Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 - 1916), Thursday 16 March 1899, page 22


THE HURRICANE IN THE NORTH. [BY TELEGRAPH.] BRISBANE, March 13 Reports from Cooktown state that on Monday, during a lull in the hurricane, the barometer on the schooner Olive re-corded 29.70 to 29.10. The damage done by the hurricane is estimated at from £40,000 to £)50,000. Later telegrams from Cooktown state that the Warrego has brought in news that 400 lives have been lost in the hurricane and 80 boats have been wrecked. The Australian United Steam Navigation Co. has received a wire from Cooktown stating that the Warrego has arrived there. She reports having searched the islands and the reef and having found 87 boats, five schooners, and a lightship wrecked, and nearly 300 lives lost. The Warrego also found 36 boats and three schooners anchored in Flinders Bay. Of the schooners lost the Sagitta was owned by Clark and Gutridge Bros, and the Silvery Wave was owned by Clark and others. Two white persons were on board the Sagitta, and both are reported drowned. They were Alfred Gutridge, of Brisbane, and Harold Gutridge, his nephew, the son of Arthur Gutridge. Captain Murray was also on board the Sagitta. There were three white persons on board the Silvery Wave, Captain Edward Jefferson, managing partner in the firm of John Nicholas and Son, of Thursday Island, and Edward Attlow, son of Mr Attlow, of Brisbane. It is feared that all of them have been lost. The boats attached to the Sagitta fleet are thought to have been lost with all hands. There were 16 boats attached to the Silver Wave fleet, and all are lost. The two vessels were owned entirely by Brisbane people. The schooner Olive appears to be quite safe with all on board, as are probably all her luggers also. The Telegraph Department has re-ceived advices that A. and H. Gut-ridge, R. B. Murray, E: J. Jefferson, J. Nicholas, E.. Attlow, Captain Lowell, and two other white men went down in the Sagitta, and that four men were drowned from the lightship. A colored man reached the shore with two women after swimming for four days. The beach is strewn with dead fish, snakes, and birds. The telegraph office and all other buildings at Musgrave have been blown down. The Warrago arrived at Cooktown on Monday morning with 400 colored men and 11 whites. She reports that 80 boats and the Channel Rock lightship are total wrecks and piled on the beach. The steamersVictory and White Star were in atterndance. The Warrego got 160 cases of pearl shells from the Olive. The hurricane came first from the south-east by east. It changed during the storm to east, then to north, then to south-west, and then to west, and finally died away between north and east. The natives are burying their deed at Bathurst Bay, where the masts of the sunken luggers are like a forest. The gale raged all Saturday night and Sun-day morning, extending from the Howicks Group to the Channel Rock. All the islaids have been searched, and all disabled vessels towed into places of safety. The blacks on the mainland buried the drowned white men, all of whom were mutilated by the sharks. About 350 colored and 20 white men are still missing, but the exact total is uncertain until the ship's articles are overhauled. Six schooners, 60 odd luggers, and 2O diving boats have been wrecked. The steamer Victory is now

searching the Islands to the eastward, and the White Star is going north-east to the barrier. All supposed to be alive have now been rescued. Reports sent from Thursday Island on Monday contain no definite news ex-cept from the Crest of the Wave, which has been dismasted. Mrs Porter, wife of the captain of the Crest of the Wave, states that the schooners Sagitta and Silvery Wave were anchored near the Crest of the Wave after the storm burst. The position occupied by the Sagitta was dangerous to the Silvery Wave, whose anchors were dragging. Guns were fired by the vessels at intervals to warn each other of their positions. Mrs Porter fancied that the Sagitta slipped her cable and got away from the Silvery Wave. The Sagitta disappeared during the night, as also did the lightship. No news has reached Thursday Island since of the vessels working in the vicinity between Claremont Cape and Melville Island. These were the Olive with 16 luggers, the Sagitta with 10, the Crest of the Wave with 14, the Silvery Wave with 15, the Aladdin with 15 ; the Admiral, a tender belong-ing to the Clark combination, the Tarawa, belonging to the Queensland Pearl Fishing Co., with .about 18 luggers ; and a tender, the Waiwera, and the Meg Merrilees, belonging to Bowden and Doyle, with 14 luggirs. There were approximately over a hundred luggers, besides seven larger craft and two tenders. TheTokio Marn-due to-day from South May brings more news. The greatest anxiety prevails at Thursday Island as so little is known of the effects of the hurricane on the schooners and the luggers.