Keeler gutted in harbour

Press, 5 March 1982, Page 1

Keeler gutted in harbour

A 7.9 metre wooden keeler was gutted by fire in Lyttelton Harbour yesterday afternoon. ' Mr Tom Morland, of Christchurch, the owner of the keeler, Marinetti, was sailing from Lyttelton to Reddiffs when the motor cut out near Qoilans Bay, about 1.30 p.m. He decided to make a cup of tea, and lit an oil stove. “I had a jersey up there, went to pick it up and it just went boom,” he said. Mr Morland, who wore a wetsuit, was blown out of the boat by the explosion. He climbed into a dinghy being towed by the keeler,

but it become swamped and capsized. H.M.N.Z.S. Kuparu, which was on a training exercise with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the harbour, went to Mr Morland’s aid. The Kuparu’s crew fought the fire using sea water, foam and chemical extinguishers. They were helped by the pilot cutter Wairangi, which later lowed the gutted keeler to the dry dock at Lyttelton. Mr Morland said the Marinetti, which he had owned for four months, was covered by insurance. He could not put a value on the keeler.