New Ship Has Historic Name

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31981, 7 May 1969, Page 6

New Ship Has Historic Name

Wiltshire, a new 10,000-ton freighter recently delivered to the Bibby Line at a cost of $5,000,000 bears the name of a vessel which featured 'in one of the most sensational shipwrecks in New Zealand waters this century. The former Wiltshire, 10,390 tons, was on her way to Auckland from Liverpool when she went ashore on Great Barrier Island on the night of May 31, 1922. She was carrying 103 officers and men and no passengers. There had been heavy weather for 10 hours and it was dirty and black when she gave four distinct bumps over the rocks. Torrential rain made it impossible to see a ship’s length ahead. Boats were swung out and rockets sent up, but seas were too heavy for the ship to be abandoned, and after a night of danger and anxiety the

crew went forward at dawn. The position was precarious with the Wiltshire listing to ; starboard and her stern in ’ very deep water. Broke In Two At 11.30 a.m., with a noise > like a thunder clap, the vessel broke in two behind No. 4 hatch. The master (Captain G. B. Hayward) jumped off the bridge and the officers swung themselves down to the 1 fo’c’sle on a rope. The bow held fast on the 1 rocks, but the after section, ' including the bridge, was > swung by the sea at right 1 angles and became half • submerged. News of the wreck reached r Auckland at 11 pan. on May t 31 and the Union Company’s > Katoa and Arahura went to > give assistance. 1 The Arahura, with 100 pas--1 sengers, came close at daybreak, but was unable to help [ and stood by, tossed about by , high seas. The Katoa managed to land ; a party on the shore who ’ made their way five miles overland to the scene of the wreck. In the meantime the crew of the Wiltshire were still hanging on. The ship was full of water and. being pounded. Their position was critical. Tried To Swim One man tried to swim 1 ashore, but abandoned his i attempt. On the afternoon of June 1, the Auckland tug Te Awhina ’ came on the scene and > although coming to within 200 yards of the Wiltshire was unable to effect any res- i cue. I She then landed a party with lifesaving gear and roc-1 kets and the Union Company’s i Moeraki, which also arrived < in the area, landed similar 1 equipment Residents set out I on horseback to try to help 1 save the 100-odd men gathered on the forecastle. • At 3.40 p.m. the Katoa i party was on the shore opposite the wreck and several i attempts were made to get a t line from the ship. Rockets t were carried adrift and floating objects met a similar i fate. Eventually a hatch 1 cover was floated on to the i rocks and the line secured s

. by a heroic descent of the i cliff by seaman Kehoe of the i Katoa. Hours passed, however, before an endless line had been made fast from a tree on the cliff to the Wiltshire. ' and the first man was drawn ’ foot by foot to the shore. At intervals three of his com- ' panions followed him before [ operations were suspended ! during the night. ! Cold And Hungry , The mental strain of those ' on board was now aggravated, j and, with the exception of a ► little beef, no provisions were > available until supplies were sent over the lifeline on the ■ morning of June 2. , After a night of drenching ' rain, the rescue work was ’ resumed at daybreak and an additional 12 men bad been landed when a party from ? H.M.S. Philomel arrived. . With their assistance the ’ work of rescue proceeded more rapidly, 10 men hauling . on the endless rope and bringing the remainder of the crew ashore. The rescue party landed two men every six minutes and - food and water were transferred to those on the wreck. At 2 p.m. a total of <3-men had been landed, 58 of whom were on the Katoa. All the Wiltshire’s crew were landed by 10 p.m.—two days after the vessel had struck. The last 30 men camped near the landing place as the bush tracks were so dangerous to negotiate at night No Casualties There were no casualties and all eventually recovered from their exhaustion. The Wiltshire had left Liverpool in April after loading at that port Bristol and Glasgow, more than 10,000 tons of general merchandise for Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin. Built in 1911 at Glasgow by John Brown, she was 526 ft . in length and had five masts. Her wreck, it was found in : a court of inquiry, was due to i two errors of judgment of . the master. i The new Wiltshire, 497 ft , in length and 10,036 tons, is a : liquid gas and chemical car- i rier with her accommodation ] and machinery spaces aft. i

She is now oh long-term i charter to George Gibson and Company, Leith, and is the , first gas ship to be built for I the Bibby Line. s She has three large cargo . tanks, independent of the i ship structure, from which t they are insulated by poly- ■ urethane. s Power is from a Hawthord--1 Doxford four-cylinder turbocharged oil engine of 8600 b.h.p. 5 I