THE RAISING OF THE STEAMER TARANAKI.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 564, 7 October 1869, Page 3

THE RAISING OF THE STEAMER TARANAKI.

By telegraph, we have already learnt of the steamer Taranaki, which sunk last year in Queen Charlotte Sound, being successfully raised, and towed to Wellington harbor. The following particulars of the condition of the vessel were written before she was finally floated : —All the hard wood portion of the forecastle, as well as the lower masts and the figure head, appear to be perfectly sound—the soft wood is eaten by the worms. An empty box floated up, and though made of kauri was uninjured. The wire rigging is sound, but all hemp ropes and- sails are destroyed. It is a most remarkable sight to walk on the platform of logs and look down on the steamer's deck ; the water is perfectly clear and everything can be seen most dis tinctly, the poop being about nine feet under water; but the most singular is the appearance of the outer, or after, end of the poop. That is heaped up with mud and dirt, nearly burying the wheel, and must weigh many tons. No doubt the vessel, in sinking, must have ploughed her way down the sloping bank until her progress was finally arrested by the accumulated soil which drove before her, and which appears to have been thrown up on her deck. The state of the main and poop deck cannot be ascertained until the vessel is raised sufficiently to allow of the mud being removed. Powerful Californian pumps were already prepared for the purpose of pumping her out, so that it would not take very long to empty her of water.