On Saturday evening there happened, in the vicinity of Port Chalmers, a catastrophe more lamentable and appalling in its character than any that has ever occurred in the Province of Otago.
Two of the port steamers, proceeding at full speed in opposite directions, came into violent collision, and amid the darkness, the confusion, and the general terror which prevailed, the more tender vessel of the two filled and sunk, taking down with her many of her human freight, and leaving others waifs upon the waters to battle desperately for life - some with success, others with hopeless effort to avert their fearful fate.
How many persons have suffered by the sad calamity it is impossible at present precisely to ascertain, but the bodies of eleven have already been recovered, and there is too much reason to believe that several more have perished.
Between five and six o'clock in the evening the steamer Pride of the Yarra - a small iron screw-boat - took on board, at Port Chalmers, from forty to fifty passengers for Dunedin, some joining her at the jetty, others alongside the steamer William Miskin, which had just arrived from Invercargill, and one family, consisting of nine souls, from on board the ship Matoaka, which had only the previous day arrived in the port from London.
At the hour of starting it was dark, and the evening being peculiarly dull, there was a difficulty in exactly estimating the number on board, or in recognising the persons of whom the living freight was composed, but such is the number generally believed to have started.
Captain Spence was personally in charge, and at the wheel was an experienced and steady steersman, and it so happened that one of the Port Otago pilots was a passenger, though of course not interfering with the guidance of the vessel's course.
As she steamed on, parallel to Sawyer's Bay, the lights of the Favorite steamer were recognised, as that vessel was on her way down from town, and, as the two vessels approached, the Favorite seemed to be steering right down upon the Pride, and occasionally keeping so much of a starboard course that her port lights were concealed.
This course being apparently preserved, the Pride's helm was ported, and she was kept well over to the starboard side of the channel, which, at that particular place, is defined by a bluff rocky headland, but there appeared still more necessity for porting the helm, and "Port," "Hard a-port," are alleged to have been the orders.
A collision being now almost imminent, there was a cry of "For God's sake reverse the engines," and simultaneously with this they were reversed, but all too late.
Both vessels going still at a considerable rate of speed, the Favorite run stem on to the Pride, catching her at a point about a third of her length from the bow, or nearly on a line with her mast, listing her over to port, and cutting right through her port side.
This was the collision as said to have been seen from the deck of the Pride of the Yarra.
The Favorite, which is a paddle-boat principally employed in towing, was, as has been described, on her way from Dunedin Bay, where, late in the evening, she had towed up a barge.
She was in charge of Captain Adams, steered by C. Murray, both of whom were on the bridge, where the wheel is stationed.
She was at the same moment recognised by the puffing of her high pressure engine, and so close was she that, as had already been perceived from her own decks, a collision was seen to be inevitable, and before the orders to stop the engines of the Favorite had effected any material change in her speed, the collision was an accomplished fact. Such, at least, is the account.
After the collision
The scene which succeeded the momentary but fatal shock of the vessels it is not easy to realise, those even who were participators in it having but hazy and mystified conceptions of anything beyond their own individual experiences.
On the part of a few on board the Pride of the Yarra, there was some slight anticipation of the result, and of preparation for some contingency; but it was still hard to imagine that these gay bright lights which were only visible was the signal of the approach of a terrible engine of destruction; and the mental shock at the sudden realisation of their position was not less than the physical one, by the mere contact of the two vessels.
On the other vessel there is described as being equal astonishment at the sudden appearance of what was more like an evil spirit breaking through the cloud of darkness which overhung the face of the waters, than any mere human contrivance.
But the instinct of self-preservation dispersed all the fancies in which a mere observer might have indulged.
As the water was heard to rush into the vessel's hold, and as the deck was felt to subside below the fickle surface, the crowd on deck advanced with all the rapidity which love of life could inspire, to the point of attachment of the two vessels.
Here, also, the hands on board the Favorite approached, to rescue the many who were claimants for assistance, and who were struggling hard to get upon the safe side of her bulwarks.
There was hurry and confusion not a little, of course, but all the haste that could be used was needed, for down and down still was the motion of the vessel, and with the exception of the first few who caught the Favorite's bulwarks, all were partially immersed, and becoming more deeply immersed as the Pride was sucked head foremost into the dark yawning gulf.
And, naturally, as the crowd pressed forward to the only place of hope, their aggregate weight depressed the boat still more at the very point of danger, aggravating the critical character of their position, until at last all were floundering in the water, and were only saved by seizing hold of each other as one by one, like a chain of living links, they were drawn in over the side.
While this was going on the boat had gradually turned, so as almost to lie abreast of the fore-part of the Favorite, and some of those nearer the stern were able to save themselves as the majority had done in the scramble at the bows.
Of those who were in the little fore cabin, if there were any, the fate must have been sudden and terrible.
They must have been stifled in an instant, if not bruised to death by the concussion, and their bodies have probably floated out, as the deck became detached and rose to the surface of the water, leaving the hull to sink.
Of those in the hold it is hoped that all have been saved, though their escape must have been narrow. The worst situated, and, as it proved, the worst fated were those in the cabin. Captain Wilson, of the Wm. Miskin, and Mr Thomas Kingston, who were here seated, just succeeded in making their escape as the water was running in breast-high.
A lame gentleman, Captain of the cutter Alpha, who was near the door, was also pulled out by Captain Spence.
Another moment, the Pride of the Yarra and all within her, dead or dying, went down, only a few dark objects - some say swags, some think men - floating over the scene of the disaster.
Eleven bodies of the unfortunate sufferers by this accident have been recovered by the aid of a professional diver, whose services were as expeditiously as possible obtained by the Harbor Department and the Police.