THE WRECK OF THE PENGUIN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2432, 22 February 1909, Page 2

THE WRECK OF THE PENGUIN.

FEELING IN PICTON

A SAD AND DEJECTED TOWN

A well-known Marlborough teacher seat the following pathetic description of the feeling on tho Picton side of the Strait when the news of the Y reek became known:—“Over here, ou Friday night, we knew that the Penguin had difficulty before her. Was net the Sound the shelter of many vessels that evening, telling ns of the terrible weather in the Strait? Picton was a sad town on Saturday, and lias b en sadder every moment since, for tv a bad hope at one time for better ri'ws. AYo have here ..many who had very narrow escapes—names not mentioned in print. In the house in winch I was staying, a mother and two daughters are now boarding, who by the merest accident did not leave this shore by tho Penguin. 'The first thing I looked for on Saturday morning from my window, which is only a chain or two from the wharf, was the Penguin, hoping she had not sailed on Friday evening. I had scarcely seen the vacant berth at the wharf when the house telephone rang, and the sad news came—“ Penguin wrecked.” I knew so many of those drowned ; my duty causes me to travel between Picton and Blenheim. On Friday afternoon the carriage J was in was full of those passengers, all bright and happy, who were to travel that night across the Strait. I sec their faces now. If the gale at sea was anything like as strong as one of the gusts that struct the train, 1 can well understand the helplessness of the Penguin’s situation. Some in the carriage I knew intimately, some by sight, and others I knew were strangers likely to be going away. Noel White, as fine a young man as one could wish to meet, chatted brightly with mo all tlie way along tho train, several times devoting his attention to my little boy, whom lie played with and .left with a merry “goodlive.” Bv "White’s side sat Master Matthews, who owes his life to That brave woman Mrs. Hannam. Air. Bone, with his friends (Air. and Airs. Hale, I think), sat opposite me in the train the day before. Air. Bone I had not seen for years, and the last tiling he did was to show me photographs of his sons, one of whom ho was anxious to meet in Wellington, because the son would be passing through to Hawera. Coining hack again to Friday afternoon’s train, nearly opposite me sat Mr. Holcroft and iiis friend, and behind them sat Mrs. Brittain. Mr. Shaw and Air. Downes were among the fortunate ones. It was a sad ride the next day I sat in the same carriage. So sad a time it had been in Picton that I hope I may never be in a port again at tho time a vessel goes to her doom—especially in such a brief interval.

A PATHETIC INCIDENT

Distraught Avith the news that a near relative had perished in the disaster of Friday night, a young girl hurriedly arrived alone on tho platform of a country railway station Avith one idea—to get to AVellington. Her sorry condition Avas obvious to several, but it appealed more directly to a Salvation Army lass, who, in pure sympathy and goodness of heart, approached the girl, avlio related, the distressing circumstances which had occasioned her lonely journey. Tlie tender-hearted Salvation Army woman, touched to the quick, seeing the girl Avas in no condition to travel by herself, decided at once that it Avas a case for action. Slie said sbe avo old accompany her to Wellington. The girl would not permit the sacrifice, and persisted that slie was able to travel alone, so the lassie compromised by providing her Avith means of securing assistance in AVellington. Arrived in AVellington she went to a friend’s place, and avith her went to a large drapery establishment to secure a few articles of Avearing apparel, befitting her sad state, before undertaking the painful duty of identifying the body of her relative. AVliile in the shoo the

girl employees learned of the ead circumstances of their customer, and at once rushed to her assistance with a generous open-handedness which did them and their firm of employers infinite credit. The sad lot of this unfortunate young woman was such that after attending early . Mass yesterday she was discovered in a dazed condition in the street, and when accosted by a kindly disposed gentleman aid Ashe could not find her way home, though it was but a few hundred yards away, and 1 added that she scented to have lest the power of thought. The gentleman took her into his home, where she was most kindly treated, and later escorted her to her friend’s house. The incident is but one of many illustrations of the havoc the tragedy of Friday night has played in many a home, and serves to show that there are kindly folk at every street corner only waiting a chance to extend aid and comfort to those sorroAVstricken and less fortunately situated.