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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900

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[One of the most thrilling stories of a disaster at sea that I have ever come across concerns the voyage of the ship Dallam Tower, which, under charter to the Shaw, Sevill Company, left London for Port Chalmers in the summer of 1873, met with a succession of gales of unprecedented fury, was dismasted, had her hatches stove in, was thrown on her beam ends, and in spite of her crippled state rigged a wonderful array of jury masts with strangely and weirdly constructed yards, and sailed 2000 miles and more into port. The story is told in contemporary newspapers both in Melbourne and Dunedin, and I have drawn on both sources.]

The ship Dallam Tower, 1499 tons, Captain John Sayers Davies, bound from London to Port Chalmers, arrived at Melbourne on August 19, 1873, in a shocking condition. A more crippled looking vessel certainly never entered Port Phillip Heads before, her handsome cabin being gutted, and her usually taut masts replaced by the tiniest of spars.

the Dallam Tower left London on May 10, 1873, having on board a number of passengers and an unusually valuable cargo. She passed the Lizard on May 12. The equator was reached on June 5, and good progress was made until July 5, when in 46 south and 30 east a heavy north-west gale was encountered. On July 14, the wind gradually increased and the ship was labouring heavily and shipping great quantities of water,' At 9.30 p.m. the wind rose from the west in a terrific squall, which carried away the truss crane of the lower main topsail yard, which caused the yard to fall down on to the main stays and carried them away. At 10.30 p.m. the barometer began to fall again very fast, and at the same time the topsail yard fell down on deck, breaking into two pieces, smashing the house in which some bulls were penned, and killing one of them.

At 11.20 p.m. the gale was still increasing, and was accompanied with a high cross-sea. The ship was almost continually under water, and laboured very heavily. She shipped a sea over the poop which carried away the after end of the skylight, the standard compass, one of the steering compasses, binnacle lamps, and everything moveable about the poop. At midnight the barometer reading was 28.95. It was blowing a perfect hurricane, the sea continually breaking over the ship and sweeping everything moveable off the main deck. The hurricane was still blowing on July 15, and at 130 a.m. she shipped a tremendous sea on the main deck on both sides, which carried overboard both remaining bulls, all live stock, also the starboard lifeboat, the davits breaking in the starboard saloon doors, through which the water found ingress and nearly filled the saloon. The stewards and passengers were set to work to bail it out, and the carpenter nailed boards across the doorways.

At 2.30 a.m. the hurricane was still blowing to a fearful extent. The starboard fore-sheet parted, and the foresail was almost immediately blown clean away. Shortly after she shipped a very heavy sea on the main deck, which completely smashed the port lifeboat on the skids, breaking in the paint lockers, almost gutting them. The saloon doors were again burst open, and the men engaged in baling were washed out of the saloon. The captain's cabin was smashed up, and nearly all the nautical instruments, all the charts, master's and mate's certificates, ship's papers, the captain's desk, containing about £80, were washed completely away. The saloon passengers then took to the top of the after lockers for safety.

It was still blowing a terrific hurricane at 4 a.m., with a very high sea. The ship was labouring heavily and shipping much water. The ship was almost continuously under water, and the captain, thinking it not safe to run the ship any longer, under great risk was obliged, for the safety of the ship and all on board, to bring her to the wind on the port tack. When the ship was coming to the wind, through the violence of the storm, she was laid down on her beam, and no appearance of her rising the crew were obliged to cut away the fore-topmast, together with main and mizzen top-page 78gallant masts, to right the ship. Shortly after the foretopmast went, the jib-boom carried away.

At 9.30 a.m. the captain was obliged to send all the passengers into the forecastle for safety, as timber was floating about in the saloon in a most dangerous manner. Shortly afterwards she shipped a sea which broke in the after-hatch. Before it was possible to repair the damage great quantities of water went down into the foreward storeroom and spoilt nearly all the passengers' stores and a large quantity belonging to the ship. At 10.30 a.m. the main and mizzen topmast back-stay lanyards carried away, which caused the lower main cap and both topmasts to break and fall down alongside the ship.

Dallam Tower Dismasted.

Dallam Tower Dismasted.

The gale began to moderate a little, but a very high cross-sea kept running and the vessel was still shipping great quantities of water. The pumps were sounded and found one foot ten inches in the well. The crew immediately got the engine to work to pump her out, but in consequence of the seas breaking over and putting the fires out this had to be abandoned. At 8 p.m. the wind was gradually decreasing, but the ship was rolling very heavily. All the lower yards broke adrift, but the crew succeeded with great difficulty in securing them temporarily.