THE WRECK OF THE NORTHFLEET.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 141, 3 April 1873, Page 2

THE WRECK OF THE NORTHFLEET.

(Tub G uakdia is ,. Jau. 29. ) A frightful calamity ha 3 saddened the recoil of the List week. The Noithtlcet, with 400 souls on board, while lying quietly at anchor hi Duujreuesa lloads, was suddenly struck mid&bips by a strange steamer at full speed, and iv half an hour went to the bottom. Out of her total complement of crew and passengers only eighty-five were saved to tell the tale. No accident more appalling in its unexpected suddenness or its widespread destruction has occurred for a long time so close tv our own shores, and almo&t as it were under our very eyes. Its only parallel must be looked for almost a hundred years ago, when " Kempeufeldt went down, Vvith twice four hundred men," hi the iloyal Geoigc, off Spithcad. Like that, this accident occuued in a moment of entire security. " It was not in the battle ; No tempest gavo the shock ; She sprang no fatal leak ; She ran npon no rock." Men, women, and children, rrll but the watch on deck, Mere sleeping quietly m (heir berth 1 ?, glad of a peaceful rest m a tranquil anchorage, lifter the unquiet tossings of the previous cLijs, in winch the) had been vainly beating up to windward ngauisl an adverse gale, when thoy were startled by a sudden crash, tollowcd by a flood of water, and rushed oh tAjflPouly to find their ship going down. All that could be done in those few dreadful minutes seems to have been tiied. The pumps had been worked till the rapid rise of the water proved them to be useless. Kockets were sent up as signals of diotrot^, and the boats were lowered immediate!}. Captain Knowles — who, through the sudden detention of his superior officer, Captain Oates, by a Mibp(i>iu in the Tichborne case, had become at the last moment the commander of the ill-fated vessel — was on deck at once, and exerted himself strenuously to preserve order, and to give the women and children the first chances of escape. He had a sad but strong incentive to do this. His own newly-married wife, a bride only six weeks ago, vus on board, 110 succeeded in saving her, but only two other •women besides escaped. Both of these •were children, one ft bubo of three months old, nnd the other a girl of twelve years. That moie were not preserved was not the fault of the t.iptam or of the crow. The best evidence of this lies in the melancholy result. Neither the captain nor any of his oflloers h.ive survived, and out of the whole crow of thirty-four onTy about tweho «oio rescued. All the accounts that can be gathered speak of the readiucss, firmness, and predeneo of mind which Captain. Knowles displayed, and of the promptitude with which officers and crew rendered obedience to his orders. But, besides tho crew, lie had a dilllcidt body of men to deal with. The ship was carrying out 350 labourers to construct »Th»manian radway. Tho "ordinary " navvy " is a strong man not used to much control, and not accustomed, as u general ride, to think more of his wife's comfort than his own. Such men, in such an extremity, vvefc not likely to be easily deterred from seizing tho first chance of life that ofti'ivd itself to their hands. In spite of Captain KnowW repeated shouts to let tho boats bo filled first with women only, and in spite of his threat to shoot the first man that got in, the p wnengi'rs crowded down as fast as thoy could to what seemed their onlj ivfugo. The threat was fulfilled, One man narrowly escaped a ball that wliistlcd past his head from tho captain's revolver, and acfci • ally received a second ball above his knee ; another was saved Only by tlie piStOl missing «to. But nil w.ib in vain ; the tumult was too great, and tho risk too imminent. Captain Know lea' attempts to preserve order and discipline among tho passengers were unavailing, and for the few nnnufca that jet remained there was nothing but a wild and frantic scramble for life. The scene is described by one of the survivors — tho very man who had tho Captain's ball in his le ', and who, nevertheless, escaped in the same bout w ith the Captain's wife — as appalling. Men, women, and children wore to be scon rushing about in all directions looking for their relatives ; some were climbing the rigejing, some eagerly sci/in" an} thing that would float, but most ot them closely packed together on the stern. Tho boat had scarcely pot clear of the ship before the end came. By the gleam of tho hut rocket and the lights of tho City of London steam-tug w lnch was coining up to the rescue, tbo men in tho boat saw ilio figure-head of the Northllect slowly settle down underwater, while tho crowded stom kvo up aloft for a moment, and then suddenly disappeared, lcoving all who had occupied it struggling in tho dark water. A few wee picked ill) by three vessels which, finding out, when nlmost 100 late, the terrible scene which was enacting m their neighbourhood, had hastened to the spot ; b it tho gicul majority were never seen iv«»m. Captain Knowles, doing \m duly ninnluliy to the lu a t, hiul gone down with his. ship ; all his otlicers had shared his falc ; nnd few of his crew, besides those who were required to man the boat-*, survive to tell the tide. Out ul '1W =>oulj on board at least 300 niusV haro perished.

