FOUR WRECKS AT TIMARU.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 75, 4 September 1878, Page 3

FOUR WRECKS AT TIMARU.

(Abridged*'from the ‘Timaru Herald,’ Sept 2nd and Brd.) Two Lives Lost. “Hada ybody, after visiting the beach at 8 o’clock yesterday morning, predicted that before the day was spent four of tlx ? vessels then lying at the anchorage would be wrecks ashore, lie would simply have been laughed at. The weather was beautifully calm and quiet, and up to about nine o’clock the sea was very little agitated. Shortly after that hour, however, a few heavy south-easterly swells came rolling in, and proved to he the forerunners of the heaviest seas that have ever been known in the Timaru roadstead. One after the other the mountainous billows came on, breaking further and further out. Captain Mills, the Harbourmaster, directly he saw what was coming, signalled to the vessels lo hold on all they could, and the five of them then lying at anchor, viz., the barque Melrose, the brigantine Lapwing, and the ketches Glimpse, Fanny, and Palmerston, immediately took the hint, and dropped second anchors. By 11.30 o’clock, the sight from the cliffs, where a few people had assembled, was terribly grand. Sea after sea broke over the doomed vessels, the hulls of which at times were completely hid. The change which had taken place in the course of about two hours was hardly to be realised. The worst however was yet to come.” About 10.30 a. m , the barque Melrose, 287 tons, signalled, “Anchors carried away,” and Captain Mills answered, “ Do the best you can. Cannot send assistance.” The Rocket Brigade was immediately called together, and placed their apparatus on a cart, ready to proceed in any direction. The Melrose drifted rapidly towards Woolcombe’s gully, on the way fouling the ketch Palmerston, breaking Ler topmast, and injuring her captain (Evans.) He and the other two men on hoard the ketch tried to get on board the . drifting vessel. The two men succeeded, hut the captain after battling with the waves for some time. The Melrose finally grounded, broadside on, about 50 yards from the beach, at Woolcombe’s gully, and the seas, immediately they were resisted, broke over her, hiding her from sight. The Rocket Brigade were on the spot, all ready for action, and fired their fines across the vessel, but the crew made no use of them. In less than fifteen minutes after striking, the vessel was completely broken up, and the crew and her timbers were mingled in the raging surf It is a wonder that any escaped being crushed to death. Many of those on shore, and particularly Geordy Davis, a boatman, distinguished themselves by dashing bravely into the fearful surf to rescue the struggling crew. Several were more or less hurt, and one man lost his fife, being washed overboard while trying to seize a rocket fine. His body was recovered next morning. As the last man was hauled out of the water the ketch Fanny (25 tons) was seen to break adrift, and she presently ran foul of another ketch—the Glimpse—whose crew deserted her and joined the drifting vessel. Sail was made, and the vessel steered for the Government Landing Service. She struck a little to the north of that place, and the crew safely landed with the assistance of those on shore. The vessel then drifted further north, and was dashed to pieces on the rocks. About 2.30 the Lapwing, a brigantine of 231 tons, broke adrift Sail was set, and she was steered for the rail-

way viaduct, where she struck lightly clos* to the shore. Lines were thrown aboard, and the cw'w landed safely. The seas threw her high up on the beach almost uninjured. The deserted ketch Glimpse, 35 tons, had been gradually dragging into Caroline Bay, and about 5 p.xn, she struck ten or fifteen chains north of the Lapwing, and the heavy rollers soon placed her high and dry on the beach. Both the Lapwing and Glimpse may be Seated again, as they are but very little injvred. The Melrose had about 230 tons of coal on board, fully insured, at the time of the wreck. The Lapwing had about 100 tons of coal and about £I2OO worth of grain and flour on board, the latter item half, and her hull and inward cargo fully, covered by insurance. The Fanny was in ballast, and her hull was insured for £SOO. |The Glimpse had on board 800 cases of preserved meats, all of which will be saved. Her hull is understood to be fully insured. “ The wrecks which on Sunday are the most serious event which has ever occurred in the history of Timaru ; and it is a matter for sincere thankfulness that they did not occui at night, for instead of three men, all on board the illfated vessels must have perished. Not the bravest man in existence would have ventured at night into such a surf as was running on the beach yesterday. It was simply terrific, and many an old sailor whom we spoke to said he had never seen such a thing in any part of the world, even in Algoa Bay or Madras. No one who did not witness the sight presented about 11.30 p.m. could possibly realise it. At high water at 6 p.m. the seas were dashing high over the cliffs at Caroline Bay, rushing under the viaducts, bursting over the breastwork at the railway station and flooding the yard, and generally presenting a sight which, though grand, was also very heartrending. It was simply impossible for an old vessel like the Melrose to hold out, and had she not parted her anchors, she would inevitably have gone to pieces. Such a catastrophe as occurred on Sunday will in all probability never do so in T’maru again ; but it is all the more reason why our breakwater should be pushed ahead. Of course we shall expect to hear the usual run of sneers at Timaru from our kind friends in all parts of the colony, but that we do not care for; and all we hope is that no other part in New Zealand will ever suffer from such a visitation as this did on Sunday.,’