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

Steering Gear Breaks

Steering Gear Breaks.

the Lutterworth, under command of Captain Hicks, had left Timaru on the 30th September, 1906, with 415 tons of shingle ballast. When off the Kaikoura Peninsula the weather became thick, sail was shortened, and the ship was headed east until the conditions improved. Intending to run through Cook Straits, Captain Hicks ordered the helm up, but the vessel would not pay off. The steering gear broke, the fore lower topsail split, and the ship became unmanageable. There was then a moderate gale blowing and heavy sea running. The ballast shifted, and the masts had to be cut away to save the ship from going under, being then on her beam ends with the lee yardarms under water. Captain Hicks stated the cause of the whole trouble was the breaking of the steering gear.

One of the officers, describing the disaster, stated that when the vessel heeled over the water was up to the combing of the main hatch. The crew could not move along the deck, and had to crawl along the weather side of the ship on the outside. Mrs. Hicks, the captain's wife, was hauled out of her cabin by a rope. The crew were ordered to cut away the three masts, and overboard went the incubus, the main mast first, then the mizzen, and lastly the foremast. "You'd think the ship was struck by electricity when the masts went," remarked one of the crew. "It was all sparks when the splinters went flying." Preparing for the worst, they jettisoned their clothing, until they stood in only their shirts and trousers, scant protection against the gnawing cold. They remained thus, under the weather bulwarks, for 24 hours, with their bodies afflicted by the freezing wind, and their minds tortured by suspense. Then, believing that the barque would hold her own, the men went to the fo'c'sle and "warmed themselves a bit and had a smoke."

Down below the men endeavoured to straighten the shingle ballast, which had shifted, and with ropes aroundpage 112 their waists they tried in vain to make an impression. "It flowed around us like water," said one of the workers. Theirs was the labour of Sisyphus, whose punishment in Hades was to roll a stone uphill for ever. When it was seen that the helpless barque was likely to drift on the rocks, an attempt was made to lower the boats—the cutter and the lifeboat—but they were both smashed. Retreat being now cut off, the unfortunates had to cling to the derelict, merely hoping that Providence would put salvation in their way." We thought we would pass over the long trail," remarked one in a tone that had a ring of conviction. Captain
Barque Lutterworth Alongside Firth's Old Wharf At Auckland.

Barque Lutterworth Alongside Firth's Old Wharf At Auckland.

Hicks was injured while bringing up lifebelts. A lurch of the barque knocked him into the scuppers, breaking his right arm, and cutting and bruising his head. Mrs. Hicks also cut her head on some broken crockery. "When the lifeboat went you could hear nothing but groans for about five minutes," said a seaman. The one available anchor failing to hold, sea anchors were rigged, and an endeavour made to get the ship's head to the wind, but all efforts failed, and the ship still dragged.

The crew were ready to abandon her and endeavour to reach the shore the best way they could when the s.s. Penguin was seen bearing down upon them, the barque at that time being about a mile off the shore and about 200 yards off the rocks, and being swept shorewards. The Penguin launched a lifeboat, and, with difficulty succeeded in rescuing the poor unfortunates. They were utterly worn out with fatigue and hard work, Captain and Mrs. Hicks being considerably knocked about. The sailors spoke glowingly of the courage of Mrs. Hicks.

Captain A. Davies, of the Marine Department, Auckland, was mate of the Lutterworth when she met with this disaster, and he tells me that none of them on board thought they would get out of it alive after the ballast shifted and the ship was thrown on her beam ends.

The Nautical Court exonerated Captain Hicks and his officers from all blame, and sympathised with the captain, stating that he was fully justified in cutting away the masts to save the lives of all on board.

After a survey on arrival at Wellington the owners of the barque decided not to repair her, and she was sold to the Union S.S. Company for a coal hulk.page 113 She is still doing duty in Wellington harbour.

The yards from the Lutterworth subsequently came ashore at various places on the coast from Island Bay towards Cape Terawhiti. Her main yards lay for a long time on a rough beach a couple
Battered Hull Of the Lutterworth After Towing' To Wellington.

Battered Hull Of the Lutterworth After Towing' To Wellington.

of miles from Island Bay, and were gradually buried in sand and shingle.