WRECK OF A BARQUE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3023, 21 October 1908, Page 5

WRECK OF A BARQUE.

CREW ARRIVE IN SYDNEY. Received October 20, 9.15 p.m. SYDNEY, October 20. The crew of the British barque Fifeshire reached Sydney to-day by the island steamer Muniara, the barque having been wrecked on the I island of Tabitewa in the Gilbert Group. • v The Fifeshire left Newcastle for i Portland, Oregon, on August 2nd j last, with a cargo of 2,000 tons of ! coal. On the afternoon of August 21st, the weather being fine, the barque was bowling along with a fair wind behind her, when she struck a sub- j merged shoal to the leeward of the island of Tabitewa with such force that she was carried over on to a second shoal, wheie she remained, bumping heavily. The crew—24 ail told—kunched the boats and , reached the island of Tebarabati. They were kind ly treated by the natives, ard were subseqently conveyed to Tarawa, where they boarded the Muniara. The .latest report in connection with the wreck is that the Fifeshire is lying firmly on the reef on an even keel. All the masts are standing.' There is apparently no hope of floating the vessel. The disaster is attributed to the strong southerly current. Received October 21, 12.50 a.m. SYDNEY, October 20. The Fifeshire was insured in a office for £6,000. The wreck and cargo has been sold for £5 "to a Sydney firm of Chinese island traders. The captain attributes the wreck to the barque striking an unchartered shoal unknown to the masters of vessels trading to the. Islands.