Rescue vessels set sail

Press, 7 December 1987, Page 1

Rescue vessels set sail

By

DAVID CLARKSON

and NZPA A Canadian cargo ship will save Australia’s summer Antarctic programme, while two other vessels head for the stranded supply ship Nella Dan on remote Macquarie Island. The Australian Antarctic Division has chartered the 163 m Lady Franklin, which is ice-strengthened and has a skipper and, crew with polar experience. The Canadian vessel will be outfitted to accommodate 55 people and is expected to arrive in Hobart to begin work on the Australian programme on January 15. A supply boat with a Danish salvage crew was to leave Australia yesterday bound for Macquarie Island, according to the Auckland-based managing director for McKay Shipping, Mr Craig Harris, whose company is the New Zealand agent for the Nella Dan’s owners. The Australian Antarctic Division’s supply ship Ice Bird is also heading south to take off the 50 people now sheltering at the island’s weather station after the stranding. Mr Harris said a supply ship was chartered for the work rather than a tug, because a vessel with the capacity to take off the Nella Dan’s 630 tonnes of oil was needed. Inquiries had been made in Taranaki for a vessel servicing the oil rigs there, but none could be spared for the necessary two weeks, he said. Mr Harris said the vessels were expected to arrive at the scene of the stranding, Buckles Bay, on Tuesday.