TAINUI TRAGEDY.

Taihape Daily Times, 19 September 1919, Page 4

TAINUI TRAGEDY.

I , § THE LATEST NEWS. V f CHRISTCHURCH, septfls. ' All that relna_ins of the Tainui is a; ‘D1355 of twisted iron and piping and !a few feet Of timber at the stern and inose. .What is left of the vessel lies in an almost inaccessible part of the “coastline. about nine miles from Cheviot. Even after three lull tides had ‘broken over the wreck there still remained yesterday smouldering embers lot the fire which had been raging so furiously. '_ The Refrigerating Company will probably abandon the Tainui to the underwriters. . Owing to the inaccessibility of the position of the wreck, if it were possible to remove the refrigerating plant to the railway, it is estimated it alone would be worth about £2OO. ‘A Only about thirty intact cases of benzine have ‘been found up to the present. On either ‘side of the wreck, hundreds of empty tins, blown into all shapes by the explosion, are littered on the beach. Amongst the cargo were several ploughs, but all hope of salving these has been abandoned. The forward part of the Tainui, from the bridge to the how, was -burnt out right down to the keel, only twisted ironwork and battered tins remaining on this portion of the vessel. The funnel had completely broken away, and lay towards the cliffs overshadowing the wreck. The aft water tank and the engine-room machinery ap« peared to be intact, but above what‘ had been the engiine-room the iron work was twisted and dented almost out of recognition. No blade remained on the propeller, due probably to the vessel bumping ‘on the reefs. The opinion has been expressed that if it had-been fi6§sible for the Tai,nui’s crew to have stood the heat and remained on the vessel, instead of takling to the lifeboats, they would have ‘stood a better chance of saving their glives.

One early eye—Witness of the Wreck, after it had Hfiftéd to the shore, sayS= it was not then burning aft. There is no direct evidence to show whether the explosion of the benzfne cargo was the result of fire on the shipor if the explosion caused the fire. When the only suzVvivor was awakened“ asthe result of one explosion, fire was then belching from one of the fore» hatch covers. It was noticed in day--light, however, that one of the victimswas scorched about the face and head: