Coal 'master's choice'

Press, 7 May 1981, Page 4

Coal 'master's choice'

I; :i'he Lyttelton harbour Board yesterday disclaimed all " responsibility for any S grade coal which'-was sd aboard the former boat'd tug Lyttelton 11 which diiring the week-end was.delivered to her new.owiier, the Pittwater and ’ Broken Bay Steamship Preservation Group at Sydney. The vessel’s master. Captain J. F. E. Crawford, said in, Sydney that the tug ar- ; rived only-with'the help of jury-rigged'sails and with a minimal amount of coal left for her boilers. , ' "• But the Westport Harbourmaster, Captain Bob. Gower, was. reported , as saying the Lyttelton Harbour Board had ignored Mines Division advice in ordering the two coals used; ? bituminous SSE2 VS

J. E. Mannering, made it clear at yesterday’s board ■ meeting , that the. board played nd part in specifying the coal to be used for the voyage. Captain Crawford was on .. leave from the board' during the delivery voyage and was therfore working privately as an employee of the tug’s new . owner., , .. , - .. .. -■ “The ordering of the coal used on the voyage had nothing to do with the Lyttelton Harbour Board,” Mr Manner-, ing said- “The bqprd has very good 1 relations with the Mines Division and wish# to dissociate itself from* Captain Crawford’s comriiehtfe”. , Captain Crawford was/not quoted as > placing, any ’ on the hoard. Captain WH.'Mampion; a

member supported Mr I Mannering. “They accepted I the coal and now they’re • squealing about it,” he said, > noting that the selection of the type of coal used was - entirely the responsibility of ' the tug’s master and her ' chief engineer. “It certainly wasn’t this board’s decision.” The mixture of Strongman and Charming Creek coal had been tried out -aboard . the Lyttelton 11-before she //left Lyttelton, and Captain Crawford had said then that < the mixture was not efficient ■ in that it produced too many “clinker*” the rock-hard residue which built up on top of the boiler fites.;Qn that ■: basis, local observers had / thought that the bunkering at Westport wpuid have: consisted of a different coal mixture than that which had proved 'Unsatisfactory on ImMB