The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-16 00:00:00

The Wreck of the Orpheus.

The following letters appear in the Thnt.st—
'"llere is one circumstance connected with the
Manukau bar which has not, I b&ieve, been allufhd
to in the account of the wreck of the 0,-phettLa At
the same pilot station where the signal Tae the
bar' was flying on the morning of the ship's loss,
there is a signal post with moval north and south
arms, like the old samaphore telegraphs. As the
channel is constantly shifting, and pilots cannot be
always put on board vessels making for the har-
bour, these arms are employed in their stead to
steer ships in, being alternately raised or lowered
as the vessel entering deviates on either side from
her correct course. If due attention be paid to these
signals, the passage may be made in tolerably fine
weather with perfect safety, even by captains
strange to the coast. The commander of the Orpheus
may possibly have been ignorant of the use of this
telegraph. The careful way in which it is ignored
in the official despatches would almost seem to im-
ply thaf, in a spirit of self reliance, not uncommon
with naval officers, he neglected to follow its warn-
ings, and trusting to,tlae Admiralty sailing direc-
tions lost his life and his ship. Unfortunately it
will be a very small satisfaction to the friends of
the sufferers .to know that this catastrophe might
have been avoided.—l am, &c , E. G. G."
" you think the accompanying unvar_
nished taie,' from the peu of one of the few middies
mercifully saidd from the wreck of the Orpheus, of
sufficient interest to be given to the public it is at
your service: My warmest gratitude is due to Sir
George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, for the
great kindness showed to my Ben in receiving him
into his own house and attending to all his wants,
even to supplying him with clothes from his own
wardrobe.—l am, &c., C. B. H.
" Extract of a letter from a midshipman be.;ong-
ing to her Majesty's ship Orpheus, dated Suez, April
2 :—I have sent you newspapers containing a rough
account of the wreck. They speak of young Bark-
ly's miraculous escape, but mine was quite as much
so. After we all took to the rigging I was in the
maintop with the commander, first lieutenant, the
master, and a midshipman named Broughton, and
about 80 men. It was about 9 o'clock when the
mainmast went, taking with it the fore and mizen
topmasts. The sea at the time was very high, some
of the waves being about 40ft. The mast fell to
windward, and every one with it. As we all rose
up we gave three ' farewell cheers' to the remaining
fellows in the fore and mizen tops, and then they
wore washed off by dozens, till only four remained.
Every minute the sea washed some yards above our
heads, and our legs would be in the air. We knew
that if we let go it would be a case ; twice my strength
failed me, but the receding wave washed me back
again. I was holding on the futtock rigging of the
top, which was at last washed with the mast across
the ship, and afterwards a clipping wave washed me
clear of the ship and carried the remaining mast
away, breaking the ship up entirely. We were about
three and a half miles from the shore, and the flood
tide was setting in. I had almost sunk when I came
across a capstan bar ; it was something to rest one's-
self on, I thought, but it was no go, for the breakers
brought a lot of the wreck on the tcp of me, and I
got some thundering good clippers on the head, so I
swam for the shore. Presently I saw a poor fellow
on the top of something which turned out to be a
chest of drawers, going along at a fine rate and turn-
ing somersaults, but he held on and began shouting,
and I saw in the dirt ction he was going one of our
boats, the cutter, rise on the top of a wave. Well,
you may be sure I did not keep my mouth shut, arid
soon after 1 was picked up regularly done for. IV e
were about two miles from the ship. We went to
the Maori pilot's hut, and having dried our clothes
and had some tea and bread we lay down on a coat
or anything we could get hold of, and slept. Most
of the men were not much hurt, but I was much
bruised and had a sprained ankle. Some went on
the beach to look out in case any one was washed
ashore. Early next morning the steamer came for
us, and we, whom they had given up for lost, were
of course hailed with delight. We had to steam
about 18 miles to Onehanga, where we were met
by Sir George Grey and a large party. Barkly
and I stopped at his house for a day and night, till
the Miranda sailed for Sydney to catch the mail.
Really I could not have been treated more kindly
at home, &c. I lost all my kit, of course, except
an old shirt and trousers which I had on."