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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900
Alice Cameron To The Rescue
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Alice Cameron To The Rescue.
Sea history is studded with countless tales of heroism, and many lives have been sacrificed in trying to save others. On the other hand one is thankful to say the list of despicable actions is comparatively brief. A story which has fortunately never been duplicated in these southern seas as far as I remember occurred some fifty years ago. It happened in the Tasman Sea, about 100 miles off the coast of New Zealand. The boat that played an ignominious part was bound from Auckland to Sydney, and the victim was a barque bound from Newcastle to Auckland with coal. Sailing along at midnight one dark and hazy night in the month of October the 337-ton barque A. H. Badger, doing about six knots, was suddenly crashed
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into by a steamer which never even slacked up to see what had happened, and continued on, going west, at top speed.
Barque Novelty.
The "Badger," as she was generally called, was owned and-sailed by Captain J. L. Leddra, and he had with him his wife and children, who were making their first trip. A fearful smack on the side was dealt to the barque by the steamer, rigging and bulwarks being carried away, and below water the barque's hull was badly holed. Luckily Mrs. Leddra and the children were sleeping on the starboard side, for nothing could have saved them had their cabin been on the port side, where the damage was done. Captain Leddra at once ordered out all the boats left, and his family and the crew put off, as there was no telling what would happen to the Badger. They even saved a favourite Newfoundland dog that had been maimed in the collision.