HEAVY FOG AT AUCKLAND

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22795, 22 August 1939, Page 10

HEAVY FOG AT AUCKLAND

THREE VESSELS FORCED TO ANCHOR

MONOWAI, MONTEREY, AND

INVERBANK DELAYED

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

AUCKLAND, August 21,

' Three large ships coming one after another up the harbour this morning were suddenly blanketed in one of the densest fogs the city has experienced for many years. Within seconds all were shut out "from the others’ sight, and anchored. As a result, when the sun finally dispersed the heavy fog, Auckland was given the remarkable spectacle of the Monowai, the Monterey, and the freighter Inverbank Iving at anchor one behind the other in the channel off Rangltoto, so _ close to one another that it was almost possible to shout across the intervening fH?tnncos The Inverbank was Ihe first to pass Tiritiri at 5.15 a.m., being followed at 630 a.m. by the Monowai, and at 6.30 a.m. by the Monterey. All picked up their pilots. A little later the fog dropped down on them when the Monowai was just about to pass the Inverbank,' 1 and after continuing a short distance, and using their fog horns, the three vessels stopped and let go their anchors. The Monowai did not berth until 9.10 a.m., . the .; came in, after waiting f 9 r finish with the Monowai. at 9.30 a.m., and the Inverbank tied up at iu ° Meantime a large crowd of relatives and friends of the passengers on both finersstood at the end of the wharves gazing out into an impenetrable wall of fog over the inner harbour. . .. Canning boarding parties for both the Monowai and the Monterey, the customs launch left at 6.30 fh?'’shins instead of coming alongside the_ships a quarter of an hour or so later, did not find them at all, until 7.30 a.m. The fog descended on the leunch as it was crossing the harbour. Visibility was limited to a few yards, and the location of the Devonport wharf discovered only when the b ellbegan to ring from'it. Then, before-the launch had found its way past North Head'it touched slightly on a sand or mud bank without, however, stopping. After rounding North Head the launchman set a northerly course, and decided to hold it for 12 he found the Inverbank. Within a few more minutes, helped by the clanging of their bells, he had come alongside the Monowai, and then the Monterey. The liners followed the custom by sounding their fog horns while in motion, and then using bells as soon as they anchored.