PIRATE SHIP DETAINED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31168, 19 September 1966, Page 18

PIRATE SHIP DETAINED

Dept. Says Tiri May Be Unsafe

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, September 18.

The pirate radio ship Tiri, which was due to put to sea tonight and to start Radio Hauraki test broadcasts later this week, has been under a detention order signed by the Minister of Marine (Mr Scott).

A Marine Department officer said in Wellington that the order against the Tiri was made on the grounds that the lives of those on board could have been in jeopardy.

The directors o f Pacific Radio Advertising, Ltd., the company backing Radio Hauraki, conferred tonight with their lawyers over the detention order, which was served late on Friday afternoon. The managing director, Mr D. J. Gapes, would not comment on the company’s plans. The Government action scotched Radio Hauraki plans to start broadcasting from outside territorial waters in the Hauraki Gulf next Saturday, a week before the October 1 target announced some months ago. A tug had been ordered to tow the propellor-less 169-ton craft from her berth in the lighter basin at the Western

Viaduct to permanent moorings about five miles from Great Barrier Island. The detention order, made under section 316 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, required the Tiri to undergo a survey by a surveyor appointed by the Minister. Under Section 316, headed “Power to detain unsafe commonwealth ships”, the Minis- • ter of Marine, if he has reason ■ to believe, on complaint or . otherwise, that a ship is uni safe, may order her to be proi visionally detained for survey, i The Minister, on receiving i the survey report, may order ■ the ship to be released or to be finally detained, either ab- ; solutely or until work the Minister thinks necessary to i protect human life has been carried out. Section 317 provides that if there is not reasonable cause

for the provisional detention the Crown is liable for costs and damages. If the ship is finally detained or was unsafe when provisionally detained the owner is liable.

Mr Scott also gave Radio Hauraki notice that he was not prepared to agree to the Tiri being surveyed for a certificate of completion as an unmanned dumb barge. The Marine Department’s executive officer (harbours and shipping), Mr W. A. Cullen, said in Wellington tonight that the Tiri had a survey certificate as an ordinary ship until March. Since then the propeller had been removed and other work done with the aim of obtaining a certificate of completion as a barge. As a stationary barge the Tiri would not have to meet such requirements as manning with seamen. Mr Cullen said that his department knew that it was proposed to use the Tiri as a private broadcasting station outside territorial waters. Under the detention order the Tiri would be surveyed to see if she was unseaworthy for the particular job it was intended to do.

“Normally speaking a certificate of completion is given for barges in sheltered waters where they don’t require a full survey.

“But the Tiri would be very much in open waters, without any propelling machinery, and it could be unsafe for the purpose intended,” he said.

“If a link in a chain broke they could be washed out to sea. The Minister is concerned for the safety of life at sea and he no doubt feels that a vessel of this nature has got to be very carefully looked at Their lives could be in jeopardy.” Under the act, said Mr Cullen, anyone taking a ship under a detention order to sea commits a crime and is liable to up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to £5OO. The Auckland district surveyor of ships for the Marine Department, Mr A. Wall, said the department was satisfied that the Tiri fulfilled the necessary requirements for an unmanned barge. But the owners would have “quite a bit to do” to meet requirements for a ship, including slipping the vessel again for replacement of her propeller and meeting manning requirements.