THE WRECK OF THE QUETTA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2016, 6 March 1890, Page 1

THE WRECK OF THE QUETTA.

Brisbane, Marcli 3, The awful suddenness with which the Quetta; sank made it impossible for anyone below to reach the deck, and all the engineers were drowned. The vessel passed over the rock at,the rate of twelve knots per hour; One of the passengers stales that he was sitting on, the front hatch with his wife and children when the vessel struck; The captain called “ All hands aft,” but the second,steward said it was all right, and the vessel had only stopped to anchor. Terrible contusion ensued, especially amongst the women. The colored portion of the crew were particularly noisy and unmanageable. The forward hatch was blown several feet into the air by the pressure from below. One lifeboat was lowered to the water's! edge As* the vessel was sinking, but being rushed by Japanese she swamped. His wife jumped off the ship into the sea and j he followed shortly after with a child in his arms. He never saw his wife afterwards,' When in'-the water he was held up by a colored man and in the struggle lost the child, which was drowned. He next got hold of a boat to which a large number of persons were clinging, and assisted to get her upright, when the water was hailed but, .and all hands, numbering about seventy, got in. juand was over three miles away from the scene of the wreck. The officer on the bridge, threw lifebuoys overboard, and all the officers and mon did their best. The surviyors suffered very much from cold during the bight, -.i n ru ; ; A sad case in connection with the wreck is that of Vlra Jackson and two children. Her husband was drowned a few weeks ago in a flood in the Brisbane River, and ~ she and her family were left penniless. She expressed a wish to return to England. The "public subscribed sufficient funds to defray the cost of "the passage; It is feared the three of them are lost.

A saloon passenger named Gape, who was lost, was on his way home to inherit a fortune of £SS,<X)O, He had previously been working as a labourer at Beenleigh for some months for 20a per week. He was refused a passage as the vessel was full, but induced the shipping company to give him a berth on payment of £2O over the ordinaiy fare.

March 4,

The revised list of passengers and others on board the ill-fated steamer Quetta shows that 137 persons were saved, while 145 were drowned. The cargo was insured for £50,000 and the steamer tor £42,000, principally in English and Australian offices.

Miss Lacey was rescued in a most miraculous manner. She clung to a raft lintil mid-day on Saturday, when she left ■it and tried to swim ashore. The current carried her away- and then -she kept floating without ‘.airport for twenty-four hours, having ‘beeiv in the water for thirty-six’hours before being'rescued. If the bearing ot the rock on which the Quetta struck is the Admiralty chart gives 12 fathoms of water on the rock, which is right in the track recommended.by the Admiralty. ’ Miss Nicklin, one of the only two ladies saved, states that they were singing and practising in the concert room when the steamer struck; She went down sudden'.v at the last moment, leaving near!;, 20 people all huddled together in the w.ver and; treading on each other. By the i.i of a plank she swain ashore, reacting Led next morning. All through the mGit she heard people calling for help. She thinks most of 1 the ladies were ' caught by the awning when the ship sank.

The s.s. Quetta was- built in 1881 byMessrs W. Denny and Eros., of Dumbarton; for the British India Associated Steamers’ Company, Limited. She was a three-masted screw propelled steamer of a. net tonnage of 2254 tons, and gross 3484 Her biidge deck was 39f long, and forecastle deck 26F- long. Her 1 ngth was 380 ft, beam 40fr 3in, defih 29fr. She had!six bulkheads ; her engines were of two cylinders each 50-in and 86-in in diameter, with a stroke of 54m, and were of 500 horse power; r