PAST WRECKS RE-CALLED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 19, 16 February 1909, Page 2

PAST WRECKS RE-CALLED.

MR. Mi'MHXAMIN INTERVIEWED. WHERE THE PEYCUIX STRUCK. NOT OX TOM'S ROCK. Welington, Last Night. Mr. MeMonajuin, the owner of the Tcrmvliiti ahoep station, is n, truly philanthropic man. lie gave all the spare clothes lie had to the Penguin's survivors on Saturday morning and now only possesses one suit. He has not <>ven a pair of boots to his name.

When seen by a Times reporter yesterday at .the homestead, he mentioned casually, hut not thinking that it would be published, that the pair of slippers ho was wearing was the only footwear ho -jiow possessed. Tho Union Company, he said, dertrved great credit for the expeditious manner in which they se.nt out food, spirits and blankets, and Captain Naylor should •also Im commended for his unselfishness amongst the survivors. When those who wore rescued cam© up to the homestead ail <the clothing and boots that could l>o serapwl together were placed at the men's disposal, hut the captain refused to take u stitch until everybody else was satisfied-.

*'l would like you ,to give the captain | a notice about it. I do think he deserves praise. As to tho police, they did excellent work, particularly the two mounted men, Sims and Gardiner, who wree the first to arrive. They kept «;t their task all duv Saturday and hail lliu heaviest of the work done beiore the other men arrived from town. I really cannot speak too highly of the mounted police. Late on Sunday night, one of thorn rode down to Oterangi station for me with a message- and that was a big job for a pitch black night i along five miles of treacherous beach." |

f 'Mr. McMvnamin has lived nearly all 'li'is life at Terawhiti and 1 he re-called some previous wrecks when approached ' by a Times reporter 011 the subject. Re* •llecting on the past, he said: "It must 'be twenty years ago when my mother •was living here that the barque Aver•sliami was wrecked on the Karon reef, 'Xolkmlv was drowned, a vessel, which •was lying oil' the coast, picking up the crew and passengers. • 1 "Tho next wreck, if my memory •serves, was the barque (irashmere, which was wrecked o\t Christmas morning about oight years ago. A cow boy saw her strike *neav the homestead and came up to me, and said a barque was wrecked. I asked the lad what the weather I Was like, and lie *aid, "Quite calm; it I is a lovelv morning." 'Then I not get up.' J replied. 1 was so: :- ' fwanlis because through iny action liie cve.w huilf a very narrow esca|H'. Had it not- been that a cable steamer came along <ju>'t in the nick of time the whole crew would! have been drowned. ! • "The schooner -lohn Hell wc.it ashore I at. Cape Terawhiti very soon afterwards. She ranright up on the rocks one very calm and everybody on 'board! wa» stved. On .lanuary idt'a, IWi:>. {he *.«. >'ambneea ran on to Tom's Rock. The night was very foggy, but "II on board got *afvly round to hjhrrul May In the vessel's oats.

"Then 1 Its* bartpie Lutterworth was dismasted unite near here, ami (he curvent lotik Iht t»IV the rucks just, sis it seemed thai hn* d«st ruction wnv i'jf; evitaldc. \Yc were n)! waiting on th" heaeli to render assistance. The Penguin. whidi lias now goiic» down, stood i>y nil night. anil tool; uIT fin* huiterworth's crew vi«fUt onp«<it.e the teach whore must of the ill-fated crew mid passengers of Ihe IV.igum wore washed n*hor<\ The Lutterworth was finally J picked up nnd towed to Wellington. J "Then there was the l»:irtjue WnolDm f in in .lulv, 11107. She came ashore near» Tongue Joint, about a mile from tbv homestead. The vessel l>roko rfjjhfc in half, the captain and mic sailor being drowned. The survivors en me w\ to tho house in an exhausted condition." •\«;I'i• d whom ii" thought, the Penguin actually struck, Mr. MeMenamin said:

