STEAMER’S TOPMAST FALLS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 225, 20 June 1927, Page 8

STEAMER’S TOPMAST FALLS

WATEESIDETJS have NARROW ESCAPE. Dominion Special Service. , Auckland. .Tune 17. An unusual accident occurred’on board th* American steamer West Calera at Central Wharf shortly before midday. A wooden main topmast snapped off and fell on to the deck where it broke into « number of pieces. The accident happened when the craw were hoisting th<f w i rP |pc S aerial into position, it having bean lowered on the vessel’s arrival, so kh not to be in the way of the harbour board’s cranes, while cargo was being worked. The broken mast struck the deck on the port side of No. 4 hatch between a ventilator and a winch. Had it fallen toward the stern it would have certainly killed some of the waterside workers who were unloading from No. 51 hatch. The men who had been workin" No. 4 hatch had finished their work lin'd had left. The mast struck the deck nt a spot where a man had been sitting driving a winch a short time before. The masf broke oif near the lower masthead. where the wood had perished. A topmast to hold the aerial was fitted before the steamer sailed for Hobart.