Valuable equipment lost in scuttling

Press, 28 December 1987, Page 6

Valuable equipment lost in scuttling

NZPA-AAP Hobart An estimated SAUStSOO,OOO ($550,000) worth of equipment was lost in the scuttling of the long-serving Antarctic supply ship, the Nella Dan, on Christmas Eve, said the Australian Antarctic Division’s director, Mr Jim Bleasell, yesterday. Speaking at the Hobart wharfside after the emotional arrival of the oil rig tender, Lady Lorraine, early last evening with six of the original Nella Dan crew and her captain on board, Mr Bleasell said the equipment had to be left behind in the hurried evacuation of the sinking ship. He said one piece of equipment which went down with the Nella Dan was a pump, belonging to the Federal Department of Transport which had been hired for sAustsooo ($5500) a day. The Danish-owned ship now rests in 4500 metres of water. Mr Bleasell said men’s lives were in jeopardy

during the incident which saw the Nella Dan start to sink inside the Macquarie Island Bay before all the equipment could be removed. He said an urgent evacuation had been undertaken to ensure no lives were lost. The master of the Nella Dan, Captain Arne Sorensen, was visibly upset on his return to Hobart. Many people have expressed deep regret that the ship could not be saved. However, neither he, nor his crew, were permitted to make any comment about the sinking because an inquiry into the events surrounding the ship’s grounding and subsequent sinking is expected to begin tomorrow. The inquiry will be conducted by a senior officer of the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Communications, Captain Christopher Fylor. The Danish Ambassador to Australia, Mr Birger Abrahamson, and a senior marine surveyor,

Captain Mike Fitzpatrick, will assist Captain Fylori It is hoped that Mr Abrahamson’s report to the Danish Government will make another inquiry in Denmark unnecessary. The ship’s crew is expected to return to Denmark once the inquiry is over. The Nella Dan, which had supplied Australian Antarctic bases for 26 years, went aground on rocks at Macquarie Island early in. December. Although refloated, the Nella Dan’s Danish owner, J. Lauritzen A. S., decided that it would not be feasible to tow the damaged vessel to a port for repairs. A contract for a replacement vessel has been awarded to the N.S.W. company, Carrington Slipways, and the new ship is expected to be finished in September, 1989. The service provided by the Nella Dan will be continued by another vessel, the Icebird, and a Canadian vessel, Lady Franklin.