Shuddering In Boiler Room As Reef Hit

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31654, 15 April 1968, Page 16

Shuddering In Boiler Room As Reef Hit

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, April 14. A tremendous shuddering in the forward boiler room which threw him off his feet, buckled hull plates, and an urgent question from the bridge, “are we taking water?”

These were the first indications to Mr S. Spiers, seventh engineer of the Wahine, that the ferry had struck Barretts Reef. Moments later he learned the Wahine had indeed been holed—the motor room was flooded. Mr Spiers had been called out at 6.20 a.m. on Wednesday to aid his seven fellow engineers in “handling the conditions.” For entering

[ harbour usually only four enigineers are needed to maintain the boilers. About 10 minutes after he went to his station there came la terrible grinding on the i ship’s side. “We were asked by Hoe i I from the bridge whether we ' I had holed in the boiler rooms si A little later the motor room [ was completely flooded,” he 1 said. - i “The ship was operating i ' under emergency power and ? we went topside to await de i I velopments.”

. Later the engineers returned to their stations when the Wahine was dragging her two anchors and moving with the storm into the harbour.

’’We restored ship’s power, got the boilers operating and started the pumps,” said Mr Spiers. The pumps functioned to the end, he said, but they could not prevent the gradual list. TRIED TO COMPENSATE “Once the ship took on a list we did what we could to com pensate. We did everything possible.” he said.

As the Wahine heeled over the engineers were ordered to abandon the engine room. Although the vessel was flooded from the motor room aft, the generator room and two boiler rooms were largely free of water. Mr Spiers said he and othei members of the crew then helped passengers on the three decks above water

He left the ship on a life raft which drifted to the Eastbourne side of Wellington Harbour where it capsized in a huge swell. “I was thrown clear and one man with us managed to swim from under the raft,” he said TRAPPED BY RAFT The other 11 persons were trapped underneath in an an pocket With a pocket knife Mr Spiers ripped open a ho>e on the raft’s underside, now uppermost. “Three were drowned but we got the other eight out Then we just drifted on this upturned raft until another carrying two people came close enough for everybody to tiansfer,” he said. A police launch picked them up. and carried them *..> safety It was scheduled to be Mi Spier’s last day aboard the Wahine for he was to travel to Port Chalmers on Thursday to join another Union Steam Ship Company vessel, the Navua.