THIS WAIRARAPA COLLISION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 78, 29 February 1884, Page 2

THIS WAIRARAPA COLLISION.

A. Passenger's Statement.

Sensational Incidents.

[by telegraph,] [onitkd press issociaticn;] : • Dunedin, February 27;" ; The following is a verbatim account • obtained by the Daily Times reporter from passengers on board the Wairarapa holding an excellent position m Melbourne :— Before we started there was an 1 impression that a race down the 1 bay would take place between ihe Wairarapa and Adelaide; infect, -a number of prominent people connected with the shipping; gave me a hint'of an intended race. The Wairarapa Started first, and got out of the Yarra, and proceeded to Williamstowri; A Customhouse officer who came on board, also remarked to the passengers that wo should have some excitement dovm the bay m the shape of a race with the Adelaide, whichjtfas.. reported to.be^a knot faster than iho Wairarapa. We waited at Wi'Hamstbwn for tbe Adelaide to come up. When we started we had the lead of about a couple of lengths. We had the running on the starboard side, and kept our lead for about half an hour, the Adelaide was then gaining slightly. That a race was doing on was unmistakeable on board tho Adelaide ; they . were coaling up at ■ a great rate ; the smoke' from their " funnels; was getting more like a stream of lire than ordinary smoke,- Our vessel, on .the .(jther. hand, showed, no signs of extraordinary exertions,' 'beypnd the fact that we had no electric light ,all the steam .power being utilised . for. tbeptopelleir.. When we got past the. GelHbrand Kghp, the Adelaide was; clo.se upon us. Then she altered her course and steered to starboard, evidently with the intention of taking up; the nmning that we had on the starboard side of tbe narrow, channel, but our captain did not. budge; and then the Adelaide steered back, again to the port aide of the channel. By tM* time the Adelaide had been coaling up to, a j terrific extent, because she was be'lcning out of her funnel a continuous stream of, flame., We could hear; th,e passengers onjboard the Adelaide shouting and making all sorts of noise. Tno Adelaide v again altered her course, an 3 for the second time- came towards the Wairarapa, on the starboard side of I the channel, but our captain would not budge, and the Adelaide had T to go buck again to the port side. At this |.tinie we wove nearing the Swanspit light, and it "was evidently the aim of the, captain, of the Adelaide to get the starboard Running from ilje 1 as he would thereby-gain an advantage m turning : an elbow' in the channel at the Swanspit light. For the laafc, quarter of an hour the : Adelaide! .h^d, gained j upon us, and when she: a& last altered her course, she oould.not -have been more than half a length behind. Her engines were working with a terrific uoise, anc£ she war, evidently making ' more- steam , than she could consume, : We then raced together for about half an hour. The steamers gradually lessening : the itheir , sides.. '1 be captain of the Adelaide, seemed to be pursuing those tactigs, aft he wai tumble Lo take up aur running on the starboard side, and he -tried to I force ua on to the bank of ihe,channel, We ran like this I for; a" quarter of an J hour, the Wairarapa still leading slightly. Matters -had become very interesting 1 and also exciting by ; Hub tirae,'ibecause many of j the., passengers:, feared that the steamers were getting, too close to each other, and they did not like the look of things. - Then the Adelaide feH lasternjlfc'little, ( «adw,o thought she was :gitfing, it best. Wo soon found out tbat-sbe was only alter- ; vag-bev -'steeritag, and was steering oveiv a little close, evidently: with yie:objee.t of driving us over to the bank or out pf our course, but «he did not succeed, and hail to go back again to tbe port side. There now seemed to me to be less than two chains distance between jitfe' 1 aides of .the twtf steamers; :>whi<?h were ruuning almost a line; the Wairarapa stilKinaintiined aO slight lead. By this timo-the excitement was yeryi ,great;; the passengers on board the : Adelaide -werq -shouting }* .Qive-iis your ipw-line,*'^ w Send j>ut ypurJßptomaha.ijtt,'' «nd were Bfeh'avjng like aiotbf OoUingwdodiFlat'-lamkins. The, Wairarapa passengets were not imaiting any loud noise oV answering 'the pther passengers, but, everyone was •ta&ing a lively interest m the prbceedings. In the smoking room, where £ was, many of the passengers were very much 'agUjated, aa<J many gentlemen hurried away to iheir cabins to ;i lo6k I after their wives and families, the general .impression being that the steamers 1 were getting too olosej 1 my pwn opinion wafc'that- we. were ** m for i^" The Adelaide, '■' sheei'eii' off a bit.' She waS so olose that m doing so her quai-ter struck otfrs wits considerable force. At this moment a passenger from . the Ade? laide jumped on board the Waii'arupa. IJe. tpl^.u^j^hat there had been terrih'c exciten^eut on bqard the Adelaide, that QQaiing, j )wk , been at a great r^tej , and, that i: tjh^y ' ha 4 \ Wen putting on relaye_9|lnjen m i ten-paiffute turus because the engine fires .were so hot that they could not ;

