A LONG TOW

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 14

A LONG TOW

PORT PIRIE TO ENGLAND

(From !'The Post's"1 Representative), SYDNEY, April 30.

The Dutch tug Ganges will leave Port Pirie shortly with the disabled British freighter Kingswood in tow for a,12,000-mile .voyage .to. England.. , This is '• one' of, the-longe'st'and' most difficult towage feats ever undertaken. For months the crew of the Ganges will eat, live, and sleep aboard their little vessel, rarely sighting land or even another ship. Each minute of those months someone will be stationed to watch the cables to the . Kingswood, ready to report instantly any sign of developing trouble. The slightest rise in wind or sea will mean that not one of the crew may sleep peacefully, and that every man must stand by in case of emergency. The outward voyage of the Ganges from Rotterdam to Port Pirie, when she had no 5000-ton hulk to hold her back, took two months. Few tugs are as well equipped as the Ganges for the job. In recent years Dutch tugs have assumed unchallenged superiority in long-distance towing work. The Ganges, though only a little more than 500 tons (the Kingswood is 5038), is one of the most powerful tugs afloat. She was specially built for salvage work and deep-sea towing. Equipped with radio direction-finder and the most modern navigation equipment, she carries a crew of about 15 men. ' The Kingswood was seriously damaged some months ago by an explosion while she was lying in Port Pirie. Her agents decided to send her back to England for repairs.