EIGHT BODIES RECOVERED. Mutilation by Sharks.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 150, 17 April 1886, Page 4

EIGHT BODIES RECOVERED. Mutilation by Sharks.

Ki;kkrvi\GU, April 13. Mr Button, one of the saved pa?songers, was for nine yoars pilot boatman at Lyttelton. Search parties from Kekerangu and Flaxburn were out all yesterday Up to the present time eight bodies have come ashore. Three are at Woodback, two being teamen and one apparently an engineer. There is not the slightest probability of any other lives being saved. McQuarter3 states that there were eleven in his boat when it left the wreck, but nine died of exhaustion before the boat righted itself the last time. Hutton and McQuarterssaw the captain after the steamer struck, and he remarked that he thought he Mas within a few miles of Kaikoura, and steering into Half-Moon Bay. A<3 a matter of fact, the steamer ,vas heading direct for Clarence Bridge, at the mouth of the river, when she struck McQuarteis considers that there were 50 souls on board all told. The body of a passenger washed ashore had one leg bitten oft' by a shark. None of the eisjht bodies have been actually yet identified. The five drowned bodies north of Kekerangu will be brought here to day for the inquest.

Condition of the Sufferers. Grant and Ilutton, who were washed ashore are progressing favourably, but McQuarter is still -weak and suffering from long exposure. One boat was found smathed on the beach with ono dead body in it wearing an officer's uniform. It is supposed to be that of Stratford, the third engineer, and the body found at the same place is supposed to be that of a passenger.

Passengers Four Hours in tlie Boats. Hutton says the steamer struck threo times on an open.big-boldered beach shortly after 7. At 7.30 the passengers and crew wero ordered into the boats four in number, which were fastened to the stern. They remained there till 12, when they were upeet.

How ITclp at Hand was Missed. The captain is stated to have told the passengers that they were within five miles of the Kaikouras. It is stated that there was only one rocket fired. Had lights and rockets been used continuously, help would speedily nave been obtained from the workmen at Clarence River Bridge, who saw the steamer's light, but took no further notice of it.