STEAMER IN A HEAVY GALE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22534, 17 October 1938, Page 7

STEAMER IN A HEAVY GALE

PART OF DECK CARGO LOST

LUMBER AND SAWN TIMBER truss association telbosam.) AUCKLAND, October 15. Caught in a heavy gale when 24 hours out of Vancouver on her way to Auckland with a full cargo of lumber from British Columbian ports, the British steamer Dalfram lost a fairly large quantity of her deck cargo of timber. The Dalfram, of 4558 tons gross, arrived this morning, and at her berth at Western wharf, a mass of timber leaning out on her starbbard side testified to the ship’s difficulties. A flush decked steamer, the Dalfram carried a very heavy quantity of logs and sawn timber as deck' cargo, 1 and as no bulwarks were present to assist , stowage, the lumber was held in position by heavy battens and chain lashings. On the second day at sea a gale swept i the deeply laden ship, seas crashing against the wall of lumber stacked more than 10ft high on her decks. At 4 o’clock that afternoon, a terrific sea mounted the Dalfram’s bows. The chain lashings carried away, and a quantity of sawn timber carried on the forward deck was swept from the ship. Faced with the dangers attendant on further cargo, including great logs smashing loose, the Dalfram was turned to run before the weather. The ship’s complement worked in trying circumstances, and some risk in restowing the cargo on the forward deck as the gale blew through the night. The work continued until, with daybreak and the arrival of more moderate conditions, the timber was secured and the danger past.