Salvor hopes to float wreck

Press, 1 June 1984, Page 6

Salvor hopes to float wreck

The wreck of the yacht Karelia should be brought to the surface of Purau Bay today, according to its owner, Mr Les Savage. The yacht’s masts were salvaged yesterday and the wheelhouse broken off to get the motor out, Mr Savage said last evening. Two new divers had looked at the yacht, which struck rocks in the bay on 524, and said it was litely salvable. “Things are looking a lot more promising,” Mr Savage said. The fishing trawler Triena will go out to the yacht this morning to winch out the motor and bring it back to Lyttelton. Mr Savage said a mechanic would be waiting at the wharf to take the motor to be stripped and drained immediately. The trawler would return, loaded with about 45 40gallon drums, which would be sunk down to the yacht and packed into

it. The drums would then be filled with air from a compressor on the trawler and “we hope the yacht will surface,” said Mr Savage. All going well, the Karelia would be in the inner harbour by about 4 p.m. today. Mr Savage said the next problem would be negotiating with the Lyttelton Harbour Board for the use of its steam crane Rapaki to lift the empty shell out of the harbour. “They will have to get it going first, which takes a while as fires have to be lit, and so I don’t expect to see any work done until at least Monday,” he said. When the yacht is out of the water, Mr Savage wants to take it to a private section to work on it. “If I leave it at Lyttelton in the harbour, vandals are bound to get to it and after all the trouble I have been to, that just would not be worth it,” he said.