A MYSTERY OF THE SEA. No Trace of the Lost Japan se Man-of-War.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 199, 16 April 1887, Page 3

A MYSTERY OF THE SEA. No Trace of the Lost Japan se Man-of-War.

The Yokohama " Gazette" says : Admiral Hamilton ia said -to have informed the ; British Minister in Tokio thifc the three men-of War which he despatched to the south in pearch of the miseing Unebi-kan have returned to Hongkong without suecesa. The Governor of Singapore rendered assistance in the search for the ship, but no trace of her has been found. The total disappearances of a man of -war, for such the Unebi-kan wae, though she was not in commission, in the narrow seas, is a very unuaual thing, and it is equally unusual for any steamer to be lost in .the China sea without leaving any trace. The Unebi kan had a crew of about 200 men, and carried, without doubt, a large number of boats, and it is very remarkable that no relic of her should have been found up to the present. Unless the Unebikan turned turtle in a heavy eea, and sank before there was time to get out a boat, some of the crew would surely have reached land somewhere. When the Captain cap- ' sized there was time for some of her crew to get on her bottom before she sank, and so escape: and the Unebi- kan was undoubtedly divided into a great many more compartments than the Captain, and she ought, therefore, to have been longer sinking. It has been decided by the Japanese Cabinet to demand from the French insurance company which insured the Unebikan, payment of the amount for which the ship was insured, as she is now considered ta have sunk,