ANOTHER DISASTER.

KETCH ZILLAH TOTALLY WRECKED.

CAPTAIN AND MATE DROWNED.

Auckland, June 11.

Yesterday afternoon about half - past three o'clock the Northern Steamship Company's steamer Chelmsford arrived from Tryphena Harbour, Great Barrier, bringing intelligence of the total wreck of the locally-owned coastal trading ketch Zillah and the drowning of her master and the charterer, who acted as mate. At the time of the disaster, which occurred at 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, the 2nd inst., at Korotete, [Korotiti] on the east coast of the island, the ketch was bound from Tauranga to Tryphena Harbour. A heavy south-easterly gale was blowing at the time, with a terrific sea running, and within fivo minutes of the vessel striking the rocks she was in pieces. The master, John Sena, and the mate John Inchle, were drowned, but the other seaman on board, Charles McDonald, and a passenger, Frank Ramsey, with a boy named Herbert Good, managed to reach the shore in safety, and after being hospitably treated by the Great Barrier settlers were brought on to town yesterday by Captain Hopkins, of the s.s. Chelmsford.

NARRATIVE OF A SURVIVOR. Charles McDonald, a young man, one of the three survivors, who was a seaman on the Zillah, was seen to-day at the Sailors' Home, Quay street, by a Star representative, and gave an account of the disaster. It appears that the ketch had been chartered from the owners, Messrs Stone Bros., by John Inchle, about six weeks ago, for a trip to Cape Colville and Tauranga. Inchle acted as mate, and John Sena, a Portuguese, as master. The Zillah proceeded to Cape Colville, and from thence to Tryphena Harbour, where she loaded firewood for Tauranga. The Bay of Plenty port was left again at mid-day on Saturday, the Ist inst., with the wind about east, the vessel having a cargo of flour and other stores for Tryphena Harbour, where she was to load firewood for the Thames. All went well till dark, the weather being very thick and raining, and then the wind changed to a very STRONG SOUTH-EASTERLY GALE, with heavy rain-squalls. No land or light could be seen to steer by, the night being as dark as pitch. The vessel was first headed N. W. across the Bay of Plenty, and the course then changed to N.N.W., which Captain Sena reckoned would bring him into Tryphena. At 8 p. m. McDonald took the wheel and remained there till about a quarter to 12, when he was relieved by the mate, who had been keeping a look-out ahead. He kept the ketch's head still N.N.W., but about halfpast twelve the course must have been altered to about N.W. by the captain, who was on deck with the mate. As the vessel ran before the gale, under reduced canvas, those on deck were peering anxiously through the inky darkness for a sign of land, but nothing could be seen ; in fact, as McDonald said  "WE COULD NOT SEE A YARD IN FRONT OF US, and, indeed, could hardly see our hands." It was raining heavily, and blowing wildly, and the vessel's deck' was washed constantly by the terrific seas. About 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, with the skipper and mate on deck, Ramsey and the boy Good were below in their bunks, and McDonald was sitting in the cabin, when suddenly the mate shouted out " Land ahead” just as the ketch was felt to crash heavily on to a ledge of rocks.  "SHE'S STRUCK," yelled out those below, as they made for the deck. McDonald rousing up Ramsey, who seemed dazed and unable to get on deck. In less than a minute the cabin floor planking came up, forced by the water helow, the bottom of the vessel having evidently been broken off. A heavy sea broke into the cabin, and "the next one washed the three inmates on deck. Ramsey was carried overboard and supposed to be drowned, but he was afterwards found to have been washed ashore safely, though with an injured leg from the effects of injuries received on board. In less than two minutes the KETCH HAD BROKEN ACROSS in two pieces, the foremast being carried away as soon as she struck. The forepart floated away, while the after portion being for the time fast on the rocks, enabled those on board to endeavour to obtain a landing. For a couple of minutes McDonald was washed to and fro on the deck, and then managed to make his way to the weather rigging. The boy was heard to sing out close by that he was up on the rocks, he having jumped off the vessel on to them. It was low water at the time, or else the rocks would have been covered. There was no time to make for the dinghy,and even if there had been she would have been instantly swamped by the terrific mountainous seas. The mate jumping over the side holding on to the vessel had got his foot on the rocks, when the vessel gave a great lurch as a wave caught her, and the man fell down between her side and the rocks and was never seen again. The captain jumped on to the rocks, and McDonald followed him. Scarcely had they set foot on it, and shouted out to each other, when a great wave broke over the vessel and the rocks and washed them away landward. They could see nothing, and had only gained the rocks by jumping at random.

STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. McDonald and the boy allowed themselves to be carried on by the wave, and very nearly lost their lives through their legs being entangled in a portion of a sail which had drifted from the wreck. Getting clear they were carried along to another ledge of rocks and scrambled along till they found a comparatively safe spot. Just when they emerged from the water they stumbled up against Ramsey, who had reached the spot before them. Nothing was seen of the captain, and they concluded he had been drowned. The 3 survivors made their way along the rocks till they found a hole in the ledge, where they remained huddled up till daylight, almost NAKED, BRUISED AND SHIVERING, with the sea sending drenching spray over them. In less than ten minutes the ketch had broken up completely, and the sea was found afterwards to have smashed up the little vessel so that the pieces of timber which came ashore were very small indeed. Nothing could be done in the thick darkness till daybreak. When morning came the survivors saw that they were on a ledge, of rocks, only a few yards from the mainland, which was clothed with bush, and was unfamiliar to them. They remained on the rocks for a couple of hours searching for traces of the mate and captain, but could find none. They then, made their way to shore along the rocks, and alter wandering about the hill and bush till 4 o'clock in the afternoon they reached a house which proved to be that of a settler, a Mr Allcock, half-dead with fatigue. They did not know where they were, one insisting that they had been wrecked on the Cape Colville Peninsula. The spot where the Zillah struck was between the Onawa Creek and the residence of Mr Palmer, at Korotete, [Korotiti] on the East Coast of the Great Barrier. Mr Allcock treated them very hospitably, and next day they made a further search for the bodies of their mates, but could see nothing of them. They stayed at the Barrier for a week and were picked up by the s.s. Chelmsford at Tryphena, and so came on to town.

THE WRECKED VESSEL. The Zillah, which was owned by Messrs Stone Bros, of this city, was a staunch little ketch of 36 tons, and was built by Mr R. Stone, of the Thames, in 1878. She was a well-known coastal trader, and had been trading principally to the Thames. She had been chartered for the one trip to Tauranga by Inchle, and it was the owners intention to cancel the agreement on the vessel's return, as her absence had exceeded the specified time. She was uninsured, and the owners estimate their loss at about £6OO. Mr Ramsay was the owner of the cargo of stores on board, valued at about £12. The master had £4 in cash on board. Everything on board was lost, but it is considered that when the wind blows off the land the anchors and chains can be secured.

CAUSE OF THE WRECK. Regarding the cause of the wreck it is supposed that the master, Sena, lost his reckoning owing to being unable to make out land, and thought he was further off the Barrier than proved to be the case. Inchle was a married man, and leaves a wife at Panmure. He was aged about 34. Sena was an unmarried man, a native of Portugal, about 26 years old. Good, the boy saved, was formerly an inmate of the Kohimarama Training School, and was working his passage back to Auckland from Tauranga. Mr Ramsey is a well known settler on the Barrier.

Source: Te Aroha News 15^th June, 1889. Page 6.