Wreath Dropped in Mid-Pacific

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 891, 7 February 1930, Page 1

Wreath Dropped in Mid-Pacific

INCIDENT ON TAMAROA

RELATIVES LOST AT SEA Four days out from New Zealand a wreath was dropped off the Tamaroa into the wastes of the Pacific Ocean. It was a passenger’s tribute to the memory of his mother and other relatives who have died at sea. Mr. J. E. Murdoch, the passenger concerned, arrived in Auckland yesterday by the Tamaroa. Four of his relatives have been buried in different parts of the Pacific and one in the Atlantic. The wreath, a very beautiful one, was brought from England. During the voyage it was kept in cold-storage until the vessel reached the spot nearest where Mr. Murdoch's mother was buried in 1896. Here, on February 3, in latitude 31.18 south and longitude 150.30 west, the floral tribute was dropped into the ocean. There was no ceremony, but the occasion was a hallowed one for Mr. Murdoch and his wife, who accompanied him on the voyage to New Zealand. Mr. Murdoch’s mother was the wife o£ the late Captain Joseph Murdoch. She died at sea on board the schooner Jerfalcon on October 3, 1896, while on her way from Bluff to Malden Island. Another relative. Mr. Murdoch’s aunt, died when she was travelling with her parents from California to Melbourne in the early gold-digging days at the end of the last century. She was also buried at sea. Two of Mr. Murdoch’s cousins also perished in the Pacific. They were Captain John Murdoch and his young wife, who were on the Craignair, which left New Caledonia for Philadelphia in 1901 with a cargo of nickel ore. The vessel was never heard of again after leaving New Caledonia. Another cousin. Lieutenant W. M. Murdoch, went down with the Titanic ■when that liner foundered in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912.°* He was first officer on the vessel. It has always been Mr. Murdoch's wish to pay a tribute to the members of his family who have died at sea, but this has been the first opportunity .he has had to fulfil that wish.