Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), Wednesday 18 September 1895, page 3


Mysterious Collision in Mid Ocean. By the ship Dharwar, from London on Saturday, particulars came to hand of a collision at sea, and the rescue of the crew of one of the colliding vessels. Captain Stevens, of the Dharwar, reports that on the 16th July, when the Dharwar was in 12 south and 31 west, a boat full of men was seen making signals of distress. The Dharwar bore dossn on them and then hove to. A boat was lowered quickly and the derelict crew were brought on board. They proved to be the captain, first and second officers, carpenter, sail maker, so atle seamen and two boys of the ship Prince Oscar, of Liverpool, bound from Shields to the west coast of America. Thely had been in the boat for three days and nights without food or water: and were feeling the pangs of hunger and thrist very acutely. Captain Ilenderson, of the Prince Oscar, reported that thlree nights previously his ship had he::n run down by another vessel, which cut her down below the water's edge. Nothing could be done to keep the Prince Oscar afloat, and she was abandoned only a short time before ;he foundered. Ths Prince Oscar's boat was kept in the vicinity of the disaster until daylight broke in the hope of sighting the other vessel or falling in with some of her boats. Nothing, however, was to be seen, and Captain Henderson was of opinion that the other vessel also must have foundered, taking with her the whole of her crew. The stay of the wrecked Prince Oscar's crew on board the D)harwar was brief, as on the day after they were picked up the steamer Capaca hove in sight, and was signalled by the I)harwar. She proveyed to be homeward bound, and the shipwrecked men wer placed on board. A cablegram published on the Toth ult. announced that the crew of the Prince Oscar had arrived at Philadelphia. This. however, did not end the exciting experiences of those on board the D)harwar. After passing the meridian of the Cape or Gocd Hope on the r3th of August, in lat. 4odeg. south, the vessel entered upon a protracted and trying struggle with heavy weather. Asserting itself from the south-west, the wind blew with tremendous vigour, and bringing up a high sea necessitated the Dharwar being " hove to " for 4S hours, at the end of which period, as the gale slightly abated, she was enabled to proceed without much difficulty or discomfort until the -2nd of August, when in lat. J rdeg south and Ion. 62deg. east she was again beset by hurricane weather. Thinking that better auspices might prevail lfuthcr ucrth, Cap:ain Steven steered a more northerly course, but there was no improvement, and with her decks completely flooded by water the Dharwar passed a troublous time. Fcr several days she was sorely pressed, and although tihe wight of water on deck caused some of her bulwark stanchions to slightly start the vessel sustained no serious damage until the 29th of August, when one of the heaviest seas that had yet visited her swept over the decks, breaking the carpenter's shop, smashing portion of the cabin, flooding that apartment to a depth of 3ft,, and doing sundry other injury. The Dharwar was kept dead before the gale under whole topsails, and it was not until the night of the 30oth of August that the storm showed signs of abating. The seas which prevailed are stat,.d to have been of immense height, and no little ability was required to bring the vessel through the ordeal. Subsequently the ship encountered westerly winds, but these also occasionally blew vith fearful strength, and once or twice resulted in the Dharwar being 'hove to." At length Port Phillip Heads were safely reached on Saturday, and the vessel is now at .anchor in Ilobson's Dlay. During the voyage a seaman named Charles Young, a native of Glasgow, fell from aloft on the deck-house and was killed. The only ship named Prince Oscar mentioned in Lloyd's Register is an iron vessel of 1,292 tons register, built at \\'est Hartlepool in I864. by Pile, Spence, and Co., and owned by A. Gibson and Co., her dimensions being as follow :-Length, 20oft.; beamn, 37ft.; and depth of hola, 2Ift yin.