THE LOSS OF THE BIRKENHEAD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1957, 6 April 1885, Page 2

THE LOSS OF THE BIRKENHEAD.

Of all the wonderful instances of human courage on record, there is none more striking than that which is contained in the sad history of the loss of the Birken-' head troopship. The Birkenhead was an iron paddle-wheel gteamov, one of the finest of her olass, She sailed from Queenstown, Ireland on Jan, 7,1852, for the Cape of Good Hope, and took out a detachment of the 12th Lancers, and detachments of nine regiments of the line, She made a fair and prosperous voyage, sighted the Cape, and as she ran down the coast her passengers looked forward to a speedy release from the unpleasant confinement on her decks.' It was a fine afternoon the 25 th February— ■

The air was calm, and on the level brine, ! Sleek Panope ami all her sisters play'd; the Birkenhead was steaming full speed I towards her goal,her passengers, not i dreaming of harm, and unconscious of the ' proximity of danger. There were 638 i persons 011 board, including the ship's i company and the wives and children of * the soldiers. Suddenly there was a blow which shook every one of the ship's timbers from stem to stern. She stopped and began to sink, A rock unkown to navigators had found her out, and having pierced her side, thrust up its pointed head into the engine-room. There was en alarm but no confusion. Instantly, as though they had been waiting for the 1 accident instead of waiting to go ashore, the ship's officers and the officers of the troops issued their neeessary orders. The women and children were taken on the upper deck, and the soldiers were mustered there, while the sailors, in obedience to- the-'eaptain's command, lowered the ship's boats and made ready to go. The boats being manned alongside, the womonand children were handed into '■theme with suclvo'f the crew as were sary to take them to the shore, Pew, if any, of the soldiers who saw their belyvqd ones departing wr? ftble io go in the boats, for it was found that the utmost the boats could accommodate without .endangering the safety of tlum occupants, was but 184 out of the total number of 638 011 board, The land was near, only a few miles distant; Simon's Bay, to which port the Birkenhead was bound, was close at hand; there was a ohance that the boats might return before the final catastrophe came, or help might come at any moment from the port of destination, Some there might have been, who indulged in this hope, and who were sustained by it till it was rudely dashed to pieces; but the majority of the men knew that escape was all but impossible; that before the boats could return from their first trip, to say nothing of the second,all would certainly be over. The force with which tho ship struck had been so great as to .drive the rock bodily into her; she was being pressed by the weight of the water that had rushed in, and was showing signs of giving way amidships. Not a murmor was heard from tho soldiers as they stood at their duathparado, no hint was there of unruliness, of selfishness, or complaint. Witli death staring them in the faco, the men felt comfort m knowing that the women and children were beyond the reach of- harm. Some few solemn words of consolation, but none of earthly hope, were spoken by the colonel in command of the troops, and the brave captain of the Birkenhead was not slow to second hiii) in bidding the men resign themselves to their inevitable fate. Soon the fatal moment came, The good ship whioh lay so badly wounded on the sharp spear that had pierced her could last no longer, she gave a few convulsive throbß, there was a cracking and a rending, and the Birkenhead parted in the middle, sinking 111 two pieces on cither side of the rock. Long ere the boats could get back to hor from the shore—long before the news of the disaster could be told at Simon's Bay, the 454 brave men who had been unavoidably left in her had given up the ghost, had been drowned in the sea or been devoured by the sharks.