ANOTHER DISASTER. KETCH ZILLAH TOTALLY WRECKED. APTAIN AND MATE DROWNED. Auckland, June 11.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 377, 15 June 1889, Page 6

ANOTHER DISASTER. KETCH ZILLAH TOTALLY WRECKED. APTAIN AND MATE DROWNED. Auckland, June 11.

Yesterday afternoon about half - past three o'clock tho Northern Steamship ' Company's steamer Chelmsford arrived from Tryphena Harbour, Great Barrier, bringing intelligence of tho total wreck of the locally-owned coastal trading ketch Zulah and the drowning of her master and ,the charterer, who acted as mate. At the time of the disaster, which occurred at 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, the 2nd inst., at Korotete, on the cast coasb of tho island, the ketch was bound Irom Tauranga to Tryphena Harbour. A heavy south-easterly gale was blowing at tiie time, with a terrilic sea running, and within tivo minutes of the vessel striking the rocks she was in piece. The master, John Sena, and -the mate .John Inchle, were drowned, but the other seaman on board, Charles McDonald, and a passenger, Frank Ramsey, wit.h a boy named Herbert Good, managed to reach the shore in safety, and after being hospitably treated by the Great Ban ier settleis were brought on to town yesterday by Captain Hopkins, of the s.s. Chehnsford.

NARRATIVE OF A SURVIVOR. Charles McDonald, a young man, one of the three survivors, who was a, seaman on the Zillah, was seen to-day at the Sailers' Home, Quay street, by a St.vr representative, and gave an account of bhe disaster. It appears that the ketch had been chartered from the owners, Mess>r& Stone Bros., by John Inchle, about six weeks ago, for a trip to Cape Colville and Tanranga. Inchle acted as mate, and John Sena, a Portuguese, as master. The Zillah proceeded to Cape Colville, and from thence to Tryphena Harbour, where she loaded firewood for Tauranga. The Bay of Plenty port was lefc again at mid-day on Saturday, the Ist inst.,with the wind about east, the vessel having a cargo of flour and other stoi'es for Tryphena Harbour, vrhere she was to load firewood for the Thames. All went well till dark, the weather being very thick and raining, and then the wind changed to a very

STRONG SOUTH-EASTERLY GALE, with heavy rain-squalls. No land or Jghb could be seen bo steer by, the night being as dark as pitch. The vessel was first headed N. W. across the Bay of Plenty, and the course then changed to N.N. \V., which Captain Sena reckoned would bring him into Tryphena. At Bp. m. McDonald took the wheel and remained there till about a-quarter to 12, when he was relieved by the mate, who had been keeping a [look-out .ahead. He kept the ketch's head still N.N.W., bub about halfpast twelve the' course must have been altered to about N. \V. by the captain, who was on deck with the mate. Aa the vessel ran before- the gale, under reduced canvas, those on deck were peeling anxiously through the ink}' darkness ior a sign of land, but nothing could be seen ; in fact, as McDonald said r

"WE COULD NOT. SEE A YARD - IN FRONT, "OF US, and, indeed, could hardly see our hand?." It was raining heavily, and blowing wildly, and the vessel's deck' was washed constantly by the terrific seas. About 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, with the skipper and mate on deck, Ramsey and the boy Good were below in thoir bnnks, and McDonald was sitting in the cabin, when suddenly the mate shouted out " Land ahead !" just as the ketch was felt to crash heavily on to a ledge of rocks.

