AN INCIDENT OF THE STORM

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 11, 8 October 1917, Page 5

AN INCIDENT OF THE STORM

COAL HULK ADRIFT. IN THE HARBOUR. Considerable excitement was caused on the. waterfront on" Saturday afternoon when a coal .hulk was • nearly driven ashore at Oriental Bay by the cale. At about 5 p.m., when the hulk Coromandel had finished coaling the steamer Wiinmera at No. 1 (north) (Queen's Wharf, the harbour tug liaraka was secured alongside the hulk'ready to tow her to her berth at ' No. 4 Queen's Wharf. Tho hulk was tied with two lines to the wharf. ■ In the business'of letting go she lines one line was cast cfl' and an' unauthorised person let go the second line" at the same time. There was. a gale .of wind blowing, and the hulk, which was light, was carried towards Oriental Bay. The Itaraka, a powerful little boat, quite capable of her work in ordinary circumstances, tried to pull the linlk up, but could not do \so, and although one of the anchors of the hulk was down, the wind was the master of the situation. When the elements of trouble were seen by the watchers on the wharf, it was ordered that the tug Admiral be got under way. The crew was .not on duty, and the gear was locked away. But those difficulties were $0011 overcome. The locks were broken open and a crew vaa gathered. " Two engineers on tho Wimmera were called to .the .engine-room of the Admiral; the deck hands comprised a stevedore, a newsve'ndor,( a boatman, an office clerk, and the purser on thel Wimmera; the firemen was a boatman on the Harbourmaster's staff. Besides this willing crew, the vessel needed a master, and Mr. 'T; Parey, watch foreman on the Harbourmaster's staff, filled that position, and in about thirty minutes the Admiral had left the wharf. By the time the drifting vessel had been sccured by the Admiral she ' was about 20 yards off the beach at the far side 'of the ewimming baths. When the bulk was in tow the Janie Seddon came to render assistance, but was not needed. On the hulk were the keeper, his wife, and children, and six or seven coalworkeis. 1 The incident could very easily have been attended with a serious ending, and the work of catching the vessel in time was spoken of highly on the waterfront.