TONGARIRO ASHORE.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1916, Page 4

TONGARIRO ASHORE.

NEAR MAHIA PENINSULA. VESSEL REPORTED IN A BAD WAY) By £elegraph.—Press Association. t, xr „ , nisborne ' La«t Night. The New Zealand Shipping Company's Tomranro is ashore on Ball Rock, Portland Island, midway between Gisborntf ana Napier. ( She has summoned assistance and th» V\ estralia and the Calm have been Icspatched post haste from Gisboma. No further facts are available, as tha scene, is a long way from a- telegraph station. * m Napier, Last Night, the Tongariro is ashore on Ball Rock, Portland Island, near Mahia Peninsula. It is reported she is in a bad way The Arahura left here at 8 p.to/fol the scene. ~ THE WIRELESS CALLS, VESSEL FOUR MILES OFF SHORE, ' ■d „r, , Gisborne, Last Night. Ball Rock, on which the Tongariro believed to have struck, is four mile* north-north-east of Portland and about four mile s from the shore. The Tongariro was en route from Auckland to Wellington, Auckland hav. ing been her first port of call in New Zealand. The vessel passed the East Cape going south at 10.20 this morning, and would be off Portland Island between 7 and 8 o'clock to-night. The first distress wireless call was picked up by tiie A estralia in Gisborne roadstead shortly before 8 o'clock, and'messages continued until 8.10 p.m., when'one came through "power failing." Five minutes later another stated "not oft yet" but after that messages ceased. The Westralia at once ceased cargo operations and hurried south, first Signalling to the steamei Calm, which was also about to leave for Napier, to keep close to jhore, and be of any assist* ance possible. Both vessels were raißi ing south at full speed within half-ari-hour "of receiving the distress call. The Richardson Company's Koutunui left Gisborne for Napier at 3 p.m., and would lie close to the scene of the mishap at S o'clock. She is a small vosseel and would probable be able to get close to the Tongariro. Messages froln Wairoa indicate that the settlers on Mahia Island report thu Tongariro to be about miles oil shore ir. a precarious condition. ' The Arahura from Napier should resell the scene of the mishap about midnight or shortly after. The Westralia took most of her passengers and cargo for Napier, but about 30 passengers, including the Allan Wilkie Shakespeare Company and Victor Grayson, the English Socialist, were left behind. Probably the Arahura will make the journey from Gisborne to Napier tomorrow.

LATEST NEWS. ■ JESSEL SINKING RAPIDLV. Napier, August 30. A telephone message from Wairoal police station stated that the Tongariro is sinking rapidly. She struck a pinnacle of Bell Rock, not Ball Rock. The Arahura left with the local manager of the New Zealand Shipping Com.pany on board, leaving passengers and cargo behind on the wliarf. Bell Rock is about two hours' steam from, Napier for ocean-going steamers. Mr. F. P. Corkill, Lloyd's agent at New Plymouth, received last night a |iadio message from Wellington, timed I? o'clock, stating that the Tongariro ha# signalled that she was fishore on Ball Rock, and later reported that assistance was required as he could not hold out much longer. The message added that the Arahura and Westralia had been Instructed to render assistance. Mahia Peninsula is where the T»»ma nia was wrecked with great loss of life some years ago.