SALVAGE GEAR FOR PORT BOWEN

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 261, 2 August 1939, Page 12

SALVAGE GEAR FOR PORT BOWEN

Ten Lorry Loads From ; Auckland PLANS FOR UNLOADING I CARGO Dominion Special Service ! AVANGANUI, August 1. Rough seas continue off Castlccliff beach, and soundings near the stranded liner Port Bowen have again lieen held up. Gear is still being brought to Wanganui to Ik.* used in unloading tlie assist in hauling the vessel off the beach. Ten lorries were commissioned to bring salvage gear from Auckland to Wanganui. This gear was brought over i from Sydney by the murine superin- ' tendent of the Port Line in Australia, ! Captain D. AV. Gibson, and weighs j about 60 tons. The lorries left Auckland on Sunday and arrived iu Wanganui last night. 1 The gear includes two large anchors weighing three tons each. There are nine winches with drums on to which long lengths of steel cable are wound. Sand pumps are also included in the equipment. Most of the heavy gear has been taken to Castlecliff Wharf, where it will be loaded in the lighter Kaiwaka and taken out to the Port Bowen when the weather is favourable. On the beach opposite the stranded steamer the road’ to give access for heavily-laden lorries is being further improved by the Wanganui City Council, for as soon as a start is made to unload the cargo from the Port Bowen, the road will have to carry an abnormal amount of heavy traffic. It is proposed to run steel cables from each of the hatches of the steamer and to unload the meat and butter in cradles and swing it ashore direct into the lorries. The meat will then be taken direct to the cool stories. With the steamer’s refrigerators working, the cargo in the meantime is being kept frozen hard and is in good condition. Extra sheerlegs are being put into position on the beach to carry the steel cables. The boilers recently brought from Wellington will be loaded on to tlie Port Bowen at the earliest opportunity. The personal effects of the officers and crew were brought ashore yesterday. USE OF ANCHORS AND WINCHES Prospects Of Refloating Ship Dominion Special Service WANGANUI, August I. The opinion that the use of mushroom anchors and work on the winches would play a big part in the salvage work on the Port Bowen was expressed by the former second officer of the Indrabarah, Air. A. D. Adcock, in an Interview in 'Wanganui. Air. Adcock had just come off the bridge when the Indrabarah ran aground near the mouth of tlie Rangitikei River 26 years ago, and he played a big part in the refloating of the vessel two months afterward. During the salvaging he saved two lives and was presented with three medals, one of these ■being presented to him by the late King George V at Buckingham Palace. Whin asked whether he thought the Port Lowen, which he came to Wanganui to inspect, had a good chance of being refloated, Air. Adcock replied that he could not say, but he explained that the Port Bowen was in circumstances almost identical with those in which the Indrabarah was in 26 years ago. Most people thought she was doomed, but mushroom anchors and work on the ship's winches got her off ; it was not a tug, though the Terawhiti bad done splendid work laying anchors. The Indrabarah did not have one bank of sand to contend with, as in the case of the Port Bowen, but several. Asked if the Indrabarah had come ns dose inshore as the Port Bowen, Mr. Adcock said: “I believe she did. Where the Indrabarah was stranded, however, there were not the facilities available as are within easy reach of the Port Bowen —a city water supply, electric light and power. The Indrabarah grounded on a barren, sandy shore miles from the nearest habitation.”