TERRIBLE SHIPPING FATALITY. LOSS OF A BARQUE AT AKAROA HEADS. 18 Persons Drowned. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1926, 8 November 1884, Page 3

TERRIBLE SHIPPING FATALITY. LOSS OF A BARQUE AT AKAROA HEADS. 18 Persons Drowned. [BY TELEGRAPH.— PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

CIiRiSTCiinRCH, Thursday. Thi barque Clyde, from Mauritius via Dunedin, loaded with sugar, went ashore at Horse Shoe Bay, near Akaroa, during severe weather on Wednesday morning. The vessel stuck fast. Only one of the crew, an apprentice named Gibson, got ashore. A ateamcr was at once bent to the assistance of the Clyde so soon as the accident became known, but the vessel broke up, and all on boaid were drowned, Gibson being the only one of the crew who was saved. From the account of the lad Gibson^ it appears that tho barque, from Dunedin, was steering N.E. by N. half N. Nothing was visible to leeward. About four o'olock this morning it was loggy. and the se.\ rnther heavy. -Gibson had tuwied in. A few minutes later the mate told the off watch to be handy. In five minutes the man on the watch called out " Land on the lee bow !" All hands wero called to put the ship about, but she missed stays. The captain tried to wear the vessel, heading off the wind, but she struck amidships. A boat was lowered, and tho captain ordeied Gibson and another boy into her to bale her. and put m his wife and three children. The rail o the ship was then down, and the stem of tho boat caught under it, and was swamped. Tho woman and child were dragged aboard, and Gibson, seeing tho main mast falling, Jdived and got to tho spanker boom and on board. He saw the captain, bleeding and stunned, floating about the deck, which was under water, with his two children. Gibson pulled the children out. They, with the boatswain, mate and others, got into another boat, which waß swamped among the wreckage. Gibson again got on the span ker boom, and saw the captain's body and a girl of nine years old float by. Gibson soizod the child, but a heavy sea swept over him, and he lost his hold of her. He then got on a deck-house drifting by, and wai carried into a little bay, where he managed to reach the shore. He walked some miles to McPhail'a house, near Devauchell's Bay, whence the news was sent. Gibson afterwards returned to the shore, and was taken on board the steamer Akaroa. LATER PARTICULARS. From later accounts to hand it would seem that tho Clyde wentashoie about half past four a.m. On receipt of the news of the wreck, Messrs Kidsey, Waul and Co., agents, telegraphed to Akaio.i for the steamer Akaroa to proceed to Hoiseshoc, and that everything .should be done for the coinfoit of the survivors. At 4 p.m. the etean.er returned with the sad news that the barque had broken up. Nothing but wreckage could be seen around the spot where she struck. Thus it appeals th.it the captain, his family, and all on board, except the Lid Gibson, IS lives in all, have perished. One body wa> iecu\eied, that of a boy about 13, also m\ apprentice of the ship. The lad Gibson na? detained at Akaroa for tho inquest on the body picked up. He is also lvther exhausted, mid leqiure* rest. Captain Tilhuist, Underwntcrs 1 Suiveyor, who left in tho Ilawe.i, met tne steamer at Ak.xion llc.id-, and has icLumud by her to Lyttelton. The sea w.is \ciy rough off the Heads when the Akaioa went out, and the tops of the masts weie all that were visible whore tho \e>sel sank. The Clyde (says a Dunedin telegram) was a wooden' barque of 5j2 tons legister. She was built in 1874 at Williams River, New South Wales, for Mr James Brown, but is owned now by Mr E. G. Ellis, M.L.A., of Newcastle. The following are the names of tho crew who were on board tho vessel : Wm. Currie, mate ; H. Feidinand, second mate ; Richaid Mariner, A. B. ; Herbert Bohlo, boy; Ah Lab, cook ; Ah Hing, boy ; David Manroy, H. Stain pson, P. McLe.in, P. Sodeiguist, T. Smith, Charles Brown, Andrew Christopherson, A.8.. In addition to the ciew theie were four passengers on board, namely, Mrs Culmer (the captain's wife) and their three children, Miss A. M. and E. Culmer. IN.SUKVNCES. The Sydney office of the Nuw Zealand Insurance Company hold a risk of €1000 on the. hull, and the South British and Union offices also have £300 and £2.~)0 icspectively on the hull. Tho remainder of the insurance of the hull, in all probability, are with some of the Sydney offices. The cargo is valued at £GOOO, and is injured in the National Insurance Office for £4<!00. Mo«t of this amount, however, is le-insiued in the Now Zealand, .South British and Victoria Insurance Offices.