Chairman Shocked At Extent Of Tragedy

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31653, 13 April 1968, Page 1

Chairman Shocked At Extent Of Tragedy

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, April 12.

The Union Steam Ship Company’s chairman and managing director (Mr F. K. Macfarlane) said today he was “devastated that there-were any deaths at all” when the company’s inter-island steamer Wahine sank.

He had been asked at a press conference what he thought of the death roll. Mr Macfarlane said the company’s 250 staff members had been “flat to the boards” for 48 hours supplying necessary basic clothing to survivors of the maritime disaster and arranging homeward transportation. He could not say how many survivors the company had assisted. “We are not counting the numbers,” said Mr Macfarlane. “Our major concern is helping the survivors.” The master of the $6.5m ferry (Captain H. G. Robertson) is expected to submit a full report of the loss of his ship to the company within the next two or three days. Mr Macfarlane said he had not yet received a written

report from the master. Even when it was sent in, no details would be released because a full court of inquiry into the disaster had been ordered. Several questions at the press conference centred on the decision to abandon ship about 1.30 p.m. on Wednes day after the Wahine began listing heavily in Wellington Harbour. “Safer In Ship" Mr Macfarlane made it clear that any attempt to abandon ship before that time would have been foolhardy because of the atrocious weather conditions. “All the experts—nautical and otherwise were very much of the opinion that the passengers were much safer remaining on the Wahine up to this time, rather than attempting to leave,” he said. Until the order to abandon ship came, the sea was so rough that no rescue vessels could approach the ferry. “The conditions out there were such that no small craft would have survived other than at the time they went out when the order came to abandon ship,” said Mr Macfarlane. At this stage the wind was dropping. The Union Company had rescue craft on standby from 7.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning—just over an hour after the Wahine struck Barrett’s Reef on her way into Wellington Harbour. “Shortly after midday we thought we would give it a go (and send the rescue vessels off) but the harbourmaster turned this down,” he said. One of the assigned rescue vessels was the company’s freighter Katea. Asked if he thought it odd the Railways Department ferry Aramoana had been allowed to leave port to assist in the disaster area, but not the Katea, he said: “No, because the Aramoana had an easy outlet to the harbour whereas the Katea would have had difficulty in leaving Pipitea Wharf.”

Referred to the storm warnings on Tuesday, Mr Macfarlane said there was no question of not allowing the Wahine to leave Lyttelton because the weather conditions were not of sufficient intensity at that time, he said. The ferocity of the storm was not anticipated. Asked if the master of the Wahine could have kept his vessel outside Wellington Heads—and brought her in when conditions eased—Mr Macfarlane replied that it would have been possible but the decision was the master’s. “The master is in complete charge of his ship at all times,” he said. The company had not sent any instructions. Mr Macfarlane said the Wahine’s master first signalled that his ship had hit the reef about 6.45 a.m. on Wednesday morning. “The text of his message did not contain any reason why the ship hit the reef," he said. Mr Macfarlane emphasised that when the ferry was holed there was no danger that she would sink. Incoming seawater had been contained by watertight bulkheads. Asked why the Wahine continued to drift when the vessel’s two anchors on long chain-link cables were down, he told reporters to picture for themselves the effect of a 100-knot wind on a 9000-ton ship. “She was dragging her anchors slowly,” said Mr Macfarlane. Steps taken to safeguard lives in the event that the Wahine foundered or got into worse difficulties began shortly after 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Gear Sent The Union Company sent a breeches buoy and its equipment to the Fort DorsetSeatoun area on the western side of the heads in case the vessel drifted close enough to the rocky coastline for passengers to be brought ashore by the equipment.

Rescue teams were sent to the eastern side of the heads.