Southland aviator, Mr H. J. Pither's monoplane on view at
the Caledonian Ground, Dunedin on September 7. - Otago
Witness, 14.9.1910
The British four-masted steel barque Inverness-shire,
with a good cargo, sailed away from Hamburg on March 2, bound
for Santa Rosali, Cal.
With every bit of canvas standing she crept down around the
Spanish coast to Africa, where, taking advantage of the
north-cast trades, she crossed the Atlantic, passing the Cape
Verde Islands and Cape St. Roque, on the east coast of South
America.
Captain Kinnon, a careful navigator, was in command. He knew
his course and his ship, and his crew had sailed with him and
knew him as he knew them, as able and willing.
The Inverness-shire was spoken passing the Cape Verde Isles,
and again off Cape St. Roque. Captain Kinnon reported "All
well." This was in May, and it was the last seen of Captain
or his crew.
His ship, in perfect condition, was found at anchor 12 miles
west of the Falkland Islands, in south latitude 52, longitude
50 west, on June 15, by Captain Mancho, of the Italian
steamer Vernia, but she proved dumb.
A thorough search was made of the ship and from truck to
keelson she was in perfect order.
On the mess-room table lay a pack of cards, where someone had
been playing Klondyke. His game had been interrupted ere it
was half finished.
A pot of "slush," the sailors' beef stew was on the stove and
it had not yet spoiled.
Every sail was furled. The deck was shipshape and tidy.
In the captain's cabin, on a table, lay a copy of Coleridge's
"The Ancient Mariner," opened, face down, as if it had been
placed there when the reader was called away for a moment.
In the fo'c'sle on a table were glasses, some still half
filled with grog.
While there were these evidences of a hurried departure,
there was not a thing to show the reason for it or the way in
which the thirty-odd men suddenly had departed.
From the davits swung the long boats and the captain's gig,
each stocked with its customary supply of water and hard
biscuit.
Tugs were despatched from Port Stanley and to the thither she
was taken to await the pleasure of her owners, T. Law and
Co., of Glasgow, who will have to meet a large salvage bill.
- ODT, 6.9.1910
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