"SHE'S STRUCK," yeMed oufc those below, as they made for the deck. McDonald rousing up Ramsey, who seemed dazed and unable to geb on deck. In less than a minute the cabin floor planking came up, forced by the water helow, the bottom of the vessel having evidently been broken off. A heavy sea broke into the cabin, and "the nexb one washed the three inmates on deck. Ramsey was carried overboard and supposed to be drowned, but he wa" afterwards found to have been washed ashore safely, though with an injured leg from the effect? of injuries leceived on board. In less than two minutes the KETCH HAD BROKEN ACROSS in two pieces, the foremast being carried away as soon as she struck. The foreparc floated away, while the after portion being for the time last on the rocks, enabled those on board to endeavour to obtain a landing. For a couple of minutes McDonald was washed to and fro on the deck, and then managed to make his way to the weather rigging. The boy was heard to sing out close by that he was up on the rocks, he having jumped off the vessel on to them. It was low water at the time, or else the rocks would have been covered. There was no time to make for the dingy,and even if there-had been she would have been instantly Fwamped by the terrific mountainous seas. The mate jumping over the side holding on to the vessel had got his foot on the rocks, when the vessel gave a greatlurchasa wave caughther, andtheman fell down between her side and the rocks and was never seen again. The captain jumped on to the rocks, and McDonald followed him. Scarcely had they set foot on it, and shouted out to each other, when a great wave broke over the vessel and the rocks and washed them away landward. They could see nothing, and had only gained the rocks by jumping at random.

STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. McDonald and the boy allowed themselves to be carried on by the wave, and very nearly lost their lives through their legs being entangled in a portion of a eail vhich had drifted from the wreck. Getting clear they were carried along to another ledge of rocks and scrambled along till they lound a comparatively safe spot. Just when they emerged from the water they stumbled up against Ramsey, who had reached the spot before them. Nothing was seen of the captain, and they concluded he had been drowned. The 3 survivors made cheir way along the rocks till they found a hole in the ledge, where they remained huddled up till daylight, almost NAKED, BRUISED AND SHIVERING, With the sea sending drenching spray over them. In less than ten minutes the ketch had broken up completely, and the sea was found afterwards to have smashed up the little vessel so that the pieces of timber which came ashore were very small indeed. Nothing could be done in the thick darkness till daybreak. .When morning came the survivors saw that they were on a ledge, of rocks, cnly a few yards from the mainland, -which was clothed with bush, and *was unfamiliar to them. They remained on the rocks for a couple of hours searching for traces of the mate and captain, bufc could find none. They then, made their way to shore along the rocks, and alter •wandering about the hill and bush till 4 o'cjock in the afternoon they reached

a house which proved to be that of a sottlor, a Mr Allcock, half-dead with fatigue. They did not know where they wore, one insisting that they had been wrecked on the Cape Colville Peninsula. The spot where the Zillah struck was between the Onawa Creek and the residence ot Mr Palmer, at Korotele, on the East Coast of the Great Barrier. Mr Allcock treated them very hospitably, and next day they" made a further search for the bodies of their mates, but could s-ec nothing of them. They stayed ab the Barrier for a week and wore picked up by the s.s. Chelmsford at Tryphena, and so came on to town.

THE WRECKED VESSEL. Xne Zillah, which was owned by Messrs Stone Bros, of Lhis city, was a staunch little ketch of 36 tons, and was built by Ml* "R. Stone, of the Thames, in 1878. She was a well-known coital trader, and had been tiadinjj principally toth.eThnir.es. Shehad been chartered for the one trip to Tauranga by Inclile, and it was the owneis' intention to cancel the agreement on the vessel's return, aa her absence had exceeded the specified time. She was uninsured, and fcho owners estimate their loss at about L6OO. Mr Eamsoy was the owner of the cargo of storey on board, valued at about £12. The master had £4 in cash on board. Everything on board was lost, but it is considered that when the wind blows oIF tire land the anchors and chains can be secured.

CAUSE OF THE WRECK. Regarding the cause of the wreck ibis supposed that the master,Sena,losbhis reckoning owing to being unable to make out la.nd, and thought he was further off the Barrier than proved to be the case. Inehle was a married man, and leaves a wife at Paninure. He was aged about 34. Sena was an unmarried man, a native of Portugal, about 26 years old. Good, the boy saved, was formerly an inmate of the Kohimarama Training School, and was working his passage back to Auckland from Tauranga. Mr Ramsey is a wellknown settler on the Barrier.