THE SECOND MATE'S STORY.

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 139, 4 May 1881, Page 3

THE SECOND MATE'S STORY.

Peter Maloney said: I am second officer of the Tarania. It was say watch fronv 1? on Thursday to 4 a.m. orn Friday. The night was very dark aad there was a thick haze over the land. The ship •truck raboutr£ am on Friday. The captain had come ovtr the bridge and all the. officers, were on the deck. Captain Garrard thought be was far enough to the south to clear Wai pa wa Point and gave instructions to alter the course to ' the iwest, •• as ; the vessel < might he <d : . for the BliifE A few n^inutes before the •hip, struck the captain went aft to veiify Hit position by the standard cempass. While he was doing so, I became aware tbat the ship was m a ditgerous position .. and.'she.-jcoursei waf immediately altered, but too late, for the vessel went right on to the reef t* northward of Slope Point. • I was lent away with a boat's crew and •ne of the pas;sngers to find a landing, if pbs^ble, And the second boat was despatched m charge of the eb\ef officer with the same -instructions. James Ma*.er . one of my boats crew, swam to the reef to find if it were possible to land the people' there. Meantime the chief officer's i boat had capsized; Five persons were aeen tn. land from her. I took my boat back to the vessel, and then returned to the re* 1 ?- with 1 three passengers m addition to my bnatV crew. These passengers, who were supposed to be able to «wira, jumped overboard, and, were not seen again. .James Mater swam back to the boat and was taken on hoard greatly exhausted. He was bruised m the ribs, arms, and bead. Earl? m the day the other two boats were washed out of the . davits and smashed. After getting Mater on board, I tried to get alongside the steamer again, but fount it impossible, as „ the sea>was making.a clean breach , over Her exeeptiag oa the forepcak. The ladies j»a children were placed m the smoking-room on the bridge for safety. . As/ 1 could do no more, I stood out to sea toseeif I could fall ia with any passing vessel and obtain belp>. Af 2. 30. p.m., on Saturday, Captain W. Hanniug, of the ketch Prince Rubert, took us alongside, and : we r remained by her until the Hawea - ! came i u i p. ' l ■ " : ' " ■ • - ; John. Chatter ton said : I was a steerage passenger. I went off m the mate's boat at 10 a; St. on Friday, April 39th, With three passengers, fire of the crew, and a lad (a bras! cleaner); On nearing the beteh' a wave capsized the boat, and all bands bad. to. swim for. it. After a despite struggle all succeeded m reaching the beaeb, but the boy, who was drowned^ When the ship struck I was m my. bunk, and hen ring the noise, said, "What's that? We are on a rock." There was ah immediate rush on deck and soon all the passengers were there. Ail was quiet and orderly. Directly she struck the sea broke over her stern and carried away .the rudder, the wheel, and the after gear. = We were, I should say, • mile and a-half from the shore, and drifted to; within half a mile. She strusk *t a quarter past five, and a quarter to 6 a.m. the first boat was sent away. The first boat, which tried to leave was carried away out of the davits. Saon after I got off the women were carried to the forecastle, and at gp.m the men began :to"take to the Tigging. Lights were burnt through thought, and about 2.53 on Saturday moroing I heard a loud shout '• Bring a boat." We could see the outline of a vessel" before this, but nothing .After. A large quantity of cargo, Arc, was washed ashore. One of the cabin : passengers (a man) cirae ashore about 4 f>.m. on Saturday, but be died just as they hauled him on the beach. A young girl came ashore on the reef about 11 a.m. pn Saturday, hhe was much disfigured •bout the face. We oa shore could do - nothing to assist them. I should think there w#r# about sirtv m the fore cabin and about twenty females m the ladies iecond cabin; T shipped at Auckland for Melbourne, aid have lost everything . except what I stood up m. After the boat was upset I was turned over ceveral tjpes; I could not swinj all the time but had to wait for a smooth sea and then strikeout. After I got on shore I saw several persons clinging to pieces of '**&% W£ !■*» fh «7 «?* « c « the beach they tell off and I saw no more of them Aatorio Micalleff said; I am chief cook af the Tararua/ At 5 a.m. on Friday Mr Ellen, the chief steward, came to me and gave me his orders for the day, J dressed and weot oo deok and then heard th« ship bump and strike, About iten minutes Ut«r she struck again and tht captain told the s.cond officer to call all bands, which was done; and he afterwards gave orders to stop the engines. Mr Mnnro, th« chief engineer, anked me te take care of bis little boy. I kept the child for about half an hour and then H rg Munro took it from me. I then went to the saloon and assisted the steward to get out the passengers. There wart about five ladies and some children; four of th> children belonged to Sf M ? c »«npbe». who joined at Cnnrtchurch, The passengers were then removed from the poop to the amoking atbin, a< the veasial w4*'lire4Mqg up aft. .Befire thUtbe. capfnin had sent the seconl pfficer away iq the 'boat to seek a JanaiMg pliiw, and had fired two, guns aad three , rockets. The chief officer's •J** *5* then ««t Put and left m charge •fMrLiadaay and ft, botfi crtwand

