TOSSED BY RAGING SEAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 8 April 1925, Page 9

TOSSED BY RAGING SEAS.

A STORM-RACKED SHIP, i EXPERIENCE IN THE ATLANTIC. VESSEL REACHES AUCKLAND. Showing but few signs of the tip- • mendous buffeting that she received, while crossing the Atlantic some two ' months ago, the Commonwealth and ( Dominion Line's 4000-ton cargo steamer. . Port Augusta, under the command of ( Capt. T. Kippins, arrived at Auckland last evening, and ber-thed this morning ! at the Prince's Wharf. | Although the freighter made her run | across the Pacific under fine conditions, j the weather encountered while on her j way from England to Philadephia to load j for New Zealand, more than provided j the oilicers and crew with any excite- j ment they may have desired. Such | were the conditions encountered that | the steamer was generally considered | extremely lucky to have made port in i safety. ' i The Port Augusta left Fowey, Corn- j wall, on January 3, tl bright, clean ship | with some GOOD tons oi" China clay ', tucked within her holds. For a jvhile ' all went well, and the vessel jogged ; along at something over ten knots'. But \ the severest buffeting of her lengthy j life was in store for the trader, and | when half-way.across the Atlantic she j ran into rough weather, the conditions soon becoming worse. Heavy seas came : aboard at frequent intervals, and the ship rolled and tossed about in an alarm- | ing manner. Laden with dead weight. ! the Port Augusta found it impossible j to ri.se to the oncoming seas that I threatened to swamp her. Her blunt I nose ploughed through the waves ■which I ripped open her hatches and bent and | twisted her rails. For several days and nights on end the seamen, clinging j fast to slender life lines., tried as best they could to batten down the broken hatches, and make good the havoc wrought by the sweeping seas. For five j days and nights, Captain Kippins paced j the bridge without seeing his bunk. 1 Time after time as the ship careened into the trough of a wave, the sea would pounder her sides before she I could right herself. Men were sent rol- j ling out of their bunks, while everything I movable clattered about them. Many j times the ship lurched sideways at an angle of 43 degrees. Shifting Cargo of Clay. To make matters worse the vessel's cargo of clay shifted with the roll of I the ship, and threw her heavily to starboard. For hours the crew worked frantically below, shovelling the moving clay and passing everything movable from I starboard to port, while the vessel ■ danced beneath their feet. j Seven hundred miles off the Atlantic const a wava struck the after deck, ] smashing to pieces the deckhouse and a ! gun-carriage erected during the war j period. The force of the wave staggered I the Tort Augusta, and. worst of all, put I her steering gear out of commission, j Crippled, tho ship was left wallowing I helplessly in the trough of a mid-Atlantic storm. The boatswain, Dennis Wholcy, i was crushed against a bulkhead and , injured internally. His mates picked i him ill) and bundled him into bis quar- I ters as best Ihey could across the lurch- ! ing deck. They then set to. work to repair the damage, tho work being carried out under the most harrowing con- j ditions. j i The first officer, Mr. 0. T. Harris, was I ion the bridge when a sudden roller threw ' him to the deck. Suffering from a j broken leg lie was conveyed below, where first aid was rendered. A seanian, C. Keatings, was caught by a roller and Smashed against tho vessel's sides. He I was fortunate in not being washed overboard before being dragged to safely. i Cooking Gear Wrecked. ' j Another tremendous roller mounted I the port side and dashed in the steel i bulkhead. Forcing its way through the , i galley door, the wator ruined the cook- j 1 inp gear and washed away a quantity of , j supplies. The cook and his assistant . '• were tumbled into a corner. With the ! galley smashed and the food below floating about in wator waist deep, there was nothing to do but smash open the bulkheads and make for the bully beef stored lin watertight cans. For ten days each j I man had only three beef sandwiches a] 1 day and what poor codec he could make over the coals in the fireroom. Then tho forecastle where the men j slept was flooded out. For seven nights i the men slept in the coal bins, glad to ! snatch what little sleep they could be- j tween the sixteen hour watches they were compelled lp keep. Coal Gives Out. Forty miles off Delaware breakwater the coal gave out. With fuel short, the captain was forced to order his crew to rip up bulkheads, dunnage wood, and anything within reason that could be used for firing. When she eventually made port, the Port Augusta had consumed all her fuel. The emergency steering gear that wns put into use when the main gear smashed, was not strong enough to withI stand the force of the waves and was i soon out of commission. A day was ■ spent in repairing the damage, the vessel being at the merry of the seas. Nearing the American coast, tho seas died down, but heavy ruins made the 1 conditions anything but comfortable for the men. Then tho ra?n turned to a 1 driving snowstorm and the ship, still listing to starboard, ploughed on .with her decks four inches deep in snow. i But the elements had given of their ; worst and from that point on the con- ' t ditions began to improve, and on i i Jaunary 31 the Port Augusta limped up i Delaware Bay and into Philadelphia. I Listing to starboard the crippled steamer | was in a bad way when she dropped anchor in the American port. And •surely the cosy anchorage was a welcome sight to the storm-tossed officers and men of the freighter, who agreed that they had never passed through a worse experience. The voyage from Fowey to Philadelphia occupied just twenty-six days. Jn ordinary circumstances the Port Augusta, although ' admitted to be one of the slowest of ' the line's fleet, would have covered the distance well within half that time. !