UNRULY MOOD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 137, 13 June 1938, Page 8

UNRULY MOOD.

STORM ON TASMAN. : DELAY TO SHIPPING. FOUR LINERS BUFFETED. EXPERIENCE OF NIAGARA. In or.e «.f :uo*t unruly :r is f r many a day. the Ta<ma:i i.'.i\\-.l w. nd. On their way from _W.. ./ • land to Sydney three pa s-,- a - ha.-:- — ' i .' A A-vat.a. *h" \\ an-jaiK-lia an' ta*'Mariposa—have met. the f ill , f :ne -.-a!e in the vaste-n hair of ;h • Tasinan. and ail or them. a<-;:> .rdiu -■ --1 a Press A.s—viation cable nae—a- ■. ha-..-' advised >y.lney that they will arrive ' '" ahust nine hour* late. ; Nearer home, the British steamer ! Llangollen narrowly e--a.>ed dl-a-ta-' wnen fue began to drift iib-hore through i nioinitainniis at tno n-Tti 1 of New Zealand. Coa-tal .-hipnin- ha; ; been affected. In a Inch way wa< the Canadian i Au-trala-iai! lir.er Niagara. waul, 1 reacaed Auckland on time this moriiii'.u'. I She mostly ran before the storm, but , even then many rassenpers had what ! they considered an unpleasant e\i erl- | ence. * [ Stairway Dislodged. j Except when a heavy wave crashe.l . over the poop and dislodged a stairwav I on the deck, the Niagara escr.;*d damage. Passengers told of sweeping, j mountainous waves that wore 1 enced almost from the time Svdnev : Heads were cleared. Some enjoyed the 1 sight and "feel' of a Taxman storm. I others frankly confessed that thev did I not. ' ;

There were many falls nn heaving decks and in swaying corridors, and a member of the crew lifted a trouser lc_r to . s k° w a bruised knee in illustration of his story of an unhappy attempt to negotiate the slippery deck. In the circumstances. however, it was acrreed that the ship had weathered the storm remarkably well. The gale was at its height on Saturday, and late that night the liirhts of the Union Company's trans-Tasman express Awatea, travelling the other way. were seen in the distance. The Awatea was making slow headway into the vicious sea and the high west-sou'-west wind, and it was plain to those on the Niagara that her arrival at Sydney vould be delaved.

The Matson liner Mariposa was contacted by radio the same night, and eports from the two shifts indicated ' !iat the force of the wind was then at the high mark of 9 points on the Beaufort scale. Manukau Bar Unworkable. Even Auckland's harbour was in an ugly mood when the Niagara entered it at about six o'clock this morning. The '•arty on the bobbing Customs launch which met the ship were given some indication then of tbj conditions that must have prevailed outside. High &eas banked up by the wind and vicious rain and hail squalls made the Manukau Bar unworkable to-day, and the small coastal trader Hokiansa. which put out for Hokianga on Friday, was still held up in port. The vessel did not attempt the crossing and has awaited favourable conditions in Onehunga since Saturday afternoon. The Clansman, which sheltered in the lee of the Manukau Heads from Wednesday until Saturday morning before she could negotiate the bar, arrived at Kawhia on Saturday evening and the Ronaki. which was delayed from Thursday, sailed out at the syr.e time for New Plymouth.