SHIPS COLLIDE

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 28, 1 August 1940, Page 12

SHIPS COLLIDE

TAJNKER AND FREIGHTER

IMPACT IN DARKNESS IN COOK STRAIT

FREIGHTER BADLY HOLED

Travelling under war conditions, without lights, two large l overseas ships, the Norwegian tanker Ole Jacob (8306 tons), and the British motor-ship Armadale (5066 tons), collided in Cook Strait last night, between 8.30 andy 9 o'clock. Considerable damage was done to the Armadale, which was badly holed forward, but no one was injured, and both ships arrived , at Wellington this moniing under their own power.

The point where the collision occurred was . approximately 20 miles east of Cape Campbell and 40 miles .south/of Pencarrow Head. Apparently the Ole Jacob struck the. Armadale, which gave first news of the mishap in an SOS, the master, Captain H. E. Webb, reporting that his ship was badly- holed forward and that No.l hold was flooded.;; Fortunately, the weather was fine and the sea was snaopth. The tanfeer stood by the Armadale,* which requested assistance. Two tugs, the Harbour Board's Toia ; and the Union Company's Terawhiti, carrying all necessary:": towing and salvage. gear, 'were immediately got ready, and they left at 11.10 p.m., only to find that their towing services were not required.

Captain: R. Pearson was in charge of tlie Terawhiti, and two:Harboiir Board pilots, Captains C. C. Bullock and A. H. S. Gell, were aboard the Toia. Captain Gell boarded the Armadale and piloted her into" the harbour.

The Armadale arrived at about 7 a.m. today and berthed at Aotea Quay, near the Floating Dock, and the Ole Jacob followed her in about.an hour later, and was tied up at Burnham Wharf. * :' . .

At the time of the collision the Armadale; in light trim, was coming from the south and going westward through Cook Strait, while the Ole Jacob was bound south with a cargo of motor spirit. HUGE HOLE IN ARMADALE. ..Judging from the damage done; to the Armadale the impact was terrific. On the starboard side of the vessel, between the bdw and the foremast, there is a. hole big enough to drive a bus through. It is roughly square in shape, though wider at the top, and it extends from some distance below the waterline to within about six feet of the. foredeck. Above the waterline the hole extends upwards for about 25 feet, and it is- about the same distance in width at the bottom, widening sud* denly at the top to about 35 feet. |

Such was the force of the blow that a large panel of the Armadale's side, torn out of the rest of the hull on three sides but hingemg vertically on. the fourth side, was forced backwards and into the hold, across which it is now jammed in a transverse position, resembling a bulkhead. A member of the crew who was in his bunk at the time of the collision was thrown to the floor by the shock.' SOME CARGO LOST. A quantity of cargo * was lost, but exactly how much has not yet been

ascertained. Captain Webb trimmed bis ship by shifting part of the carga of oil drums. Today cargo was unloaded so that an exarnmatiph could be made of No. 2 hold to see- whether there was any damage to it.

Lloyd's surveyor made j an> examinay tion of the ship today. The * repair job will be a big one, and with so large a section of hull and frames, damaged it may be necessary to, get, new ; material from Australia, Mr. C. M. Turrell, general manager of the New Zealand Shipping Co-. Ltd., said'. : The Armadale was built in 1929 by W. Denny and Bros., Dumbarton, for the Australind Steamy Shipping Company (Trinder, Anderson, and Co.), of. London. Of 5066 tons, gross, she has been in her owners' America-New Zealand-Australia service since : her maiden voyage. The Ole Jacob is a new Norwegian, ship making1 her first visit to. these waters; having .been launched, at: Gothenburg, Sweden,- last year "for Mr.. Johs. Hansen, of Arendal, Norway. She is a large * tanker with a length of 470 feet and a breadth of 59 feet. -■'■'.■'"' "": X:.'\ '"'"^ DAMAGE TO TANKER. Additional evidence ', of the force of the collision was presented by the battered appearance of the bow of the Ole Jacob as she'lay at the Burnham Wharf. On both sides of the hull, for about 40 feet back from the stem on the port side and a lesser distance oh the starboard side, plates were buckled and dented as if by a lateral wrenching strain. The stem itself and the massive hawse-pipes were fractured, and the winch gear on the deck, about;2s feet above the waterline, was reduced , to scrap metal. Damage was also done to gear in the forepeak, though here the destruction did not extend as far aft as it did on the completely unprotected deck. The Ole Jacob possibly suffered some underwater damage as well, for she was slightly down by the bow as she lay alongside the wharf..Repairing her will also be a task of* some magnitude. Captain L. Krough commands the tanker.