AWFUL SHIPWRECK.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2574, 7 August 1909, Page 5

AWFUL SHIPWRECK.

TOTAL LOSS OF A NEW ZEALAND LINER. STEAMSHIP MAORI WRECKED NEAR CAPETOWN. FORTY-SEVEN LIVES LOST, ONLY EIGHT SAVED/ TJnitbi* I’mctur Ahnooi \tion—Copyright. LONDON, August 5. The Shaw, Savill Company’s liner Maori, bound for Lyttelton, has been wrecked at Duickor Point, near Capetown. The Maori, which coaled at Capetown on Wednesday, had no passengers aboard. Lloyd’s report states that the vessel has broken up, and the cargo is afloat. STEAMER SINKS IN FOUR MINUTES. MAGNIFICENT DISCIPLINE OF THE CREW. (Received August G, 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, August 6. The ‘‘Daily Mail’s ” Capetown correspondent states- that the Maori struck a rock at Duicker Point, 40 minutes after leaving Capetown, and sank in four minutes. The discipline of the crew was magnificent. Tlio captain ordered 55 men to man till'd?; boats. These lost sight of eacli other in the darkness. That of the ehief officer, Mr. Reed, with 15 men, rowpd in the open sea until daybreak, and struck a rock and capsized when attempting to 'land. Eight men struggled through the surf. The rest were drowned. The shattered remains of another boat have been picked up. Hope for the other 47 officers and men is now abandoned, tugs reporting that it was impossible for them to survive in the mountainous seas.

A HEROIC FIREMAN. SAVES TWO.LIVES. The saved included Mr. Reed, an engineer, Mr. Keenan, the boatswain, the steward, the helmsman, Stillwell, and a fireman named Stewart, who •displayed magnificent gallantry. He swam 80 yards through, the boiling surf, though already exhausted, saved Stillwell, then returned and rescued a fireman, and finalfy sought to bring in the refrigerating engineer, Mr. Hutchinson, hut the latter sank, and Stewart reached the shore with difficulty. The Maori was valued at £40,000. Her cargo was largely composed of ..steel rails, and was valued at £120,000. THE THE DISASTER. A DANGER OPS COAST. iPer Press Association.) WELLINGTON, August 6. Captain Kempson, of the steamer Athenic, referring to the wreck of the Maori," .says: Duicker . Point is a bad place altogether at his time of the year, due to fogs, which are very prevalent when the sun gets up. logs are very heavy all round the coast. A strong current runs to the northward, and this would be on the starboard side of the Maori. The current sweeps right up into the South Atlantic. Duicker Point itself is a continuation of Table Mountain range, and is very rooky. There arc sharp pinnacle rocks on iho coast thereabouts, which is notable for its wrecks. The Maori had hardly any -cargo for Wellington. She was bringing £4500 worth of iron pipes for the Dunedin Drainage Board, through John Duthie and Co., Wellington, the consignment being fully insured. DETAILS OF THE CARGO. DUNEDIN, August 6. In connection with the wreck of the Maori, it is stated that several local insurance offices will suffer as a result ■of holding risks on the cargo, while wholesale and retail merchants and others will be put to considerable inconvenience and loss through the delay in receiving shipments in place of those lost. The Maori had 410 tons of cargo for Dunedin including transhipments for the Bluff, Oamaru, and Timaru, and GOO tons for Lyttelton, also about 600 tons of steel rails for Beauty Point, Tasmania. A considerable part of the cargo consisted of the new season’s soft goods for the warehouses. Messrs Herbert Haynes and Co. had a considerable quantity for their Dunedin and Invercargill businesses, and the D.S.C. had 70 or 80, eases on board, valued at about £2OOO. Messrs Buttenvorth Bros, had about £2OO or £3oo’worth of goods, and Messrs Bing, Harris, and Co. had about 100 tons. Other people who had cargo on board are Messrs A. Ross, J. B. Mac Ewan and Co., It. Wilson and Co., A. Barnett. Briscoe and Co., Mackerras and Hazlctt, Stevenson and Cook, Farra Bros., Shaddock Ltd., and J. Sparow. The only loss sustained by the Drainage Board will be the inspection fees.at the manufacturing end,. but, its operations in connection with rising the main will be seriously/delayed. The plates for the new ferry steamer being built to replace the Mataraki, which was destroyed by fire some months ago, were on the Maori, but the directors have cabled to Australia with the object of getting a supply there. * THE SHIP AND HER CAPTAIN. The Maori, which left London for Port Chalmers via Capetown on. July sth, was commanded by Captain G. Nicole, a veteran skipper of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co*’s fleet. She was an old vessel, as vessels go nowadays, having been launched in 1893. She was a steel screw steamer of 5137 tons gross, and was 402 feet 6 inches in. length, 48 feet 3 inches in beam, and 29 feet -6 inches in depth of hold. The late Captain Nicole was a fine • specimen of the British merchant captain, and was generally popular. His ' loss will be, regretted by a wide circle of friends, including many in Gisborne.