two passengers. When the tide went down Captain Garrard asked me to go below and cook some meat. I did,go r aud served oat meat, potatoes; and coffee. Mr Elen afterward directed me to go to the smokingroom and to the bridge to get some meat, bread; *c, ready fpr landing to supply to the people, and I did so, and as my galley was filling, with water I went on deck. About 2 p.m., on, Friday the ship was fast breaking up and had driven further on shore. The captain then, gave, orders to carry the females to the forciwtle-head. He carried them .himself from the smok-ing-room, and we took them forward. We afterwards' gbjt on Uhe forcastie, and the captain said : u dans all I can ; I have no boats available; the tide will be out m another half-hour, and I will try to do the Tottii I can." Immediately he ended speaking a heavy sea came and I carried away the dingy and cutter. We stood on the forecastle until another heavy §e» struck her, and as there was a rushi of passengers to the side the rail w»s carried away, and I and about sixteen others fell overboard. The captain exclaimed, "Oh, itad, what are we to do nowP" I picked up a young lady, a Hobart Town native, and managed to keep her afloat for about five minutes, eaUing out for a rope, when a big sea j struck us, and she was washed front my hold 1 . I saw her ao more. I then mads for the shore, and encountered a lot of wreckage floating about. I got clear of it with great difficulty, and before I reached the beach I was nearly exhausted, and called out to one «f the passengers ashore to help me. He pulled mi out, put me on a sleigh, and laid me before a fire, where I was supplied with a drop of brandy. After resting at the fire for half-an-hour I was taken to a farm, supplied with dry clothes, and put to bed. This was about 5 p.m. on Friday. I saw a lot of people m the rigging, vix., Mr. Ellen, chief steward, James Warren, second steward, Wm.'f Smith, pantryman, the second fore-cabin steward, J. Davidson, and the boy Tommy. Jas. Collins, the fore-cabin steward, was drowned. I taw some firemen on the rigging. The sailors - left on board were George Home and Hugh Poison. The saptain made for the rigging. The engineers were on the forecastle head. The third engineer, Mr. ■Mex. Sutherland, had his leg broken m the morning by a sea. lam anxious to thank the kind people (who were •• good to us allj for their generous treatment. dL. Lawrence said : When the ship struck I went aft on the bridge, where I found the captain and both officers. The captain was giving . orders to lower the boats. The seamen and firemen were steady and obeying orders, but the passengers were eoutused. The starboard boat was stove m. The port boat wa* then lowered, and the second mate sent away m charge. The captain asked me it I could swim, and if I would go m the boat and sea if I could get to land. There ; were tour seamen m the boat. When we were about 500 yards frem the ship and about the same, distance from the shore, the mate told me to stand by, | and he would give me a chance to go ashore. In a lull of the waves I jumped, and had to tumble until I was m the surf, which was so heavy tbat I rolled over many times. I kept my lenses, and at last got mon the top of a breaker. I was cold, so ran about the beach to circulate the blood, and when warmed a little, I made for a house about half a mile off, aad asked them to scad a man to telegraph that the Tararua had struck, and required ' assistance. They sent a man on horse. back at once. I returned to the beach as quickly a* possible, and was just m timt to help ashore three out of the six men who came m the second mate's boat on her second trip. I tried to go on the reef, bo at to get a line ashore there to land the passengers, but it was impossible to do anything. X was washed off, and went back to the beach. The chief mate th«n tried to come m near enough to cast a line ashore, but his boat swamped. However, eight of the nine that were m her landed safely. The ninth was a little lamp trimmer, who had joined the ship at Port Chalmers, and he was drowned. After the second raate'stood out to sea we noticed the people being washed off the fore castle head, and the party went down to the beach m twos and threes to see if any assistance could be given to any who washed ashore. One passenger (Robins) succeeded m getting hold of the cook, and was put on a sledge and then taken up to the station. We built a fire on the beach and left two men m charge of it while we went up to the station for food and dry clothes. We were there about an hour, when we beard sheering from the steamer. This we supposed to ba an expression ef delight at the poor creatures seeing the steamer standing towards the Bluff, At this time the fore • castle head was clear, the people having all takon to the rigging, where they were burning matebes. We saw the burning of matches occasionally, till about eleven o'closk. About twenty-five minutes to three we heard shrieks fram the vessel We ran on to the beach and heard a voice, supposed t« be the captain's sinking out for a boat. That was what we made out through the surf. That was the last we heard of her. At daybreak ws saw she was gone. The Kakanui could not have got near the Tararua m any case, oo account of the surf. We worked about the beach to look for traces of bodies and at two different times we picked up a young women about 17 and a young man about 25. The girl's body was left on shore m charge of the mate. A young fellow was seen fighting his way through the surf with a life buoy, but he lost the buoy and died just as we pulled him ashore. The body brought by the Hawea has > been recognised as that of a Swede , named Anderson, from the Carrick ranges m Otago. He was aged about 50, he had been stopping for some days at Boazsr's boarding house at Port Chalmers,