Threatened To Shoot.

When the first boat went alongside the ship there was a rush among the emigrants to get aboard. Captain Ralls had to stand at the gangway with a loaded revolver in his hand, and his threat that he would shoot the first man that disobeyed orders was not an idle one. Captain Ralls was very well known and popular in Auckland, and his splendid behaviour after the ship went a shore was just what one would expect from such a fine sailor. Fortunately the stranded vessel gave a fair amount of shelter for the landing of the passengers, and eventually every man, woman, and child aboard was safely put ashore, the women and children getting ashore without even wetting their feet.

With the exception of the ship's doctor (Dr. Andrews) and his wife, who were taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Simcox, all the passengers were accommodated in the large Maori college that was built by Archdeacon S. Williams. I am indebted to Mrs. W. H. Simcox, now residing at Otaki, for the main details of the wreck. Mrs. Simcox, before going to Otaki with her late husband and family in the year 1878, lived and were much respected residents at the Bay of Islands. At Otaki Mr. Simcox kept a diary, and it is from this very interesting document that Mrs. Simcox quotes. Mrs. Simcox tells of the excitement the wreck caused at Otaki. Three special constables were sworn in from the Otaki residents for the purpose of looking after the unexpected accession to Otaki's small population and to supervise the providoring, plenty of good beef and potatoes being furnished by the settlers.

The Maoris were very numerous in Otaki and the surrounding district forty-four years ago, and they played an important part in helping the strangers, not only providing plenty of potatoes, but cooking them as well. Some of the young fellows who had been saved from the wreck did not seem too anxious to help in the work that was going on; they did not offer to help when the huge piles of potatoes were being peeled, for instance, so one of the bluff, good-hearted Otaki people said, "If they won't help they can have them in their skins."

When news of the wreck reached Wellington the Government steamer Hinemoa, Captain John Fairchild, was sent up to Waikanae, the most convenient spot for taking the passengers off and topage 25 that locality the shipwrecked people were conveyed in bullock drays and anything that ran on wheels—and they were not plentiful in those days. the Hinemoa took the immigrants direct to Napier, to which port they were all bound.

A few of the crew were left to dismantle the wreck, and most of the gear was salvaged. Of course there were dozens of things, such as cabin furniture, that would not pay to take away and these things were gathered by the Otaki people as souvenirs. When the ship was launched from the builders' yards in 1869 a finely carved teak scroll bearing Campbell's lines, "Her path is o'er the mountain wave, her home is on the deep"

Captain Ralls.

decorated the break of the poop, and was much admired. This relic is now hanging up in the hall at Mrs. Simcox's home, and she also has the ship's poop bell, which is used to announce dinner. The fo'c's'le bell is hung in the Kiosk at Otaki Beach. Part of one of the masts of the City of Auckland may be seen on the Otaki Beach when travelling from Auckland to Wellington on the express train.

It is interesting to recall that some of the residents recently got a piece of timber that once formed part of the old ship, and out of it made a walking stick for presentation to the Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey on his birthday. Mr. Massey, it will be remembered, came out from Ireland to Auckland in the ship on her first voyage.

After the disaster, Captain Fairchild, of the Government steamer Hinemoa, strongly urged that a light should be placed on Kapiti Island, and in doing so said that a dozen vessels a year mistook Kapiti for Stephen's Island in the Cook Straits. "It is reckoned," he observed, "that on the Hyderabad, the Felixstowe, and the City of Auckland, all lost in the neighbourhood within the last three months, there has been over £110,000 insurance."

Mr. and Mrs. H. Ralls, of Ellerslie, are related to Captain Ralls, Mr. Ralls being a nephew of the Captain. During 1922 Mr. Ralls visited the old gentleman at his home at Sandford, on the Thames, near Oxford. The captain, who was a great favourite with his passengers and those he met a shore, has named his beautiful home "Auckland." He is able to get about and enjoy himself, though he is in his eighty-sixth year. During the year over which his five trips to New Zealand stretched there were forty births on board. On three occasions Mrs. Ralls accompanied her husband, and three of their children were born on board. At that time there were no doctors on board, so the worthy captain officiated at all these ceremonies on board his ship. One of his "babies," as it pleases him to call them, is Miss Hills, daughter of Mr. A. Hills, of Manurewa. As evidence of the way Captain Ralls was loved and respected, the inside of his Sandford home is full of curios and mementos presented to him and his wife. Other relatives of Captain Ralls, Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Ralls, are residing at Takapuna, Auckland.

The following gives the record of passages made from London by the City of Auckland:—

During the voyage in 1872 Mrs. R. Milne fell overboard and was drowned.