A FIERCE SOUTHERLY

Dominion, Volume 17, Issue 288, 22 August 1923, Page 6

A FIERCE SOUTHERLY

WORST GALE FOR TWENTY YEARS SEAS DASH ON TO DAYS BAY ROAD FERRY STEAMER HELD UP A sudden drop in the temperature yesterday about mid-day presaged a weather change from bad to worse, and it was not long before these dire forebodings were only too fully realised. A southerly gale of unprecedented violence set in in the ifternoon, and soon lashed tho sea at the Heads and in the harbour itself into fury The seas were the highest which have been seen for the past twenty years, and presented a scene of awe-inspiring grandeur as they raced in and thundered with a mighty crash <n the exposed beaches. The seas .vere breaking at the Heads withcjsuch fury that the s.s. Armagh, which put out yesterday afternoon, deemed it wiser to return to the wharf. The Union Steam Ship Company also decided to hold up the ferry steamer Mararoa, c msidering it unwise to subject their passengers to such a voyage in the face cf the furious head sea which was running. The mountainous seas did considerable damage at Day’s Bay. where they thundered on to the Beach Road, and wrecked’ several telephone poles. A great surge swept along the foreshore, and caused a good deal of erosion at Eastbourne, where tbo Beas came right up to the Recreation Ground embankment. “It is the heaviest sea I have seen since I came here, and I am in my twenty-sixth year in Wellington,” declared Captain Dawson, harbourmaster at Wellington, to a reporter last evening. Ho stated that in face of the furious seas .which were breaking at the Heads the Union S.S. Company were well advised not to dispatch the Mararoa to Lyttelton last night. In foct, he considered that a considerable amount of risk was being incurred in persisting in endeavouring to maintain the Eastbourne ferry service in such a gale. Damage at Eastbourne. “A very big sea is running,” was the report of Mr. F. H. Mather, Mayor of Eastbourne, who resides near the beach at the seaside suburb “It is the biggest I have ever seen. The waves have been surging along the foreshore, and have done a considerable amount of damage to the sandbanks.” “It has been an unprecedented tide and hurricane.” was the verdict of Mr. R. B. Witty, clerk of the Eastbourne Borough Council, which owns the Eastbourne ferry service. “The seas have been sweeping right over the road at Day’s Bay, and have wrecked a good number of telephone poles. There has also been a good deal of erosion at Rona- Bay, .'where we had gangs of men out yesterday erecting fascines in an attempt to curb the angry seas. We are endeavouring to maintain the ferry service in spite ol the storm,” said Mr. Witty, “and this is something in face of the fact that the Lyttelton, ferry steamer »• not being sent out to-night. ’ Baffled at the Heads. Several vessels made an attempt to leave the port yesterday afternoon, but were beaten back by the huge seas which were breaking :>t the Heads, and were forced to either return to port or shelter in Worser Bay. One old salt declared yesterday that the seas raging at the Heads were the biggest be httd seen there during the past eleven years. The gale was accompanied by heavy rain, which had the cifect of stopping all loading operations at the Wellington wharves at 4 o’clock yesterday. The gale was still raging with unabated violence at midnight, and was bringing on its icy wings swooping rain showers.’ “It will be a wild night at, sea,” remarked an ancient’ mariner cn the wharf last night, as an extra angry gust of wind howled through the rigging of his vessel. A feature of the storm was the excessively low -tate of the temperature, giving the impression that the gale had its origin in the snow wastes of the Antarctic. ( Minor damage has been done m various parts of the city, fences suffering severely. WAHINE DELAYED By Telegraph.— Press Association. Christchurch, August 21. The southerly storm continued with renewed violence this morning, and is continuing without sign fcf a break. The Harry steamer Wabine berthed at 11.40 a.m. A special express for Dunedin left at 1 p.m., owing to the late arrival of the Wahine. WAINUI FROM PICTON NEARLY TWELVE HOURS ON TRIP. The Union Company’s Wainui arrived from Picton shortly after 11.30 o’clock last night, after a very rough passage of nearly twelve hours. "Her average time for the trip is five hours. The vessel sailed from Picton soon after noon, and when she had cleared the sounds ran into heavy seas and a fierce southerly gale. For nearly four hours she fought the gale off Karori Rock,| and although little headway was made tho vessel finally won through. Captain A. B. Sizer stated to a Dominion repiesentative last night that the seas were very heavy, especially at the entrance to the Heads. The Wainui shipped water, but no damage was done.

There were about fifty passengers aboard, and nearly all were badlj’ shaken up. “I have travelled a good deal, but this is the first time I have been seasick for seventeen years,” stated one of the male passengers.