WORK ABOARD SHIP

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25091, 24 January 1947, Page 6

WORK ABOARD SHIP

STEEL PLATING DUMPED FIREMEN ON DUTY (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 23. Throughout to-day there was plenty of activity on the Wanganelia. Tugs did not tow at all until this afternoon, when the Toia alone took a hawser. She pulled for more than half an hour, first almost direct from the stern of the Wanganelia towards Pencari-oW Light, at an angle of about 46 degrees, and then in an almost direct southerly course. However, the stranded vessel did not move immediately. The attempt to tow the ship off stopped soon after 6 p.m. The winches over No. 1 hold set to work, bringing up steel plating which was dumped overboard. A clanging could be heard from inside the hold, as if other steel plating was being loosened for removal. It was reported unofficially that tonight the vessel has begun to make a small amount of water in the engine room bilges, but that it was not serious. Seven auxiliary fire pumps have been taken aboard. Two of them draw off 700 gallons each a minute if necessary, and the. other five draw 500 gallons a minute. They are tended by firemen from the Wellington Fire Brigade, three men being on board at onetime. Shifts are being changed regularly. These men get salvage rates of pay—15s an hour. It appeared that the list had increased in 24 hours; At high tide the ship’s stern rode higher than her bow, and on the port side an increasing amount of her anti-fouling paintwork showed. As an observer moved along the side towards the stern, the peak of the rock on her port side was just above high water and showed about three yards aft of the line of her bridge.