Deserters.-

On Monday night, or Tuesday morning last, four soldiers made their escape from the Garrison, taking along with them their muskets, and several rounds of ammunition. A large boat was missing on the following morning from the landing-place in Official Bay, and it is supposed that the deserters have taken it to carry them away to some place on the coast. The Albert was despatched in search of them, and letters, offering large rewards for their capture, have been sent to various chiefs. Two of the runaways had attempted to escape on a former occasion, but were apprehended and punished. We understand that they are men of very bad character in the regiment; we, therefore, hope to hear soon of their re-capture, for although such men would not be any loss to the service, yet their influence amongst the natives, where they might succeed for a time in concealing themselves, would be very detrimental indeed.

Source: New Zealander 20^th March, 1847 p2.

29^th March, 1847 Deserters brought to Auckland from Great Barrier Island

Capture of the Deserters.

- The three soldiers, reported in our number before last, as having deserted from the garrison during the night of Monday, the 15th ult., have been secured, and were brought safely into Auckland on Monday morning last, by a Mr. Tiller and several other men, from the Barrier Island. 

The barge which they stole away, belonging to a very industrious man, has been knocked to atoms at Cape Colville, and in circumstance, arising from their ignorance in the management of a boat, led to their capture. A public subscription has been entered into in order to make up his loss to the owner of the vessel, and we believe a considerable, sum has been already subscribed

Sources-The New Zealander, April 3, 1847

The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River etc 28 April, 1847 p4

 1849

June, 1849, Pirates strip Capt. Nagle’s house at Nagle Cove 

 1856

11^th June, 1856 schooner Fancy shelters at Tryphena Harbour

The Courier

From Captain Bristowe, of the schooner Fancy,
which arrived in harbour on Saturday from Poverty
Bay, we have been favoured with the following par
ticulars: The Fancy sailed from Auckland on the
lst of May, and from that date she had to contend
against a succession of southerly and south easterly
winds sometimes heavy, sometimes light, until the
12th, on which day at midnight she entered the
river at Poverty Bay. From 20th to the 27th
there was an uninterrupted succession of hard gales,
veering frequently from south-west to south-cast, and
accompanied with such torrents of rain that the river
rose 10ft. in the course of a single night. On the 3rd

of June severe shocks of earthquake were "experi-
enced.

On the 7^th, the Fancy sailed for Auckland,
and, from the time she cleared the river until Thurs-
day, the 12th, she encountered a constant succession
of heavy south-easterly gales, which were followed
by moderate south westerly weather. She went into

Tryphena Bay in Barrier Island on Friday after-
noon, sailing the following morning, and coming

to her anchorage in Official Bay at two p.m. The
Fancy has brought up the crews and passengers of the
schooners St Martin and Antelope.

DREADFUL CASUALTY TO THE SCHOONER RAPID-SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW-SIX LIVES LOST.

The cutter Swallow arrived in port yesterday from the Great Barrier Island, and brought intelligence of a fearful disaster which happened to the schooner Rapid while on her way from Mercury Bay to Auckland. William Page, one of the survivors, was a passenger by the Swallow, and we have taken the following particulars from bis own word of mouth. He says :- - " We left Mercury Bay in the Rapid on the evening of the 19th inst. (Saturday) for Auckland, and loaded with timber. We passed through Mercury Islands with very light weather, and it continued so until Sunday morning. The wind then freshened, and kept freshening gradually all day. I went below at seven or eight o'clock that evening, and the wind still kept freshening. The Rapid is a new boat of about 30 tons. About nine or ten o'clock they shortened sail; two reefs were taken in in the mainsail. While below I felt the vessel plunging into the sea very heavily. I went on deck, and as I passed along the deck, I saw one man hanging on to the fore rigging. He was a passenger, and he cried out to me, "We are, gone, Bill." All sail was then down, the foresail and mainsail hanging down over the lee side in the water. The vessel was then going well free from the wind. I have been a sailor, and I said to the captain that he had better hoist the peak up and try the vessel up to the wind. I was trying to do that myself, but found that the peak halyards had run aloft, and I could not do it. The captain said hoist a bit of the foresail again, but I replied that I feared it was no use. About this time one of the seamen went to the forecastle, looked down, and sang out tbat the vessel was filling with water. This was caused by her plunging into the sea so heavily. Directly after he sang out that she was filling water, she fell over on her beam ends and filled. When I sang out to the captain to set sail, A P Fadgen was standing on the quarter-deck, and he cried out, come here— do come here, Bill. These were the last words I heard him speak. After the vessel went over we were quite helpless. Four of us took to the forerigging, and four to the main-rigging, and Paget, a passenger, was below in the cabin, and was drowned by the vessel filling with water. He was a bad sailor, and was alarmed, and was probably helpless to save himself. This all occurred on Sunday night last, and we were then between the Little Barrier Island and Tiri Tiri. As the vessel was filled with timber she was, of course, waterlogged. Mr M'Fadgen was at first on the quarter-deck, and when the vessel went down, on her beam ends, he floated away on two planks to the masthead of the vessel. He then got off the boards, and worked himself up to where we were holding on. The keel of the vessel being to the wind, the sea was breaking over us, and we found great difficulty in holding on.  About half-an-hour after that Captain Meiklejohn called out that M'Fadgen was dying, and I said take a rope and lash him to the rigging, which the Captain did. Shortly after that M'Fadgen died, and about an hour after that Portuguese Joo died in the rigging where I was. He was washed off two or three times, and we pulled him in again, but at last we found that it was no use, that he could not hold on. I can't remember now whether it was the same day or next night, but they went off one by one after that. The last one that went was just when we were leaving the wreck at the Great Barrier. We saw one ashore, and this man either dropped off, or in attempting to swim was drowned.  We had pulled him into the rigging two or three times, but he was so far gone that we could not pull him on any more.  We were not far from the shore, the vessel having drifted in close to the rocks.  As soon as the three of us who survived got ashore, we lay down and had a sleep until daylight. We got up and tried to walk to Mr Harding's, but the captain being best able to walk, said he would go on and send a boat for us, which he did; and we were taken to Mr Harding's house, and treated very kindly, and I came in the Swallow to Auckland. The following are the names of the unfortunate men who were drowned : — Mr Neil M'Fadgen, a shareholder in the Mercury Bay Saw Mill Company. Mr Paget, a passenger, and settler from Mercury Bay. Joe, a Portuguese, a passenger. Mr Burns, a passenger, and a working man, from Mercury Bay. Mr Robert Clarke, a farmer, and a passenger, who was drowned just as we reached the Little Barrier.  Mr L. Meiklejohn, son of the captain, and one of tba crew ; aged about 17 or 18 years. The following are the names of those who survived the disaster : — Myself (William Page), a settler in Mercury Bay. Captain Meiklejohn, captain of the Swallow, and Frank, a Frenchman, and one of the crew. Before I left the Rapid was righted, and sailed for Oma, just below Tiri Tiri.

            We should say that Page, who gave us the above narrative of the sufferings of himself and his companion, appeared, as might naturally be expected, to be still suffering from the disaster, which will account for his statement not being so precise as it might, or exactly consistent with the captain's account. Both of the survivors were floating about for three days on the wreck, under a burning sun, and with the sea washing over them, so that it can be well supposed that they were thoroughly prostrated when, through Providence, they were enabled to reach land. " Auckland Weekly News," March 30.