PORT OF BLUFF HARBOR.

Southland Times, Issue 551, 31 August 1866, Page 2

PORT OF BLUFF HARBOR.

No arrivals or departures since Our last issue.

Thb Chathams. — A correspondent from these islands writes as follows : — Per the Flying Cloud, from the Chatham Islands, we have information of the loss of the Fchooner Wild Wave, Captain Paterson, of Dunedin. On the afternoon of June 17, the WUd Wave left Waitane*i for Kaingaroa, witli a light breeze from tho S.W. On nearing the Cuba channel the breeze died away, it became somewhat hazy, and a most heavy swell set in, taking the vessel towards the shore. The captain and crew then got into the boat for the purpose towing her head round towards the west ; at that moment a tremendous sea broke under the jibboom, and they wero compelled to leave her. In another instant she was amidst the breakers, and as it is supposed, upon a reef some distance from the shore. The capt:iin and crew appalled at the scene, upon a stramro coast, and surrounded as they imagined by unknown dangers, abandoned the'Ul-fated- vessel, and puUed away for Waitangi. The disaster occurred at about half-past six p.m. ; the mainsail and foresail were set. Nothing, howeTer, could be distinctly seen but the cabin light, •which continued to burn brightly as long as the boat remained in sight. At about twelve o'clock p.m., after a severe pull of some twenty miles, the unfortunate mariners reached Waitangi, bereft of % aU their sea-<_oing goods and chattels, and aroused tlie inhabitants by their tale of distress. On the foUowing morning Lieut. Tuke, of the Colonial Defence Force, most kindly placed his whaleboat at their disposal, and they proceeded to the place of tho supposed wreck, but, singular to relate, not a trace could they discover ; white men and Maori traversed the whole line of coast, but neither rope nor spar was found to indicate the calamity ; subsequently, however, the cabin door, on 9 of the hatches, and other things, were found or seen and identified, far down the bay in the vicinity of Waitangi, and Captain Paterson aud crew havo since discovered the debris of the wreck, strewed along the coast and wedged in firmly amongst the rocks.