How could such an nccidenL have occurred ? Or after it had occurred, Uow was it that so few were saved ? A ship is at anchor m » well-known roadstead, with all her lights properly displayed, when she is suddenly cut down by another as mercilessly and as effectually a* if site had been attacked in battle by a hostile race. Th* night was starless and drizzly, but not particularly dark or rough, and all the water round was gleaming with lights. Kbfc less th.m two hundred vessels are said to hayo been riding at anchor under tlio friendly shelter of tlio Ness ; and yet not one of them saw the collision, not one of them was roused by the aignnl rockets, not one of them win summoned in time forettcetual aid bv the screams and shouts and pistol shots and nil the turmoil which for half an hour covered the deck of the sinking ship with uproar and confusion. The impression seems general that no lives need to have been lost if only the condition of the Northfleetf coald have been at once apprehended by the surrounding craft. It is strange how so great a shock could hme parsed in silence, and how its consesequences could have failed to make themselves manifest at once in a crowded anchorage. But there is a reason w hy tlio distrw signals produced so Tittle effect. The only gun Mas disabled by wet, and the Northfleofc sent up nothing but rockets and rockets in that neighbourhood are the ordinary Wnal for a pilot, so that no particular notice was taken ot tlie display. Yet even so, one wonders that their number and frequency, which inu-,1 have been unusual, did not attract attention. And why was it that no other signals were givenj Hut what shall be" said of the canso of all this misfortune ? What was that strange steamer that thus rode don n anotucr vessel, lymo- quietly at anchor, in the silent night, and went its way, not noticed. by any other ship and not delaying for a moment ? No one, even on board the Northfleet, seems to have seen it for more thorn just the instant of collision. It came, struck, and vanished like a spectre ship. .There is a story aOoat of a sunk ship d sewered in the West .bay, Dungcness which, if it be true, lends some colour to the idea that the assailant in this encounter sank a? rapidly as the assailed. If it were not for the additional loss of life implwd in this story, one would be almost glad to behove it, for nothing else could justify the cold blooded inhumanly ot leaving the victims to their fate, without stopping an instant to inquire what mischief had been done, or what help could be rendered. Tho Board of Trade has offered £100 for the identification of this steamer, and Messrs* Clark, Punchard, ami Co. r tho contractors who had chartered tho .Northtlcet for this voyage, kavc added another £100 to tho reward. It is to be hoped that they will soon find some ono to claim it : for such a crime is happily one which seems scarcely capable ol escaping detection. A vessel cannot inflict such injury on another and escape scot-free herself; and wherever damaged bows are seen in a harbour, there is a case for inquiry, lhe temptation i* Blrcmg m any case of collision to get away as fast as possible, m order to escape blame and damages ; but it is a temptation which ought steadily to be resisted, when life as well as cargo is in danger. Whatever laws can touch the culprit ought in this instance to be rigorously enforced; and if law is— as it probably is— inadequate to the occasion, its deficiencies must bo made up by the universal reprobation of tho civilised, and especially of the maritime, world.