All the wrong weather

Press, 9 February 1983, Page 1

All the wrong weather

A rueful Mr Jerry Eker, Third Officer of the United States Navy support ship Southern Cross, tests the torrential rain which stopped work on the vessel at Lyttelton yesterday. The immaculate Southern Cross was already several days behind her strict schedule when she sailed from McMurdo Station last Thursday, after delays caused by the disintegration of the ice wharf there. Then she was late arriving

in Lyttelton yesterday, having struck heavy seas, fog, and more ice than usual on the trip north. At times speed had to be reduced to eight knots, in spite of the importance to the Antarctic programme of the supply ship’s being on time. Mr Eker said that a number of passengers, including

several New Zealanders returning from the Antarctic, had not handled the rolling of the lightly loaded ship very well. Lyttelton watersiders and port authorities had been asked to make a special effort to ensure a fast turnround for the Southern Cross. It was hoped to have the

ship on her way back to the Ice within 24 hours of hetplanned arrival at'6.3o a.m. yesterday, but she did not arrive until 2 p.m. Then at 4 p.m., the watersiders unloading the Southern Cross stopped work because of rain so heavy that the hatches had to be closed. One crewman said he had

never seen rain like it, “and I’m from the Mid-West.” The watersiders resumed work later, but there was no provision for a “third shift” to work between 11 p.m. yesterday and 7 a.m. today, said a spokesman. The Southern Cross takes about eight hours to bunker, after loading and unloading is finished, and it now seems unlikely that she will sail before late this evening, at the earliest.