SHIP STRIKES WHARF

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 104, 27 January 1938, Page 10

SHIP STRIKES WHARF

Coaster Port Whangarei BREASTWORK DAMAGED Berthing at Wellington on her arrival from Auckland yesterday, the coastal motor-ship Port Whangarei struck the Queen’s Wharf breastworkopposite No. 18 shed head-on, cutting a deep V-shaped gash in the wharf. Beyond a slight buckling of her plates between stem and hawse-pipe on either bow, the ship was not injured. The Port Whangarei arrived at Wellington at 4.30 yesterday afternoon. She was to berth astern of the Nelson ferry Arahura, taking the No. 14 berth beside the Breastwork. As she approached the berth, she came in on a straight course past the end of the Taranaki Street Wharf, as though about to turn to starboard and come alongside; but instead of making the turn carried on and struck the breastwork bow-on, travelling at about four knots. The 500-ton ship’s momentum carried her some three feet into the wharf, cutting through the heavy 14inch timbers, displacing and splitting a mooring bollard, and starting the water-pipes laid underneath the breastwork. When the ship backed off, it was seen that the only part of her that had come in contact with the wharf was the stem and bows, about ten feet above the waterline, where she had cut into the decking of the breastwork. Her stem did not appear to be bent, but the plates on either side between stem and hawse-pipe were considerably dented and bent. Large fragments of splintered wood were wedged under her close-stowing anchors. The captain, Captain Chapman, when interviewed, said that a gust of wind had caught the vessel as she was beginning to turn. The Port Whangarei is owned by the Watchlin Line. She is a smart little twin-screw motor freighter of 500 tons, and was built in Bremerhaven in 1908. She is a well-known vessel on the New Zealand coast. (Picture on this page.)