BUMPED OVER REEF

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 61, 12 March 1936, Page 10

BUMPED OVER REEF

OIL TANKEE'S PEEIL.

HULL BADLY DAMAGED

SAVING OF THE VARDAAS

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, March 7.

The master and crew of the 'Norwegian oil tanker Vardaas, under charter to the Shell Company, spent several days of extreme anxiety 'after she was badly damaged in striking Danger Rock, 70 miles south of Brisbane, while on a voyage from Singapore to Sydney. She had to run through boisterous weather to, shelter in Moreton Bay, and there remain, with her crude oil cargo seeping through the cracks in her hull, until an empty tanker could be obtained and- sent to ,take her cargo.

Her hull encased 11,000 tons of crude oil, which was still leaking through her sides several days after her mishap. Fearing that movement might result in sparks from the jagged edges of the torn steel plates causing a fire or explosion, the crew constantly played hoses on the deck. The vessel struck the- reef three times in a heavy sea, severely buckling her hull and deck, and causing her length to be shortened by about.one foot. The buckle badly wrenched and threatened to sever the forward part of the vessel, the main damage being to the forward well deck, about 80 feet from the bows. There, on either side, the hull had buckled out about one foot, splitting plates in several places and causing the leakage of oil, which came from the vessel in a fine spray. As the oil leaked out water was pumped into the damaged tanks, forcing the oil to the top and gradually bringing the leakages under control. VISIBILITY AT ZERO. The vessel met bad weather all the way down the Queensland coast, and conditions grew steadily worse. As Cape Moreton was passed on Monday night and Tuesday morning visibility was practically -at zero the officers searched in vain for the outline of Point .Danger, and for tell-tale breakers around the reef. Pilot J. Friend, who joined the Vardaas at Thursday Island, said that rain made it impossible for *him or the ship's master (Captain Finn Larsen) to appreciate the proximity of disaster, as they were also at the mercy of an abnormally strong current. Shortly after daybreak on Tuesday, the Vardaas shivered from stem to stern as the keel crashed square on the rocks. Before anything could be done to check the headway she was caught in the trough of the second wave and was again dumped on the reef. The screech of rending steel and buckling plates made it appear for a moment that she was hard and fast, but she was tossed about on mountainous seas, and after the third blow on the keel, she pitched forward, cleared the rocKs, and was in deep water again. Unable to gauge the extent of the damage because of rain, but realising that the vessel's plight was critical, the pilot kept the bows to sea until a swift survey of the hull and deck could be made. It was found that the forward deck was badly buckled from side to side and that shelter must be sought without delay. Moreton Bay, 70 miles distant, was the nearest haven, and although not sure whether the vessel's back was broken or not, the officers determined to bring her to port. The return journey to Cape Moreton was a triumph of seamanship for the captain and the pilot, as the heavy seas were still running, and the Vardaas with her nose well down was largely at their mercy. Though fearing every moment that I they might see the hull rent asunder, the officers persevered and at 3 p.m. dropped anchor in sheltered water off Cape Moreton. The vessel's wake was marked by a broad trail of crude lubricant.

The captain today sought permission to bring the vessel up the Brisbane River, but the port authorities decided that their reply would depend entirely upon whether the seepage of oil could be stopped.