"VH U'U yon where Tf reefcon. 11 was certainly nut mi Tom's Hock. The wreckage was jroiii" 100 fur south for ■that. 1 consider it was lama Hock. 1 This roek was named li.v Captain Fair-1 child when in charge of the (lovernment! ■steamer Lima. A lot of people say nc. I rock exists. It Is oortiu'nly sub '

merged ut aJI tid'M, but I think it ii there &1J the same, -c lies to the north «>f Sinclair Head. The Karori >eef skft could not be on, us the wreckage allows this to he the cane. ]f she got on to Tom's roek some of the wreckage niustt •have drifted against the wind and the tide lo get when- it was washed up, so that explodes the Torn'* rock theory. There i* plenty «>i' wreckage south of "ruin's rock, ami with the MHitii eanter it eould never liave got there if *he hud struck that point." Speakhig about boat operations in th" Hiiri" at the liuiiicstead, Mr. MeMoiwinin v,»id the beaeh could only be worked i« dead calm weather or in a north-west, wind or very light southerly. He emphasised the fact, however, that no matter bow rough Die weather or what the direction of the wind, nurf boat*

manned by experienced men could always out when the tide wn* receding. " J consider," he concluded, " that ilie boats could have worked the beach »n Smiduy when the tide whs running out."

THE ENQUIRY. By Telegraph.—Press Assnriniios. Wellington, Last Night. The marine enquiry opens on Wednesday. A SWIFT CURRENT. In the middle of the narrowest part of Cook Strait, between Cape Terawhiti and the Wellington Heads, the Hood or northerly stream commenceH half an i hour before high water at Wellington, | or four liours before high water in that part of the Strait. It was high water at Wellington just about the time the Penguin touched the rock on Friday night. Th<j..4Joi»d stream runs in that vicinity for six hours, and the ebb or southerly stream for the same time. The rate of both streams is normally one to three and a half loots, hut during spring tides, and gales, Wbfiu tht'i tide is running with the wind, the. extreme rate may be five knots an hour.

SOME FORMER DISASTERS. THE TARARUA. J'lie Union Company's iron steamer Tararua was wrecked oil the Otara Reef, ivcar the moutli of the Mataura. River, at 5 a.m. mi April 29th, 1881. Over one hundred people were drowned, and only about twenty were saved. The Tal'urua was bound from Port Chalmers to Melbourne. A deuce fog rendered it impossible for those on shore to render any aid. Many passengers were washed overboard and killed on the jagged reef, and after the vessel had been on the rocks for a little while she toppled over and sank. Three of the boats were swamped as soon as they were launched. The steamer broke amidships, and | (he women, who rushed on deck in their night attire, were wwtiied overboard in numbers, and not one female was saved. .Many clung to the wreck, but were washed off as Hie sea increased. There were many prominent New Zealandere among the missing. THE WAIRARAPA. The loss of the Wairarapa in 1894 stands as one of the most shocking ma ruie disasters in the history of New Zealand. The vessel ran on the Great Harrier Island while rneaming in a dense fog, the steamer crashing into a steep dill' at a speed of over thirteen knots, and smashing her bows right away. The Wairarapa rebounded from tlm rock and lodged on a ledge of rock. Only two bouts reached the shore, but they succeeded in picking up a few of the pas srngers. Several men and women climb ed into the rigging, but one by one . dropped iato the sea as they became ex | liausted through cx)>osiirc and cold. Over 134 persons lost their lives, j THE EUNC, AMITE. The lluddart-l'arker Company's steamer Kliiigamitc was wrecked at the Three Kings Islands on Xovember Oth, 11102. During a dense fog the steamer ran into a solid wall of rock at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday. Two rafts got safely away from the wreck, which sauk almost immediately. One raft conveying fifteen men and four women drifted at sea for four days before being picked up by another steamer, after a most trying experience. Eight died, including the woman, and the survivors were much emaciated and aged by their awful ordeal. One boat ill charge of an officer, and carrying a number of people, was never heard of again.

CAPE TERAWHITI., Cape Terawhiti is the extreme westerly point of the Wellington peninsula. A vessel bound from Picton to Wellington would ordinarily round the Cape it a distance of several miles from the land, and shortlv after parsing tho Capo would sight the Pencarrow light. The Capo is a remarkably bold headland, rising immediately irom the coast into an almost semi-eircular hill. Its well-arked convex outline, as seen from the northward and southward, renders it easily recognisable. The surrounding coast is a rugged cliffy shore fronted with straggling rocks; ivt one and a-half miles off tlie soundings vary from 25 to 35 fathoms. Heavy tide and sunken dangers are numerous. Tide rippling! extend off Capo Tcrawhiti for two miles, and 1 off Karon Rock, about three or four miles from Terawhitl, for nearly three miles. Overfalls also oxist off Terawhiti, and the heavy r >ppl>ngs which oceur during spring tides are highly dangerous to small coasters, esucciaily at night, unless proper precautions are taken before entering them.