Lachlan May Reach Royalist On Tuesday

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30901, 6 November 1965, Page 3

Lachlan May Reach Royalist On Tuesday

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, November 5.

Steaming at top cruising speed, the Navy survey ship, H.M.N.Z.S. Lachlan, had covered a quarter of the distance to the disabled cruiser, H.M.N.Z.S. Royalist, by midnight tonight.

On board the Lachlan are engineering supplies which may enable the crippled Royalist to sail again.

The Lachlan, also carrying supplies of fuel, food and water, is expected to meet the Royalist near the Solomon Islands on Tuesday. The engineering supplies include boiler parts, half a ton of boiler compound and two sets of manual boiler cleaning gear, which will be used to clean out the boilers at present contaminated by salt water.

About 50 tons of fresh water, essential for flushing the dirty boilers and getting them restarted, will be pumped aboard the Royalist by pipeline. Twenty tons of diesel fuel also will be transferred.

Working in difficult conditions, in temperatures of much more than 100 degrees, the men of the Royalist have already attempted the necessary repairs but have found their gear insufficient for the job. Also among the stores aboard the Lachlan are items to relieve the unpleasant conditions on the Royalist. There are 48 cases of tinned fruit salad and peaches, several crates of apples and oranges, a ton of potatoes and 3501 b of fillet steak.

Six primus stoves and supplies of kerosene will assist the cooking, at present being done on only two primuses, and many torches should ease the strain on the power supply. One man on board the Lach-

lan has postponed his wedding because of the mission. He is Leading Signalman Ross Moran, aged 24, of Dargaville. who was to have been married on November 13 to a Dargaville girl, Miss Robyn Hall. “The best man and half of the wedding guests are on board, so there was not much point in trying to go ahead with our plans,” he said today. He hopes to be married by January. “More Than £10,000”

The cost of the mission could be more than £lO,OOO, a marine expert said in Auckland today. This was what the Navy would have to pay for towing, salvage charges and other operating costs. He estimated that the Brisbane tug Carlock would cost at least £250 a day while on her way to the Royalist and £5OO a day for the tow. The Lachlan would cost at least £5OO a day. He blamed the Royalist’s

plight on "sheer old age and decreptitude.”

A Sunderland aircraft will leave Lauthala Bay, Fiji, at 4 a.m. tomorrow to drop five canisters of mail to the Royalist