WILD WEATHER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 38, 13 August 1910, Page 5

WILD WEATHER.

WHANGAROA IN A GALE. THRILLING EXPERIENCES. The three-masted scow Wliangaroa from Sydney, \vith hardwood piles and gk-ders, was granted pratique yesterday afternoon, and was berthed last evening. All on board, from Captain Pearson to the "doctor," were heartily glad when the vessel tied up. She had left Sydney 28 days before, and twelve days from Heads to Heads* would oiot be an overquick run for a. vessel of her rig and build. A Post reporter boarded her as she lay in Kaiwairra Bight yesterday afternoon', and it was clear at first sight that the Whangaros- had 'had an exceedingly rough passage, and that she had been most capably nursed. t A chat with tho mate, and a reference to the log-book —tli» captain had gome ashore —showed that the trouble began when the W'hangaroa. was off the New South Wales coast. She ran into ,th.B storm that did so much havoc in Sydney. They Whafigaroa sailed on 15th July, and the weather was thick and squally. There was a hard gale blowing as soon as she was well off the land. First, on 16th July, the mainsail blew out, and the foresail was split, requiring three new "cloths" to bo put in. All the time tho repairs were being effected the vessel was making very heavy weather, theVind howling fiendishly m the rigging, and seas breaking aboard. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 18th the jib blew clean away, and two hours latei the foresail again split with a report like a guv. The* Whangaroa was then under close-reefed mizzen and main sails. At noon, th© mainsail blew away. All this time the scow wallowed in the sea like a hog in a mudpool. At 4 p.m. the same day the eyeboit in the after part of the- rudder carried away, the ship then lying helpless in the trough of the sea, failing to head up to the sea. Canvas was set in the mizzea rigging to steady her, and she lay hove-to and fairly comfortable. Here was where good seamanship came m. The rudder had to be secured, or it would have been smashed to splinters, -even if it did not batter the stern in. Tackles were rigged from the tiller-head, and tho rudder was secured. The next day the weather moderated somewhat, and temporary steering-gear waa rigged up; and with such the Whangaroa was brought into port. How great was the strain on th>& tackles may be gathered from a glance at the tiller, which is a short stout piece of solid iron 18 inches long and three inches thick. It was bent at a complete -right angle. A heavy sea over the poop tore away part of lihe port bulwarks, and a 6<>a also hurled itself on the galley and almost tore it off the deck —pots, pans, stove, and everything else. All this trouble took place 160 miles or so off the New South Wales coast. Gradually the weather moderated, but the next trouble was a leak in the centre-board casing On 21st July there were 3ft of wateff in tho hold. All hands were at the pumps for 24 liauis, and when the water was down sufficiently low the leak —only a small one—was discovered and caulked. This was a most dangerous undertaking, by reason of tho heavy cargo. There were in the hold great hardwood beams. These had to be brought up on deck while the scow was danciug about on the waves like a ballet girl. To be caught, between one of these beams and th© coamings was death, for some of them weighed a ton, and they were- most difficult to nandle. The Whangaroa has a donkey-engine- and steam winch, but there was no getting up steam in that weather. Victor Hugo's vivid description of the careering gun in "Ninety-three" was recalled on seeing what the officers and crew of tho Whangaroa had Had to do. Howevei, when nearing New Zealand the weather so much improved that when in the vicinity of Farewell Light, picked up on Monday last, the Whangaroa ran into calms and drifted for two days with hardly steering way on her". On Wednesday a southerly breeze sprang up, and then n light south-westerly followed, which earned her right through the Strait 3, bringing her off. Pe-ncaKrow Head or thereabout at 3 a.m. yesterday. The crew of the Whaiigaioa consists of four men —a Frenchman, a Dane, a German, and a Swede. The officers and tho cook are _Biitish. Sho brings 29,000 ft of hardwood piles, and 140,000 ft of girders. One of the piles is 69ft 9in long. They are for the Wellington Harbour Board.

"Nine-tenLhb of the infantile dysentery in this place is caused through the closeness of the sub-soil water to the surface," declared the Gieboine Borough at a recesn£ council- iueejjgg.,