TLM. ship Warspite, 78 guns, having died and. been burred nt Sydney in 1826.

, I JUNBBAi OF JOHK FASCOTJ, HOATSWIS 9 3IATE OJ §j

H. M, S. Oeshkus. £ The body, which was the first recovered, was E that of John Pascoe, Chief Boatswain's Mate of I I the unfortunate ship. It was found at Manukau, H j about half a mile from the pilot station on Thurs- EH day, the 12th. It was then deposited in the sandy I beyond high-water mark, exhumed on Saturday. R brought up to Onehunga, and thence transferred H to Auckland, where a Coroner's inquest was held- I On Tuesday, Feb 17th, shortly after 2 o'clock, H the bugles sounded the "Assembly," and numbers ofi 1 the inhabitants might have been seen hastening 1 towaids the Albert barrack Square, where the sof- 1 diery were forminjr. I •!«■ Precisely at 3 o'clock, every disposition having- 1 been made, the body was removed from the dead 1 house, and placed upon' a platform erected upon ir fi gun carriage, and over one of the 12 pounder « Armstrong guns. The coffin was covered with M blaek cloth, white mountings, and bore the in- SA seription : — I JOHN PASCOE, I CHIEF BOATSWAIN'S MATH, | H.M.S. ORPtIETJS, H Aged 29 years. 1 Arrived at the gates of the cemetery, the gun- 1 carriage Ualted, the firing party opened out right 1 and left, and the body, covered with the Union H Jack, was lifted from the platform, and borne by H the seamen of the Orpheus to its final resting Rf place, the military and civilians closing up in tho H rear ; and Bishop Pattoson preceding them to the _% grave, where the burial service of the Church of II England was read in the most eloquent and aiTect- ■§ ing manner. Three parting volleys, and all was || over. The line of march was reformed. The band U struck up a lively air, and the mourners dispersed. f& The grave has been purposely placed at the en- Wt trance of the churchyard, in* order to strike tha g| eye, should it be thought fit at any time to record th« wreck of the Orpheus by erecting a moument m\ to this the first of her buried dead. M Itis difficult to learn whether the Orpheus was jfj furnished with the new Harbor signas for the e'j Manukau, proclaimed in the New Zealand d-o- js[ vernment G.izette of 16th August, IS6I. The M position of tho stumps of the wreck indicate that £4 she attempted to enter in conformity with captain m Drury's sailing Directions of 1853. ' But, then, if m the signal "Take the bar," were made, and ||. that signal were understood, it is only reasonable |j to suppose that the -new code of signals were on WL board. W