Wreck of the Quetta.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 452, 8 March 1890, Page 5

Wreck of the Quetta.

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. THE PILOT’S STATEMENT. Brisbane, March 3. This revised list of passengers and others on board of the ill fated steamer Quetta show that 137 persons wer° saved, while 145 were drowned. The cargo was insured for and the steamer for principally in English and Australian offices. Miss Lacey was rescued in a most miraculous manner. She clung to a raft until midday on Saturday, when she left it and tried to swim ashore. The current carried her away, and then she kept floating without support for 24 hours, having been in the water 36 hours before being rescued. The reported drowning of Pilot Keating proves to be incorrect. He was among those rescued, and states that only a slight shock was felt when the steamer struck, and in about a minute and a half after the engines stopped the water was up to the budge, the stern of the ship standing high up out of the water. The propeller and a large part of the keel were visible. The Quetta, he says, appeared to hang in that position for half a minute, when she listed to port and disappeared, sucking him (Pilot Keating) down with her. On reaching the surface again the pilot and Captain Reuter and a passenger found an overturned boat, which they paddled with their hands and two oars to the shore. About a mile and a half off shore they picked up four Lascais and towed them astern. London, March 3. The “News” presumes the Quetta sank alter striking on a rock, on account of her watertight compartments being in some way deficient. The “ Times,” commenting on the catastrophe, says it is desirable that inquiry should be made as to whether the officers and crew of the vessel were saved at the expense of the passengers. Brisbane, March 4. If the bearings of the rock on which the Quetta struck are correctly given, the Admiralty chart gives twelve fathoms of water at that spot, and the rock is right in the track recommended by the Admiralty. Miss Nickiin, one of the Quetta’s passengers, states that the ladies on board were singing and practising in the concert-rcom when the steamer struck.

The vessel went down suddenly at the last moment, leaving two hundred people all huddled together in the water, and treading on each other. ASHORE ON A PLANK. By the aid of a plank Miss Nickiin swam ashore, reaching the land on the morning after the casualty took-place. All through the night she heard people calling for help. She thinks most ct the lady passengers were caught and cairied under by the awning when the steamer was sinking. A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. The carpenter of the Quetta had a marvellous escape. When he was attempting to clear one of the boats he got his leg jammed and went down with the ship, but when the vessel struck the bottom he freed himself and floated to the surface, where he was subsequently picked up and saved.