take longer-turns. When the collision took place the passengers rushed all j over the vessel ; one man seized a life buoy, and most of us rushed to the Btarboard side to avoid the splinters from the spars ; some of the lady passengers seemed to give themselves up to despair, and to uttering hysterical cries, and embracing each othor. "When the steamers struck, the yelling and cheering on board the Adelaide suddenly ceased, and there seemed to be a complete panio on board. The Adelaide" at once dropped astern. Wo kept on our course for a short distance, thtn plunged into' a dense^fog. We could hear fog bells ringing at"Q\ieenscliff, which was about two miles away. The captain then determined to anchor, and there was some little delay m getting the anchor ready. We were now m. deep water, and we suddenly saw the Adelaide bearing down on the starboard side* She seemed to be coming; straight into, our bow. Our captain 'went astetfnyand tie Adelaide crossed ojjr bows at of fifty. yards, and then disappeared iri the fogl When tho Adelaide first came m sight, a fel-low-passenger by my side ' exolaimed, "Good Grod,r what, does she mean; she's going straight for us."' 1 thought so too. We could not. see the Adelaide after she passed us, bat she was not far away, because we could hear her ' i making a most dreadful noise as she blew off her surplus steam. Throughout ■■> the race and afterwards, the Wftirarapa made no noise. * I think we were going full speed ahead at the time, and utilising all our power. We ran the distance between Gellibrand's /Point, and Swan Point 22^ miles iv Ihr 28 rain., but there did hot appear f t 6be auy extraordinary exertions, because I M{V not notice a single ppark coming put of her funnel the whole of tho time; On ■* the other hand, ■ We Adelaide was emitting a continuous stream of flarces from the funnel. The | ;fire at some times leaped 20ft or 30ft j above the funnel. We lay at anchor for -about three hours, aud during about an hour sof this period the " passengers 'gathered m knots about the deck discussing the excitement; (Of course wo were all/very muoh agitaand did not know if we had sustained any damage, and ,there was ispme talk about the captain intending to go back to port. When the fog lifted about 2 o'clock m the morning, ; it wai foiind that some of the plates near the stern of the vessel were indented three inches, and the deck was' slightly raised. So far as I was able tib' ascertain the opinions of the passengers, jthey , seemed to think that bur captain steered m a very judicious manner and exercised cautious judgment ; and that, on the other hand, the captain of , the Adelaide acted ; \pith great 'daring. Some men went so far as tb say that 'he must' have lost bis head. It was urged by some of the passengers that when Captain Ghatfield founjlthe, vessels were coming so close, and that the' Adelaide was endeavoring sto jockey the Wairampa out of her running, he should have declined to race further; but it appears tio me that he was unable to withdraw from the contest at that .moment, and our only way- was to keep the engines full speed, because had we Blackened speed we would have dropped into I the Adelaide. We could not go to» I starboard, j because we would < have-. > grounded on tho bank of the channel. " We could not go to port, because wo wduld a have to cross -the bow of the>rAdelaide, and she , would have to rua right into us amidships. My impres--1 sipniis that Captain Chatfield behaved . yery well indeed. Races betweeii! Steamers going down the bay frequently take place, but it is generally undoi^ stood that aj. race ceases when the steamers reach, the elbow iv the channel at Swanspit, because it then becomes, dangerous Wing to the narrowness of } the channel ; The 1 rule of the pbiit ia, tv^o outward vessels shall hot ; pi i p- : ce^d abreast m the channel, and, as the MTairarapa was the leadjing , bo.it, it * was clearly Ihe duty of the Adelaide to '} fall astcra. W©" <v»re m the, channel, beoause,' had not the vessel been com* ing inward, there , would - have been na room for her to pass, ai^d the Adelaide* : woujd. have been but ' of her proper CQursel We were hugging bank of the channel as -close as w-e could, and. we were:in shallow water!, : The raceactually continued after wo passed the/ dangerous part^ and the orisw shortly* occurred, I should say the. race 'contiauM (or ten^ minutes after w4 basseti the Swan Light.