SMACKED ABEAM!

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 158, 5 July 1921, Page 5

SMACKED ABEAM!

MAHENO'S ROUGH PASSAGE,

BROADSIDE TO NORTHERLY GALE.

FRUITLESS SF__ROH FOR

CANASTOTA.

Only about a hundred passengers came "from Sydney by the Maheno this trip. Each and every one of the fivescore was glad to step on to the Wharf at Auckland, for their passage was not by any means a pleasant one. "Leaving Sydney shortly after 4 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, the Maheno shaped a course slightly to the nor'ard of her usual run, so as to try and pick up possible traces of the missing Canastota. The weather was thick and threatening, with a falling glass and overcast sky. On the Friday forenoon, peculiar looking tracts of water were observed, looking to the eye as though the sea had been smoothed by oil. _U aboard made sure that this must be. the locality in which the Canastota went down, and it was decided to make close investigation. The ship was thereupon manouvred in circles for some time, a close lookout being maintained for wreckage. Nothing was seen floating, however, and a bucket of water drawn up from the suspicious area was found by Chief Officer Watson, who •had considerable experience of oil ships during the war, not to contain any traces of naptha. The foreign-looking tracts in the sea were attributed to fresh rain water temporarily lying on top of the salt. This then disposed of tlie theory that the Canastota. 'had met her fate here, and the Maheno then lay a dead-reckoning course for Cape Mana van Dieman, there being no chance of securing an observation of the sun owing to -the heavily-overcast sky. On' Friday night the breeze freshened considerably, and by Saturday morning it was blowing a gale from the north, with a heavy sea in the making. As the day wore on the gale increased in force, and was accompanied by thick rain and a warm atmosphere with exceedingly limited visibility. The ship laboured heavily, now atop of a huge racing sea, now wallowing between two gigantic billows, some of which sometimes caught her listing, and smacked aboard with vicious force, completely flooding the well decks and racing fore and aft along the alleyways. Everything was battened down and few passengers braved the deck. One sea stove in the door of the pursers' cabin aft and flooded the room, but the steerage dining room doors, just abaft, stood the strain, and no water got below. After leaving the region of search where 'time was lost, speed had been adjusted so as to make Auckland as near as possible by six o'clock on Monday. The violence of the gale had not been reckoned with, however, and to make things worse there was no means of ascertaining the ship's exact position, as the navigating officers could not get a glimpse of the sun, moon, or stars, so thick was the weather throughout.

On Saturday night the storm seemed to increase in intensity, and violent squalle accompanied by the heaviest imaginable rain assailed the ship. So fierce was the sea that not even the tremendous weight of rain appeared to calm its turbulence, and somewhere about midnight a mighty billow smashed broadside into the Maheno and rattled her in every rivet. To give an idea of the sort of sea that was raging, it is only necessary to say that forty feet above the line of immersion stands tbe navigation bridge. This structure was struck by the billow on the port side, its front planking was torn away, the look-out window was smashed, the stout teak railing was split like matchwood, and the stout iron bars below were bent as though Atlas had smitten them with a mighty mallet. Fortunately neither the officers nor the men at the helm on the bridge were injured, and the water poured off to find its way again to the ocean forty feet below. All day Sunday the Maheno continued to toss about broadside on to the gale, with harassed officers and crew and seasick passengers, raging seas smashing over her bulwarks and shaking her in .every plate at frequent intervals. Fine navigation saw the danger over on Sunday morning, however, for at daylight llie ship's officers picked up the land, right on their course, despite the fact that they had been unable to get an observation on the whole of the trip, and had worked solely on dead reckoning after having been thrown out of their course in the search for the Canastota — or rather for traces of the Canastota, for the oflicers of the Maheno hold out no hope that the missing vessel is afloat. Tlie consensus of good nautical opinion is that the oil ship exploded before sinking. On her way to Sydney last trip the Maheno sighted what appeared to be a floating hatchway; but the sea was too rough to allow of the object being picked up. Had it been possible to secure it, this- latest mystery of the sea might now have been solved.

After making the land, the Maheno had an easier run along the coast.l though tlie weather was still thick and accompanied by occasional severe rainstorms. Approaching the Gulf last night, however, a violent southerly was run into, and it was thought that anchor would have to be dropped under the lee of Rangitot.-. But this squall soon dropped, and the Maheno made the bay, finally dropping anchor at 11 o'clock last night. iShe came alongside Queen's wharf at about 7.30 this morning, much to the relief of her passengers, ot whom at one meal only four sat down to dinner when the gale was in full swing!