STEAMER ABEL TASMAN

Evening Post, Issue 17, 20 July 1936, Page 10

STEAMER ABEL TASMAN

MOORINGS PART IN FLOOD

CREW ALL SAFE

. (By Telegraph.—Presa Association.) GREYMOUTH, July 19. • The intercolonial cargo steamer , Abel Tasman, of 2047 tons gross register, belonging: to the 11. C. Sleigh Coasters Proprietary, Ltd.. ■ Melbourne, was lost on Saturday evening on the Grey Ri\'er bar under most unusual circumstances. * The vessel was loaded with 810,000 feet of timber, 505 bags of hides, 26 casks of tallow, and also general furniture for Melbourne and Sydney. A heavy.. nor-westerly on Friday night brought steady rain, the Grey River flooding to a high level yesterday with a current of eight knots. The Abel Tasman at 5 p.m. was moored at the No. 4 coal berth for the purpose of bunkering preparatory to completing her cargo. The steamer Kaimai was moored 200 feet further down the wharf, while also at the wharf were the steamer Storm, 400 feet above the Tasman, and the dredge Mawhera below :the Kaimai. ' A few minutes after 5 o'clock the Abel Tasman's heavy starboard mooring chain snapped near the bow. v The extra strain placed on the other mooring chain and the hempen ropes caused . the vessel to break adrift and she : careered stern first downstream. The ship's master, Captain William 'D. Archibald, who was standing on thfe wharf, jumped aboard. The vessel's crew numbered' 29, of whom only 19 were aboard, including one fireman and one engineer, but they were practically helpless, as' the vessel at the time was-not operating her engines, though some steam was up. IN GRIP OF CURRENT. At-first-it appeared that the Abel Tasman would foul the Kaimai and force her adrift also, but fortunately only her stem grazed the Kaimai, and the ■ Abel Tasman . drifted into midstream. Within threes minutes full steam was .up on the Abel Tasman, but it was insufficient to withstand the cm> rent, and the vessel slowly travelled stern foremost towards the breakers on the bar, despite efforts, to back her into the. Blaketown- Lagoon at the end of the wharf. • • Another effort was made to beach her opposite, just inside the north breakwater,.but she was taken to the bar, where' she struck the sunken wreckage of the Kaponga just inside the . outer bar on the fringe of the North Tip Head. Then the westerly seas turned the Abel Tasman broadside on, the stern facing south, and when . she reached the outer bar she was. carried north by the current and pitched upon the North Beach just north of the tiphead, her bow facing north-east. It-is understood that the hull is holed. The vessel had a clearance of little more than a foot with the seas on the bar, which was twenty feet deep.' Darkness had been descending since the vessel broke loose, and as she stranded on the rocks high seas b.rqke over her, drenching the crew. The vessel was freely swinging on the breakers and pitched further inshore, settling down. BREECHES BUOY USED. A ro.cket line was fired from the vessel, and, the first man was got ashore by breeches buoy at 6.20 p.m., the" line-sagging somewhat alarmingly. The man landed on the rocks with seas, breaking near him, but when the second man was on the buoy the line .broke and he had to be hauled back to the ship. Another rocket would have been required to restore the line to the; shore, and preparations were made to receive it. but then a member of the crew, William^ Pitt, A.8., was seen making his way hand over hand along the. main line, which in the increasing seas was swinging dangenerously. When two-thirds of the way across , Pitt was thrown a rope, which, after failing several times, he caught and secured round himself and was drawn ashore. The line was then erected at a greater height on the ship's davits. . The crew could be seen on the boat deck wearing lifebelts, the captain ordering'them to keep together. Swift rescues were then effected, all hands being ashore by 7.25 p.m. The men, who had been preparing for the even- , ing meal when the vessel broke away, wero mostly scantily clad. HATCHES SMASHED OPEN. | Rain on. Saturday had prevented! watersiders from working the vessel, otherwise 40 men would have been engaged abpard when she broke away. The hatches had been fastened down, but the seas smashed them open and washed away portion of the cargo and deck properties, a number being strewn along the beach this morning. . The captain paid a tribute to the crew, all of whom behaved in an exemplary way. Efforts were made today by the boatswain, C. Paulsen, to board the vessel to salvage his personal belongings, but were unavailing, the breeches buoy not being workable. The crew's effects include fair sums of money, one being £60. The crew praise the captain's resourcefulness. The vessel is a total loss, making the eighth vessel, lost in recent years on the Grey bar. The last was the Kaponga on May 27, 1932. There was a similar case to the Abel Tasman's 36 years ago, the steamer Taupo drifting from the wharf through a windlass breaking and stranding on the North Tip Head. On June 9 last year the steamer Omana broke away in a flood here, causing the Kiwitea also to bi^eak her moorings, but both vessels stranded on the opposite side of the river and were refloated.

Another effort is to be made to board the wreck tomorrow to recover, effects.