A STEAMER WRECKED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8464, 14 June 1907, Page 5

A STEAMER WRECKED.

. + CAPTAIN AND TWO PASSENGERS DROWNED. By Telegraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, June 13. The following message was received by the Inspector of Police, at 8.30 to-night:—"The Kia Ora, on the journey from Waitara to Onehunga, was wrecked about 30 miles down the coast, between Kawhia and Mokau, and Captain Blacklock and two passengers (Forbes and Ross) were drowned. There are 27 survivors stranded on the coast, some distance from any settlement. At 8.45 o'clock the following message was received from Constable McCarthy:—"l have received word that the s.s. Kia Ora has been wrecked 20 miles beyond Kawhia, on a very rough and inaccessible coast. Two passengers, Forbes and Rosd, are reported to have been drowned. Ross is said to belong to Hawera. There are 27 survivors ashore, and they ire without food or shelter. The settlers have gone to their assistance with food. The sea is too rough for a boat to leave Kawhia." Constable McCarthy is leaving for the scene of the wreck. The track is through rough and broken country. LATER PARTICULARS. CAPTAIN GOES DOWN WITH HIS SHIP. By Telegraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, June 13. The Kia Ora was on her way to Kawhia from Waitara, and struck near Turua Point, about 30 miles distant between Kawhia and the Mokau, about 3 o'clock this morning. Information, which is meagre, comes by telephone from Kawhia. The vessel, it is stated, immediately sank. The weather was not rough, but there was an unusually heavy fog. Captain Blacklock and the two passengers, Forbes and Ross, both believed to belong to Hawera, were drowned, the captain going down with his ship. There were about 27 survivors, a dozen being passengers, all for Kawhia and Raglan. The place where they are is four miles from the nearest settler's house, and a.» most inaccessible and desolate spot. The settlers have gone down with provisions, but will not get there till daylight to-morrow morning. In the meantime the ship-wrecked people will be without food or shelter. A constable from Kawhia and a party are going to the spot to-mor-row. There is one sea-going boat now at Kawhia, but she is only a small vessel, and could not possibly make the coast. This boat arrived at Kawhia this afternoon, and called at a place not far distant from where the wreck has occurred, but did not see anything.