QUEEN OF THE SOUTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 May 1919, Page 12

QUEEN OF THE SOUTH.

HOW THE VESSEL GROUNDED, ! A THICK FOG. The Wellington Dominion supplies the following report of the grounding of the vessel:— The coastal steamer Queen of the South struct a reef south of Cape Camphell early on Saturday morning. All of the crew were saved, but it is stated that there is practically no chance of recovering the vessel, and only a slight hope of salving the cargo. Leaving Wellington at 11 o'clock on Friday night for Lyttelton, the Queen of the South was enveloped in a N very thick fog before she was out of the harbor. When passing Pencarrow only the lower light was faintly visible. The sea in Cook Strait was covered, too, with the low-lying, heavy mist. The master of the ship (Captain J. E. Owen) set a course that, would take his vessel ten miles to the westward of Cape Campbell, and was relieved on the bridge by the mate (Mr. F. Lnwton). As was his usual practice when at sea, Captain Owen rested in his cabin fully dressed, with the lamp burning, so that he could be on the bridge at a moment's notice in case of accident. At 5.30 a.m. he was awakened by the vessel shuddering as if she had struck some submerged object. He rushed on deck, and found that the ship was hard and fast. The mate reported that there was no responding movement to the reversing of the engines given at the first feeling of impact. Everything was obscured by the fog. The coastline could not he seen, nor vias there anything to give them an idea as to where they were. The revolving brirht white light standing 155 ft. above the sea at Cape Campbell was not perceptible, although it was one and a-qnarter miles north-east of the scene of the wreck, and has, in clear weather, a range of twenty miles.

Water was soon found pouring into the engine-room, and Captain Owen gave instructions that all hands were to take to the boats. The sea was ns calm as a mill-pond, and until daylight the two boats hung-to a short distance from the vessel. .With the breaking of day the locality was picked up, anil the boats were steered to the coast, three-quarters of a mile away. A landing was made and Captain Owen walked to the lighthouse, and from there got into telephone communication with the Blenheim branch of Messrs Levin and Co. Blenheim was then not astir for the day, but eventually the news of the accident was received at the right source and forwarded on to Wellington, where it came to hand shortly after fl a.m. Messrs Levin and Co. sent instructions to Captain Wills, of the Wakatu, at Lyttelton, telling him to proceed at once to Cape Campbell and assist in any way he could-

The Wnkatu got under way at 1 p.m.. and reached the Queen of th<) South early on Sunday morning. Captain Wills went off to the stranded vessel in a ship's boat, and saw that she was in a dangerous position, on the end of a reef. Lying on an even keel, in what is literally a gutter of ,ock, the Queen of the South is full of water, at high tide there being two feet, of water above the hatches. The forepart, as far as the engine-room, is firmly held, but the afteTpart is overhanging deep water. On both sides the water is shallow in comparison. There was hardly any sea running at the time the Wakatu was anchored about

» (quarter oj m .mile torn the -Queen <ot the South flfihe neatest distance she could go with safety),, and &. good opinion could in tliese circumstances foe formed of the likelihood of refloating the vessel and salving her cargo. It is considered that it would be fruitless to attempt to regain possession of the ship, and as for the cargo the obtaining of it would, it is considered, involve great danger to the lighters used for the work. It is anticipated that the first strong southerly gale and big seas will play havoc with the Queen of the South, The personal effects of the crew were taken off the Queen of the South on Saturday morning. The night was passed on shore, the officers sleeping at the lighthouse, and the men in the small schoolrpom not far away. They all speak in the highest, terms of the kindness shown by the lightkeepers in making them as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. The Wakatu, after lying off the wreck, steamed round to the lighthouse, and took on board the crew and their belongings, arriving in port at Wellington late on Sunday afternoon-

The tides in Cook Strait, in the vicinity of Cape Campbell, are known to bo strong, and it is considered probable that the Queen of the South was taken out of her course by the current.

Cape Campbell, near which the Queen of the South struck, is in a line nearly direct south from the entrance to Wellington Harbor. It is 49 miles from ths heads.

In the holds of the Queen of the South there is a full load of 225 tons of general cargo, the major portion of which are cases of machinery, transhipped from the sailing vessel Terpsichore, and consigned to the International Harvester Company, Christeluu'ch. The Vacuum Oil Company has on board 400 cases of benzine. The remainder is made up of small ordws. The trip of the Queen of the South to Lyttelton was brought about by the bad state of the Foxton bar.

The Queen of the South was one of the oldest steamers trading out of Wellington, having been built 42 years ago. Her remarkably light draught, made her particularly suitable for the Foxton trade, and she ran regularly between Wellington and the Manawatu River port from the year 1899 onwards, commanded by Captain E. J. Harvey, of Wellington. When in that year Captain Harvey purchased the Queen of the South in Australia for Messrs levin and Co., and brought, her across to Wellington, she was a vessel thirteen years old which was trading up the coast between Sydney and Brisbane. It says a good deal for her that she was on Saturday still being driven by the same set of engines as when she was brought over to New Zealand. Her present boiler is the thin) she has had during her New Zealand career.

She has a good reputation and a. clean ! history, no account, of course, beins ! taken of the times when she has stuck on the Manawatu bar owing to poor tides. The Queen of the South was built of iron in 1877 by Messrs H. McTntyre and Co., of Paisley. Scotland, and is of 198 tons gross and 121 tons net. Her dimensions are:—Length, 126.2 feet; breadth, 22.1 feet; depth, 7.8 feet. She is owned by the Queen Shipping Company, Ltd. (Messrs Levin and Co., Ltd., Captain K. J- Harvey, and Mr. William Signal, of Foxton. superintending engineer for Messrs Levin and Co.. Ltd.). In describing Cape Campbell and its dangerous spots, the New Zealand Pilot says that there is an encircling dangerous reef of sunken rocks, with some detached and above water, extending

Hearty a anile 3UKUG. of 'the ccape <extreme, .which js sandy and low.; tthis raef ts also continuous one mile and a-half to the southward on the siia.wa>d ifacc of the cape, extending fully half-a-mile from the land, outside of which, and three-quarters of a mile to. the north- | eastward of the cape a ; detached reef—Bowler Ileex. ■