SCHOONER WRECKED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 149, 18 November 1914, Page 5

SCHOONER WRECKED.

CREW'S WONDERFUL ESCAPE, *i ' 1 I ■ d)L T R]XG TERRIFIC GALE N'T, FOVEAUX STRAIT. Bluff, November 16. Information lias reached Bluff of tliei wreck of the ex-Auckland ' auxiliary schooner Rosetta at Ruapuke Island during a territic gale on Thursday, afternoon. The vessel was smashed to pieces, and there was nothing to bo seen of her five minutes afterwards, j Captain Bailey and his crew had a miraculous escape, and underwent the exciting experience in their dinghy of being lifted bodily on the crest of a Breaker over a patch of jagged rocks, and dumped down upon the beach, snatched from an almost certain deatbj ( SPRINGS A LEAK. | The Rosetta left Chew Tobacco Bay on her return to Bluff at 4.10 a.m. on Wednesday, with five tons of fish aboard, and a large portion was lying on deck. The terrific gale which was experienced in Bluff last Wednesday was encountered in all its severity by the Rosetta, which sprang a leak off Bench Island. Th« water was making fast, and Captain Bailey decided to make Half*Passago Rocks and beach the vessel. One of the crew (Sutton) set to worK with a, bucket, anil baled continuously, but failed to make any impression, the water steadily jising. The engine was soon flooded, and could not be lyted, th» water gradually mounting until rthe flywheel was covered.

AT HALF-PASSAGE ROCKS. " The gale was a terrific one, and the waves were flying right over the rooks ; of the group, a real "smoker," and Captain Bailey saw at onee that it .was absolutely impossible even to attempt to beach her there. In fact, it was all he ! could do to clear the group with his j waterlogged vessel. Owing to .the deck being covered with fish, it was difficult to get at the pump, a ton and a half of I fish having to be shifted before the pump I could be got at, and, after all their trouble, it was found to lie choked, and could not be worked. Captain Bailey tried to get under the Ice of Bird Island, between! Half-Passage Eocks and Ruapuke island, but there, too, he was faced with an impossible proposition. There was nothing left to do but to make Ruapuke. The Rosetta was now so waterlogged that she would not answer her helm, and could only be steered by lowering or raising her sails. The skipper had to resort to many ruses to alter his course, particularly when endeavoring to clear Half-Passage Rocks, because it would have been fatal to jibe with the vessel in the position it was.

BALING OUT. Slowly she approached Ruapuke r Island, Sutton and H. Bailey baling alternately, and although not reducing the inflow, which could be seen bubbling up from the starboard aide, it checked the rapidity of the rising water. Owing to the difficulty of maintaining anything like a proper course, the Rosetta could not quite make Henrietta Bay, as it would have taken a jibe to have taken her in, consequently Captain Sailey had to run his craft into the more exposed anchorage, of Caroline Bay, arriving by 0.15 a.m. Before attempting to beach the vessel Captain Bailey decided to try and fix up the punvp, and so save the risk of beaching on a somewhat rocky shore. Fortunately, the obstruction was removed, and the pump was got going, not a moment too soon. At Ruapuke two anchors were put out, and the Rosetta hung on grimly while the pump slowly checked, and finally gained on, the, water. Bv the afternoon the water had been cleared out, but the leak could not be located, and pumping had to be continued every half-hour. Owing to the gale and the soaking the engine had received, there was nothing to be done but leave the Rosetta where she was.

HANGING GAMELY OX. Everything possible was done to dry the engine sufficiently to get a turn out of it, but it was all to no purpose. In the evening a dry coil was used, and with its did a spark was obtained, but there was no kick from the engine. It ' ■was too late in the evening to shift, and the crew stayed aboard, keeping an anchor watch and the pump going all night. On Thursday morning the end came. Captain Bailey had just come up on deck from the engine-room at 11.45, when lie suddenly saw one of the cables part, while the other dragged fast. At first all hands tried to ease her towards a sandy patch by shifting from the port to the starboard tack, but the wind arid swell were too solid for them, and she quickly drifted towards a rugged group of semi-submerged rocks.

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. ' The crew took to the dinghy, and they were hard pushed to save themselves. They were unable to reach a safe landing, and saw themselves drawn magnetically towards a number of rocks over which the breakers were crashing. They gave themselves up for lost, but wisely clung to their seats in the dinghy. A huge wave picked them up and whipped the dinghy like a cork on its crest clean over the rocks, and dumped it aud its occupants down on to the beach. v Waist deep in the backwash, and marvelling at their good fortune, they wasted no time in scurrying to safety, soaked to the skin, and very grateful for their miraculous deliverance. From; their vantage point they witnessed a inimite later the * end of the poor old Rosetta. She crashed.broadside on right on to the jagged rooks, then capsized, and in a few minutes tlio waves pounded her to pieces. Her masts snapped off half-way, and sails, rigging, nets, and ail her deck fittings came ashore, wound all round and bound up in a hopelessly inextricable mass. The Rosetta herself came ashore in pieces about 2 feet in length, and that will give some idea of .the battering she received. Her keel came aslioj-e first. Her valuable engine was broken into pieces; the engine bed, a weighty affair, was carried by the swell a quarter of a mile away from the si,te_ of tho wreck. All the copper was stripped by the pounding, of the woodwork on the rocks.

The crew saved nothing, and they are all at serious loss, Captain Bailey in particular. The latter had just taken on hoard a new outfit. The sailß and riggjng had'also just been renewed. There Avas no insurance.