Quite a jolt for Shadbolt

Press, 19 February 1983, Page 1

Quite a jolt for Shadbolt

The senior Fisheries Officer in Christchurch, Mr Ken Ford, inspects the badly damaged bow of the Lyttelton trawler Howard Li Shadbolt after she struck what was believed to be a rock off Banks Peninsula early yesterday. The 21m fibreglass fishing vessel struck about 4 a.m. while one man was at the wheel and the others asleep below, according to a mem-

ber of the crew. The incident is believed to have occurred somewhere off Pigeon Bay. “It was a fair wallop when we hit; then we were running round making sure everything was okay,” said the crewman. The impact shattered the fibreglass layers in the Howard L. Shadbolt’s starboard bow for several metres above and below the water-

line, leaving big pieces of fibreglass hanging off the hull, and a gaping split in her stem. A bulkhead at the bow prevented the rest of the hull from taking water, however, and the Howard L. Shadbolt reached Lyttelton safely. She had been steaming, not fishing, when the accident happened. Officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries

and the Ministry of Transport made preliminary inquiries yesterday. A full inquiry would be made, said Mr Ford. The Howard L. Shadbolt will be slipped at Lyttelton today. While the damage was repairable, it would be a big job,, said a marine fibreglass expert who inspected the vessel yesterday.