THE COLLISION WITH H.M.S. HECLA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2086, 19 November 1885, Page 4

THE COLLISION WITH H.M.S. HECLA.

Mk Hi Knurr WiiiTh, ot Jhtton, Werlncs, lnuy, w ho was one of the passengers by the Livupool ship Cli.'L'thil, which was uin down l>y the toipeilo slup Hecla, mid has li-tiniiul homo, gives the following story of tho disaster :— On the night of the collision there were foui of us in a state rooin _ m yself, poor Mr Bernard, and two othi'i s. We weie all asleep, but wero all awakened by a teuitic shock My berth was next a port hole, and I could fee tin li_' ''hip outside. I ran on deck in my ni^lit dress stiaight away, and I saw the If i ( la. s bows light over us. 1 could ha\ c got on the Jleclft's deck if I had liked T i in lurk into the state room and "Ot my two companion- and while tftey weie turmug over I slipped on my tiousois. It was all the work of a niomi nt, as it were. I got Mr Bernard on deck, but before we had time to nnke up our minds what to do the Cheerful went down, A large wave washed me off the deck, and as I was going into the sea one of my braces caught in tho sails of the Cheerful and broke, elielwonld have gone dow n. I was whirled away, Mid my biace was left behind. I was sucked into the vortex caused by the sinking Hlup. Luckily there were a lot of empty barrels underneath the hatches, but some of them got loose, and as I was coming up to the top of the water one of them came against me, and brought me up with it. As soon as I came to the surface of the water I got on the top of this barnl, but it was with great difficulty that I remained there, as the barrd kept tinning lountl I, however, stuck to it uijtil I was picked up by one of the boats fioin the livcla. The three gentleman wlto were in the state-room with nio were diowned. There were three l.vlics bertide the stewardess on bnarri, and the shrieking of the paasongcrs was something dieadful. It is that w hlth has upset me so much. The first mate of the Cheerful, assisted by our of flic passengers, did all in his power to lanncli one of the boats before the Cheerful went down, but they were unsuccessful through tlu re not being su'hiient time The captain was about the ln~t to ka\e the uttamur, and he w.t> picked up more dead than alive. It was fully an hour before he came round. The lady pa*u nger who was saved owes hci life to her having wrapped her fur clonk around her, as, when she got into the water, it npieud out and kept her afloat. There were thirteen passengers drowned altogether. The list given in the morning papers understate the number of fatalities. The captain of the Hecla behaved splendidly towards us. We had everything we w.iutid. Tho lady pa&senger who was saved lost all hei clothing, and the garments of an other lady passenger who was drowned had to bo taken off the dead body in order to accommodate her. Our hotel expenses at Plymouth were paid foi us, and we were lent sufficient money to buy any clothes we needed and to pay our expenses home. All tho passengers' luggage was lost, and the officers of the Ikcla lent us clothing. I belie\e that there would not have been such a laigc saciitice of life but for the fact of the passt'iigcis not having had time to get on dtxk between the moment of the colliM'Mi md that of the ship sinking. A gentleman who was on boa id with his son lo~.t his hfo in tiding to save his boy.

Tith extraordinary carelessness with wlncli explosives are sometimes looked aftui w;u exemplified , it Newcastle, New .South Wales, recently, wlicie some clnl<lien in playing came acioss a cave, which they entered. Inside they dis covuul five kegs of gunpowder and six cases of dynamite on the ground, whilst the ( irtli was strewn with powder an inch thick. Tho youngsters reported the matter, arcl tho police were coinmitnicated with. The explosives were 1 emoted to a powder hulk. It is supposed that the powder was stored there by men working on the road*. A Littlk Tokvauo.— The Cornislimen of Romford, St. Ervan, have had an experience on a small scale of a visitation which frequently carries desolation ovci whole cities and States in America. Tin lr tornado was only a whirlwind, but it caused no little alarm to tho villagers The weather up to 2 o'clock in the afternoon was calm, with a little rain ; but about that time three rows of corn standing in an adjacent field were suddenly carried into the air to a consideiable height, and the sheaves fell in showers at distances varying from 30 to 100 yauls from their oiiginal position. Immediately after, the roof of a cattle-shed was wi fiicherl off with great forco ; and an apple tree, with roots about 1.") inches in eire it inference, was uprooted with much violc nee, and its leaves, with tho&e of the sin rou ndi ni,' tioes, where whirled npwaxis in a cloud to such a height that they were entirely lost to view by those who witnessed the strange occurrence. A Loy walking »long was lifted up by tho wind .md turned over, luitwasuninjuicd The whirlwind lasted only about two minutes aud covered a very limited area. It travelled in a north-easterly direction Dkytii ok Jumbo. — The renowned elephant Jumbo, whose denth warreseutly announced in a brief message, met, it appeals, with a violent end. The ev.ent is thus discoursed upon by the New Yotk conc^pondent of the Age, written on September 17:— "As if it were not enough for the Americans to win the Intel national Vachtliacc yesterday, there mint needs be another sorrow for Ki^g I l.unl in the death of tho famous elephant Jumbo. It happened in tho early morninj,' and in Canada. Jumbo was wajkiif>» on the railway tiack, whcie he was to einli.uk in a train, and was killed by »n engine which happened along \ery inopportunely. The keeper tried to make the animal decend the embankment, but elephant flesh is obstinate, and hence the calamity. Jumbo was about twenty fi\c years old, and had piohably been seen by more people than any other animal that ever lived. For a long tune he was a sensation at the London Zoological Hardens, and thousands of children have been carried on his back. A few years ago he became dangerous, and the Directors sold him to the enterprising Barnum. When the same becaino known there was a craze in England about Jumbo — probably assisted by the shrewd showman — and half the nation seemed ready to shed tears over the prospective loss of the favourite. If we may believe the newspapers the Queen and the l'rince of WaLs sought to havo the contract broken, but the Directors stuck to the'r baigain and Jumbo came to America Advantage was taken of the sensation, and Jumbo was a curiosity heie on his arm al and has remained one ever suice. But perhaps it was just as well that the railway mado an end of him. I lmc heard on good authority that since his advent on American soil he has killed two Keepers and seriously injured three ot four others, and his temper h often uncontrollable. His old keeper, Scott, an Englishmen wtio was brought over with him, is the only man who had any real contiol over Jumbo, aud it was in tho temporary absence of Scott that the accident- happened to others. Elephants are long lived, and we may shudder at the consequences of Jumbo becoming an octogenarian and outliving Scott by a couple of decades or go. It will cost heavily to the Railway company unless it can piovc as it probably can, that the owners of the animal were guilty of contiibutivc negligence in allowing him to walk on the track. This is the defence generally set up when any accident happen-) on our iron reads. Like charity, it covers a multitude .of sins, and like hope, it spring-) cteinal in the human bre.int when that breast belongs to a railway counsel engaged at an annual salaiy." 'Imp Tidy Housi'vvifk.— Tho careful. *i<ly hoiiM wife, when giving her houso iis spruit? rlc ining, should bear in mind that the dear inmid s arc moro precious th in houses, their »y-,ti im nreil < learning, by purifying th« blood, n " li'm^ tlif sfnimi h .nvi bovcls, iml <.!u■.l'.pil.l I now 111 it llii n i nuthiiiET tint will do it 'i i.1,. \miii. in i o s Hop JiUtcrs, the puiuot and bi.it ot jII medicines