Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/223

front windows. A sandy deposit was left all over the flat, and the houses there had half an inch of mud on the floors. The real harm done, however, was very trivial to what might have been expected.

Very few casualties have occurred in Little Akaloa. The vessels Minnie, Rambler, Caledonia, and Mary Anne Christina, the latter a schooner built in the Bay, as also was the ketch Minnie, were at times driven ashore while employed in taking timber to Lyttelton. The wreck of the Clematis (brig) was off the Long Look-out, and is of comparatively recent date. It was a calm, clear day, and she ran close in to the Look-out to shorten her voyage to Lyttelton. She struck on a sunken rock, and stuck there. The crew left her, and she stayed in that position for a day or two, when a fresh sea came and broke her up. The place where she struck was very close under the headland, and it was peculiarly daring of the Captain to attempt so short a cut. The rock is a sunken one, about five or six feet under, and the sea breaks on it when there is any wind. It seems remarkable that she struck in the only place where there was no escape.

The old wharf was built about 16 or 17 years ago; a Mr. Barnes was the contractor. It was in a position, however, where it was totally undefended from the sea. The new wharf is in a more secure place, and there is deeper water off it.

Perhaps the most exciting event in the Bay was the burning down of the public houses, and it is no doubt fresh in the memory of most of our readers. The first building was unoccupied when burnt. A bar was fitted at once in an out-house. This met the same fate. A stable was then used, and that was also burnt, and no more attempts to sell liquor were made. The daring incendiaries, whoever they were, must have been wide awake to escape detection.