f1.—15

44

Return of Wrecks and Casualties to Shipping reported to the Marine Department, &c.— continued.

u*te of Vessel's Name. Age, and Class. Big. tH CD CD (* 3 2 Number of Nature of Number of Lives lost. Place where Gal occurred. Win Direction. Wind. ad. Force. Finding of Court of Inquiry. Name of MMter. 'oca It D a Passengers. Cargo. Casualty. 1900. \pril29 River Hunter, 14 years Barquentine 284 10 Ballast Stranded; total loss Whangape Heads N.W. Strong breeze No fault of master or certificated officers. Charterers provided a steamer to tow the vessel, but the tug was not powerful enough, and the tow-line was defective. Vessel stranded before she could get back No loom of land visible, and only one glimpse of Tiri Tiri light. Vessel having very little draught sagged to leeward in the heavy sea, anrl went ashore The ship was on a voyage from Greymouth to Warnambool with a cargo of white-pine timber. She put into Wellington leaking badly, and was surveyed, and condemned as unseaworthy Fire probably caused by the fusing of the electric-light wire in the forehold The vessel was last seen by the East Cape Island lighthouse-keeper on the 19th May, passing the East Cape, and on her way south, and has not been heard of since. A day or so after the vessel passed East Cape the weather became unusually stormy, and the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence is that she was lost, with all hands, shortly after the 19th May Propeller dropped off ; no damage to ship .. Robert Alex. Campbell. May 4 Irene, scow, 17 years Schooner 37 Timber Stranded; total loss N.E. end of Whangaparoa Head, Hauraki Gulf N.N.E. Strong breeze Andrew Donovan. df 6 Devonport, 28 Barque Timber Leaking ; condemned Between Greymouth and Wellington N.E. Robert Watt. 291 10 Moderate gale „ 8 Schooner Coal .. Fire, slight damage Total loss 4 miles W. of Jackson's Head Last seen off East Cape, North Island Moderate gale Furious gale P. A. Gibbons. Tasman, s.s. .. 87 13 W.N.W. Haeremai, scow, 2 years Schooner 97 5 Timber 5 J. G. Morris. „ 19 ., 22 Opawa, s.s., 10 years Schooner 64 12 General Lost propeller J mile south of Falcon Shoal, Wellington Harbour N.W. Strong Edward Shaw. n *- Natone, s.s., 6 years Uta, 7 years .. Schooner 50 Tug .. (Collision; no damage Collision ; slight damage Collision ; damage, £30 Stranded ; total loss S.E. Light J Probable that if " Natone's" engines had been stopped and reversed when she first sighted the Uta " the casualty would not have occurred Joseph Carich. 3 Off end of No. 1 berth, Wellington Harbour Cutter .. 15 3 Pilot-boat W. Shilling. „ 29 Coromandel .. Hulk .. 2 53 80 Coal .. General 1 Wellington Harbour.. N. Moderate breeze Unavoidable accident; everything done to prevent the collision fNo master. j J. T. Rolls. Joseph Eddy. „ 29 Tarawera, s.s., 23 years Winona, s.s., 32 years § Schooner 1269 „ 30 Cutter .. 13 3 Fish .. Napier, South Beach, Hawke's Bay Calm .. Whilst trying to return to port the vessel was stranded in a dense fog. Casualty might have been avoided by heaving the lead and using more caution when approaching the shore Coupling-bolts of intermediate shaft broke ; no one to blame June 2 Muritai, s.s., 22 years Schooner General i Broken shaft Off Manukau Bar Moderate A. Stephenson. S.S.W. 133 13