AUSTRALIAN WRECK.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1919, Page 11

AUSTRALIAN WRECK.

CURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. ELEVEN MEN DROWNED. Sydney, Sept. 24. The wreck of the small steamer Pareora on the Althorpe Islands when on her way from Port Pirie to Risdon, and the consequent death of eleven men, is said to have been due to some dispute on the bridge and a difference of opinion about the course. The principal officers have all been lost, so the mystery surrounding the disaster may never be cleared up. The night was clear and fairly calm, and there is a bright stationary light on the island quite close to where the Pareora struck. It appears to be quite clear that the captain was trying to "cut a corner," with the result than ne went right on to an outlying reef near the western side of one of the islands. Although the weather was fine there was a stilt south-west wind blowing, and a long heavy swell was pounding on the 'rocks. The Pareora was immediately at the mercy of the heavy seas, and began to break up. The crew numbered 18, and the unhappy men clung to the wreck till morning. A number of them, exhausted and numbed by the cold, let go their hold and were swept away. One powerful wave forced a seaman half through the railings of the bridge, where he was so held that his head was torn completely of)'. When day broke a fishing cutter anchored in tlie vicinity came to the rescue. and seven survivors were taken off. Three bodies were found. The other eight men are presumed, to be dead. The survivors say that' the chief officer was making hii first trip on the Pareora. and for some time before the. disaster he and the captain were disputing on the bridge. In that time the course was twice altered. The third engineer and others warned them that they were on a dangerous course, but their advice was ignored. The Pareora was built in 1800 for the New Zealand coastal trade. She was only recently acquired and thoroughly overhauled by the Electrolytic Zinc Company.