A SUBMARINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1927, Page 8

A SUBMARINE.

IN AUCKLAND HARBOUR.

SCOW MASTER FINED.

LOAD LINE SUBMERGED.

When the New Zealand Government next thinks of adding to its naval squadron it will be unnecessary to order

a submarine, for Auckland has already one of the~e underwater craft. This is the pood ship, or rather scow, Rahiri. of under 20 tons register. At the Police Court to-day the master of the Rahiri, Knud William Larsen, was charged by the Marine Department with going to sea having the upper edge of the scow s load line submersed when loaded. Mr. Fleming, for defendant, who was not present, pleaded guilty to the charge, adding that the pumps got out of order, causing the sand to become wet. 1 he Rahiri, he said, was engaged in the sand and shingle trade between Coromandel Peninsula and Auckland. Captain Larsen was an experienced seafaring man, and the whole thing was the outcome of an accident through the pumps going out of order. Defendant had a good record, and counsel thought that the penalty imposed should be a light one. Mr. V. X. Hubble, who prosecuted for the Marine Department, described the case as a glaring one. The vessel's freeboard was only one and a-half inches when the correct load was carried. The scow had a bad list to starboard, and the overloading meant that Tin of the deck was a\va.>li. "It is a submarine, not a scow," said the magistrate, Mr. W. R. McKean. Mr. Hubble admitted thaat the pumps had gone wrong, but reminded the Court, and also Mr. Fleming, that it was the master's duty to see that the. pumps were working properly. Mr. McKean said he did not propose to inflict the maximum penalty, which was £50. Larsen would be lined £4 and costs.