Extra

Palliser Bay, South Wairarapa. PHOTO/FILE

Crew saved but a ship’s treasure lost

A fire onboard fire spelled disaster for the schooner Jane. The crew were all saved, but the captain’s cash box of gold sovereigns was lost to the depths. MARK PACEY writes in his occasional series highlighting local shipwrecks.

The early life of Jane is a bit of a mystery.

It does not help that this was quite a popular name for vessels at the time.

The first definite mention of her was in May 1856, when it was reported that she had arrived in Hobart with a load of sugar from Mauritius and passenger Mr J Willis.

The notice stated she was a schooner and weighed 77 tons, and was under Captain Lamont.

A reprint of a foreign newspaper article in the Lyttleton Times had said that the Jane had just been sold in Mauritius for £195.

By July, Jane was in New Zealand.

She had arrived from Melbourne with passengers and an all-important cargo of wine and spirits.

On August 27, Jane left Wellington for a trip to Whanganui.

When off the coast of Cape Palliser, she ran into trouble.

This was later recalled by one of the crew and printed in several newspapers.

“Peter Jones, seaman at the helm, called out that the binnacle was on fire. The master and mate [William Henry Williams] was standing at the starboard main rigging at the time.

“They immediately looked at the binnacle, but it was alright, but the smoke was coming up out of the cabin. “Master and mate, on going down, found that the hold was on fire. Called all hands to get water to put it out, unlocked the after hatch, and kept throwing buckets of water down.

“Every exertion was made on the part of the crew to extinguish the flames, but it was unavailing. Five minutes after the fire broke out, the cabin was all in a blaze, so that it was impossible to go down against anything. There was no communication betwixt the after hold and any other part of the ship, but by the after hatch, and it was always kept locked; when we found it was impossible to save the ship, we cut away the boat’s lashing and launched the boat over the starboard gangway.”

Attempts were made to run the Jane ashore, but the winds were blowing off the land and this proved impossible. By 9.55pm, the decision was made to abandon the Jane, which was now nearly 25 kilometres offshore.

The crew spent a long night rowing into shore while the Jane quietly slipped beneath the waves.

The next morning the crew made it ashore just off Pharazyn’s station in Palliser Bay.

They then walked to Phillip’s station and from there were taken by boat to Wellington.

It was reported that residents became excited at this “strange boat full of sailors” that arrived in the bay.

The general thought was that these were men rescued from a shipwreck.

This was confirmed by the men.

The paper stated rather unflatteringly that “Captain Lamont is a very great loser, as besides his chronometer’s charts, clothes etc., he lost 150 sovereigns that were in his cash box”.

The crew and mate were also said to be left “entirely destitute”.

The last mention of Captain Lamont was that he was on board the brig Dart, bound for Australia.

There were no reports of any insurance payments for the loss of the Jane, so along with losing his ship, possessions and gold, Captain Lamont also missed out on any claims.

The newspaper was quite accurate when it described him as a very great loser.

Somewhere out there under the cold sea off Palliser Bay rests what remains of the Jane and the lost gold of Captain Lamont.

WAIRARAPA SHIPWRECK