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Tales of Banks Peninsula

No. 22.—The Loss of the Crest

page 193

No. 22.—The Loss of the Crest.

The well known ketch Crest, Captain Ellis, left Akaroa one Sunday evening in October, 1868, loaded with telegraph poles, for a port north of Kaiapoi. She had on board Captain W. A. Ellis, master and part owner; J. B. Barker, part owner; Edward Cuningham, seaman; and Mr. W. Belcher, of the firm of Belcher & Fairweather, Kaiapoi, who was passenger and charterer. The weather was fine when the vessel started, and no one dreamed that anything had gone wrong till the following day about noon, when Mr. J. B. Barker arrived in Akaroa, and stated that the vessel was wrecked, and that he was the only person who had escaped. He stated that he had managed to land in Flea Bay in the dinghy, and that he had told the Messrs. Rhodes, who resided there, of the catastrophe.

This news was, of course, looked upon as final, every one thinking that the rest of the persons aboard the ill fated Cresthad come to an untimely end. Later in the day, however, the startling news was brought that two of the Rhodes had gone out in anything but a safe boat, to view the locality in which the vessel had been reported to be lost, and had rescued Cunningham from a rock to which he had swum after Mr. Barker had left the vessel Cunningham informed the Messrs, Rhodes that Captain Ellisand Mr. Belcher were still alive and aboard the craft, and several attempts were made by the Messrs. Rhodes to rescue them, but they were totally unavailing as the wreck had drifted into a cave, over a considerable distance of kelp covered shallow reefs, upon, which even in the calmest weather the sea broke fearfully. Cunningham stated Ellis could have escaped as he did, by swimming, but refused to leave Belcher, who could not swim.

As can be imagined, this created great excitement in Akaroa, and boats manned by volunteers were at once despatched to the scene of the wreck in the hope of saving the unfortunate castaways. The weather remained moderate, and for three days every plan that could be thought of was tried to rescue the unfortunates, but without avail. The page 194vessel in the meantime had broken up, and Ellis and Belcher had got upon a ledge of rock within the cave. It was thought that Ellis had received some injury, and was incapable of swimming in consequence, but of course nothing certain on this point can ever be known. Those who proceeded to the locality in the hope of rescuing the unfortunate sufferers cannot reproach themselves with leaving any means untried. Ropes were drifted over the kelp into the cave, and Ellis upon one occasion managed to get a hold, but the strands parted, and the temporary communication was destroyed. A coloured man named Dominique, a celebrated swimmer, spared no pains in his endeavors, bat he tried his utmost unavailingly.

Captain Schenkel, of the Prince Alfred, was unremitting in his attempts, and devised many schemes to save the castaways, but they were all frustrated by the unrelenting ocean, which appeared determined to prevent either the entrance of the rescuers, or the exit of the unwilling explorers from the gloomy cavern.

The poor fellows were plainly to be seen, and their cries could be heard by those who were risking their own lives in the attempt to save them. They had rigged two pieces of rope from the roof of the cave, to which they fastened a board, and when the tide began to flow, they had to sit on this board to prevent themselves being washed away. At high water the mouth of the cave was covered with the surging water, the scene being described by the eye-witnesses as terrible in the extreme.

For three days this fearful suspense continued, but on the boats going out on the fourth morning, the cave was discovered to be vacant. No doubt weakened by continuous suffering, thoroughly exhausted, and unable to hold on any longer, they must have been washed away during the night.

Words cannot portray, nor imagination conceive, what these poor fellows must have suffered before succumbing. Without food or water, buffetted by the waves, to see help so near and yet of no avail—it is dreadful, even at this length of time, to contemplate their terrible sufferings.

page 195

The sympathies of everyone in Akaroa were strained to the utmost by the fearful suspense, and never before or since has Green Point been watched with such intensity as for the appearance of boats with news regarding the calamity. Our informant states that he hopes never again to feel the fearful anxiety which he experienced during the time the attempts at rescue were being made.

Captain Ellis was well known throughout the district, and was universally respected. A tablet to his memory is to be seen in St. Peter's Church, Akaroa. It was placed there by the Oddfellows, of which society he was a member. Mr. Belcher, as before stated, was a resident of Kaiapoi, where he was much esteemed. The calamity threw a gloom over the whole Peninsula.

The tablet erected in St. Peter's Church to the memory of Captain Ellis bears the following inscription:—"This tablet is erected by the Oddfellows, M.U., of this district, to the memory of Captain William Ellis, aged 43 years, who perished through the wreck of the ketch Crest, near the north head of this harbour, on October 29, 1868."