WRECK OF A STEAMER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2752, 4 March 1890, Page 2

WRECK OF A STEAMER.

GREAT LOSS OF LIFE,

(by electric telegraph.—copyright;

Brisbane, Msn-ch 1. The news of a shipping disaster, attended witli a sad loss of life, has reached here. The British and Indian Cu.'s steamer Quetta, on the homeward voyage struck on a rock, which, it is said, is not marked on the chart, near Cooktown, with terrible foice, splitting her completely through. There was fearful confusion among the passengers, who rushed about th" deck wildly in despair, and crying for help. The vessel sank in three minutes after sinking. A large number of those on board went down with the vessel. The location of the disaster is in the vicinity of Mount Adolphus, and the Two Brothers' Island. The captain wires to the agents that she struck at nine last night, with appalling loss of life ; only 100 saved." No further particulars are yet to hand.

March 2. There is terrible excitement here over the wieck of the steamer Quetta, inasmuch as >-he was ii full ship, with nvnr a hundred passengers on board, including? a large numlier nf well-known citizens, who were going Home nn u vi-it. Her crew consisted of about 30 European i>ffieer-< and 95 coloured men. The ship was i-nlued ati'6s,ooo, >md is not insured. The steamer Merri* England, which has returned from Thursday Island, .searched several of the islands fur the survivors, hut without success. The total number of souls on board, so far as known, was 282, of whom 116 were sived, leaving Kill to be accounted for, all of whom are supposed to lie drowned. Ciptain Sanders and Pilot Keating were on the biidge with bright mooniiaht, fine weather and sea calm. There was no appearance of dangur, and the vessel struck a ruck six miles from Mount Adolphus on the quarter and ripped the whole side out of her. Nearly all the passengers were on deck at the time, and a panic ensued. All the passengers were scrambling into the boats, heedless of the commands of the captain and officers, who remained cool throughout the exciting tune. In less time than it takes to relate the

wreck, the Quetta sank, amidst the cries of those who were left on board in a helpless condition.

A large number of both crew and passengers were swallowed up in the vortex, never to rise again, while others were picked up as quickly as circumstances would allow. Some of those reported missing may reaeh the adjacent islands, but the hope is very remote.

Those saved are : Miss Nicklin and baby girl, Messrs Corser, Clarke, Rputon, Stodert, Davidson, Wrathnll, Gregory, Cameron, Ashford, Murphy, Train, Dunn, Debney, captain and officers, 23 Lascars, 25 coloured firemen and 11 saloon boys. Three Singalesn deck passenger-* and. 28 Japanese deck passengers, Pilot Keating' and all the ladies in the saloon were druvned. except, one.

The captain states that, he was on the tuidge with thy pilot when the vessel strncl'. He al once rushed to the end of the saloon deck, and instructed the chief officii' to get the h.iat.s out. He then ru-lied forwatd, and as lie found the ship settling by the head, he endeavoured to tret the women into the boats, bet "he sank rapidly, and ho had only time t > to clutch the rig-srins?, and throw hims"lf into the water, when the stern of the steamer rose completely out of the water. The vessel then heeled over and went down. The whole time not occupying more than three minutes from the time of striking.

He undressed himsilf in the water and swam about for half an hour before beiog picked up bv the lifeboat, which was already full of people, and the water, which was rather broken, washing over the gunwale. All hands but four jumped out "f the boat with the view of having her haled out, but the state of the water tire vented this being done, and all got into the boat again. This boat reached the land at one in the morning, "tie of the other lifeboat- reaching the shore before it. The captain at once gave orders for it to go out and search for the survivors. She returned full, having picked up all visible. After the vessel struck the men rushed to the boat stations and cleared them, and to this action is attributed the launching of the two boats, otherwise the loss of life would have been far j Not a vestige of the vessel remains. March 3. The awful suddenness with which the Qiettasank made it impossible for anyone below to reach the deck, and all the engineers were drowned. The vessel passed over the rock at the rate of twelve knots an hour. One of the passengers states he was sitting on the front hatch with his wife and children when the vessel struck. The captain called all hands aft, but the second steward said all right, and that the vessel had only stopped to anchor. Terrible confusion ensued, especially among the women and the coloured portion of the crew were particularly noisy and unmanageable. The forward hatch was blown several feet into the air by the pressuro from below. One life-boat was lowered to the waters edge when the vessel was sinking, but being rushed by Javanese i! swamped. His wife jumped off the ship into the sen, and he followed shortly after with the child in his arms. Ho never saw his wife afterwards. When in the water ho was held up by C iloured men, and in the struggle lost the child, which was drowned. Ho next got hold of tlm boat, to which a largo number ' of persons were clinging, and assisted to get her upright. Then the water was bailed out, and all hands, numbering about 70, got in. The land was over three miles away from the sceno of the wreck. The I officer on the bridg6 throw life-buoys overboard, and a'l the officers and the men did ( their best. The survivors suffered very ] much from cold during the night. ;

A sad case in connection with the wreck is that of Mrs Jackson and two children. Her husband was drowned a few weeks ago in a flood in the Brisbane river, and she and her family were left penniless. She expressed a wish to return to England, and the public subscribed sufficient funds to defray the cost of her passage. It is feared that all of them are lost, A saloon passenger named Gape, who was lost, was on his way Home to inherit a fortune of £55,000. Ho had previously been working as a labourer at Beenleigb for some months for twenty shillings a week, tie was refused a passage, as the vpssbl was full, but induced the Shipping Ooinp'iny to give him a berth on payment of £20. Mklbouhnk, March 3. The news of the Quvtt.a disaster w>.c re-ceiv-d h«re with prnNmrid regret and horror.