FINDING OF WRECKAGE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8512, 17 August 1907, Page 5

FINDING OF WRECKAGE.

LOSS OF THE CONSTANCE, CRAIG FEARED... By Telegraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, August 16. The Collector of Customs received a communication from a resident at Awanga, Great Barrier, as follows: —"I have picked up several pieces of wreckage on the south-east side of the Great Barrier. Some broken pieces of timber, with large letters on when put together, had on one side 'Margarita,' and on the reverse side 'Constance Craig.' There was also a leg of a table, a piece of the end of the table, and a chock for holding a boat on the deck, one 14ft fiddle, and sundry other bits of timber—also the piece of a skylight." This, taken with the recent report that the Constance Craig's boat had been found washed ashore at Hokianga, is regarded as pretty conclusive proof of the wreck of that vessel. A steamer is being despatched to search the islands in the hope of finding the crew.

By Telegraph—Press Association.

GISBOKNE, August 16. News has been received of wreckage found at the Great Barrier belonging to the overdue Constance Craig. It is feared that all hands are lost. The vessel was owned by Captain Kennedy and E. J. Chrisp, of Gisborne. The crew of the Constance was made up as follows:—-Captain, Finlay Petersen, Sydney; E. Peterson, mate, Sydney; H. Lewis, second mate, Anglesea, aged 48 years; M'Donald, A.8.; H. Hansen, Brooklyn, aged 28; F. Brown, Perth, aged 26; M. Keogh, Liverpool, aged 24 ; J. Nelson, &ail - maker, Liverpool, aged 46; A. Stein, R. Roberts, F. Machin, cook and steward; A. Mallar, Norway, aged 34. The vessel was owned by the Constance Craig Shipping Company. The Constance Craig was formerly known as the Margarita. The following men joined the ship at Gisborne to replace others transferred to the barquentine lima:—Lewis. Mallar, Hansen, Brown, Keogh aid, Nelson.

By Telegraph—Press Association.

GISBORNE, August 16. The Consta-ce Craig was insured for £2,500 in Mi 3 North Queensland office, but; tii-* loss to the owners will probably be fully £2,000 abo\e that amount. When the vessel was last in Gisborne she was supplied with a complete outfit of new sails, her old sails having .suffered damage during a ' storm" in the Bay of Plenty, on the vessel's voyage from Newcastle, when she had a perilous experience. - Bridger, the chief officer, left her at Gisborne to go up for an examination, and he was to join the barque at Hokianga. AUCKLAND, August 16. The following wire has been received by Mr Chrisp, one of the owners of the vessel, who is at present in Auckland, from Mr Martin, harbour-master and pilot at Hokianga:—'"The barque sighted on July 26th and reported was painted with the Constance Craig colours, grey with black ports. No signals were exchanged. I know the old Margarita well, and as the Marjorie Craig is the only vessel I could have mistaken her for, and as her captain (Campbell) says that he did leave the Wade on that date and was not within sixty miles of here until Saturday night last, I feel confident that it was the Constance Craig I saw. If she had had the hard winds which have prevailed here, viz., southeast and east until August Bth. and westerly since then, she should have shown up again unless the vessel has been disabled." WELLINGTON, August 16, Captain Schultz, of the barquentine Mary Isabel, now in Wellington, was formerly master of the Constance Craig. He says the captain of the latter vessel was Finlay Morrison, not Petersen. He was a native of Orkney Islands, and leaves a wife and two children, who are now in Melbourne.