THE JANE DOUGLAS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 186, 12 January 1912, Page 5

THE JANE DOUGLAS.

PARTICULARS OF THE WRECK.

THE CREW'S HAPLESS PLIGHT.

By Telegraph—Press A»sociatio«. Nelson, Thursday. The shipwrecked crew of the Jane Douglas reached N«lson in the Pateeria this morning. , Captain Vendore states that the vessel was beating through the Straits on her way from Wellington to Hokitika, m a blustering south-easter. The boisterous weather continued when she entered the passage between Stephens and a UrviJle Island, where there are several rocks, and the vessel was piled up on the Saddle Rock. The captain declares that the Steeple Rock and Saddle Rock are wrongly charted, their names beine transposed; ■

At midnight the vessel was steaming beneath heavy clouds with all hands ■ on deck. At 12.20 she struck and sank within five minutes., Pespite the 'blackness the crew showed no panic. The mate took charge of the boat, the captarn staying aboard. The engines racing furiously told of a snapped propeller. The hull listed and slid off the rocks, and! as the water came level with the • decks, the captain grasped a life belt,"' but was sucked.under to some depth and came up half drowned clinging to the lifebelt, as he was unable to swim. After a search the boat found him in a bad wav. A course was set for Port Hardy,' and after some difficultv a landing was effected. The party, shoeless and half clad, tramped to Lord's homestead, where they received every kindness, ihen they were taken to the French Pass in a launch and joined' the Pateena. . The crew is in a hapless plight, some ' being coatless and shirtless.