Ship’s Destination Unknown

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30900, 5 November 1965, Page 3

Ship’s Destination Unknown

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 4. No decision has yet been made on the destination to which the Royal New Zealand Navy flagship Royalist, disabled near the Solomon Islands, will be towed. The Navy Office was gathering information today on various possible destinations, so that a firm decision could be made before the tug Carlock reached the ship on Sunday from Brisbane.

The survey ship H.M.N.Z.S. Lachlan left Devonport naval base at 2.30 p.m. today to sail at maximum cruising speed to the Royalist. The rendezvous will depend on the Royalist’s position under tow by the Australian tug. The Lachlan took on her maximum capacity of 100 tons of fresh water this morning, half of which will be transferred to the Royalist, which is unable to provide fresh drinking water with her boilers out of commission. The Lachlan’s 120 men also took on food, fuel and general stores for the Royalist. To conserve fresh water on the Royalist, four salt-water showers have been rigged on

the quarter-deck. Most men are sleeping on the upper deck at night as temperatures below decks are high with the ship’s ventilation system shut down. The Brisbane tug, Carlock, is expected to reach the Royalist at daybreak on Sunday. The company manned the side and gave three cheers for the Royal Navy survey ship, Dampier, after she slipped the tow soon after noon yesterday. The Dampier is making for Port Moresby. Since the condenser fault developed on Monday, members of the engine-room and volunteers from the ordnance

department who offered to help them have worked around the clock to make repairs.

Shark fishing and competitive beard growing are helping to pass the time. Last night more than a dozen shark lines were out from the ship, but only one fisherman was successful. Able Seaman J. B. Glenton. of Lower Hutt, landed a shark 6ft 7 7-Bin long. He is current leader in the shark fishing competition, one of a series of diversions organised on board by the ship’s recreation committee. Two sweepstakes are proving popular on board. The first requires entrants to guess the time the first line will pass between the ocean tug Carlock and the Royalist, and the second the date and port at which the cruiser will put her first line ashore.