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White Wings Vol II. Founding Of The Provinces And Old-Time Shipping. Passenger Ships From 1840 To 1885

The Lauderdale

The Lauderdale.

The Lauderdale, a fine barque of 857 tons, in command of Captain True, brought out 124 passengers to Auckland in 1874. She sailed from London on the 17th October, 1873, and shortly after leaving, when off Dungeness, came into collision with the brigantine Messenger. Both vessels suffered considerable damage, and had to put into Ramsgate, where repairs were effected to the bulwarks and rigging of the Lauderdale. She set sail again on the 24th October, crossed the equator on the 22nd November, passed the Cape on the 18th December, and sighted the Three Kings on the 25th January, 1874. Five days later the barque entered port, after a pleasant run of 90 days, land to land.

The Lauderdale again suffered considerable damage when unloading at the Queen Street wharf. On the 7th February, 1874, Auckland was visited by a most destructive hurricane. When the gale started the wind was S.W., and suddenly, after a lull, camepage 183 down with intensified violence from exactly the opposite direction, namely, N.E. The change produced was most extraordinary and alarming. The shipping, which had been mostly under shelter while the wind blew from the south, was now fully exposed to the fury of the gale, and disastrous results followed too quickly for any remedial measures to be taken. Never before had so much damage been done to shipping in Auckland in so short a space of time. The following morning it was awful to gaze upon the work of destruction perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Queen Street Wharf. Craft from a 1,000-ton ship to the little 1-ton yacht were huddled into an awful confusion, and thousands of pounds of damage was done. Boats that had not been sunk had been in collision, bulwarks and spars were carried away, sterns and bows were stove in, and the scene was one of desolation.

The damage was not confined to the vessels alone—the wharf in many places showed signs of violent collisions.

Early in the evening of the day of the storm the barque Beatrice, moored in the stream, broke away and fouled the ship Sydney and the Chile. Just at the same time as the Beatrice broke loose the headlines of the Lauderdale gave way, and she canted round with her stern fast to the wharf, her bow coming in contact with the T in front of the A.S.P. Company's office. Here the barque remained fixed, the cut-water gradually forcing its way till the stem of the vessel was nearly half-way through the wharf. No less than seven or eight cutters and schooners were lying submerged on the eastern side of the wharf. During the storm considerable damage was done to the buildings on shore.