RANGATIRA DAMAGED

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 156, 30 December 1940, Page 4

RANGATIRA DAMAGED

TEN HOURS ON PIGEON BAY REEF

PASSENGERS TRANSFERRED BY BOAT

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURGH, December 29

V-VSHSing gently into the reef at the western headland of Pigeon 8ay,..-'about 20 miles from Lyttelton, in dense fog this niprning,;the inter-island express steamer Rangatira, under the command of Captain G. B. Morgan., remained hard aground for nearly ten hours. . Her 750 passengers were safely transferred in lifeboats to the cargo steamer Waimarino, which berthed at Lyttelton shortly after midday. The Rangatira was assisted off the reef hj the Lyttelton Harbour Board's tug, Lyttelton I, and an intercolonial steamer on the afternoon tide, and, steaming up harbour at 8 or 10 knots, she completed her interrupted journey apparently little the worse for her stranding. She arrived at Lyttelton at 3.40 p.m.

The mishap occurred about 5.30 a.m. The Rahgatira .. had been steaming slowly for some time in a thick coastal fog, with the siren sounding at intervals. She struck so gently that most of those ori: board did hot know she was aground. A few of the male passengers4 went on deck and saw a reef of rocks a few yards away on the port bow. ■ ; ■

Passengers were told to return to their cabins and await orders. In response to wireless messages from the stranded ship the Lyttelton staff of the Union Company quickly made arrangements to dispatch relief ships. The company had two ships in port, the fast coastal steamer Waimarino, and an intercolonial steamer. By 7.30 the Waimarino had been made ready for sea and; left, the intercolonial steamer following soon afterwards.

The tug Lyttelton I, however, was the first vessel to answer the summons, steam at an hour's notice always being available on one or other of the Lyttelton Harbour Board's tugs. She left for Pigeon Bay about 7.15. The second tug, Lyttelton 11, was temporarily out of commission, but was immediately made ready to assist if necessary in salvage operations. When the relief vessels left the wharves fog extended the full length of the harbour. It began to lift as they neared the entrance to Pigeon Bay, and the actual rescue operations were carried out in brilliant sunshine and with, an almost smooth sea. LOWERING OF THE BOATS. The reef on which the Rangatira struck, at the mouth of Pigeon Bay, is situated some five miles south-east of Lyttelton Heads. The Rangatira went aground about two hours after full tide, and when the rescue vessels arrived she was about 300 yards off the west headland of the bay, with her bow well out of the water and showing most of her bow rudder. Her stern was well down in deep water and the tug had made a line fast and was pulling gently to prevent the Rangatira going further up. The grounded steamer had no list, which greatly simplified the transhipping of passengers. Soon after the arrival of the Waimarino the port lifeboats, which had previously been swung out, were filled with women and children and lowered into the water, on the leeside without mishap. All passengers were wearing lifebelts and seemed in remarkably good spirits. The. lifeboats of .'the Rangatira are of the ■ manually operated propeller type, and women passengers were enthusiastically assisting in the operation of hand levers. PICNIC-LIKE SCENE. It was an extraordinary scene when a launch carrying a Press representative arrived a few minutes after the Waimarino had taken up her station. There was nothing of grimness and the,threat of tragedy usually associated with shipwreck. Warm sunshine poured from the now cloudless sky and made the gently undulating sea sparkle ■ brilliantly as the lifeboats began to ply between the Rangatira and the Waimarino. It was noticeable from launches that Air Force men, passengers on the steamer express, were lending valuable aid in the loading of the lifeboats. The only mishap reported was that to a woman, who tore a fingernail. The crowds, in the lifeboats were so cheerful that they might have been going to a picnic. In one boat a mother settled down to feed an infant child from a bottle heated by a thoughtful stewardess. The,milk apparently was too hot, and a seaman held the bottle in the water to cool the milk. On board the Waimarino all preparations had been made to receive the passengers. Companion ladders lowered on each side expedited the work of taking the passengers aboard. Some of the launches assisted by towing lifeboats, and one large passenger launch took a full load of passengers. As soon as they boarded the Waimarino women passengers were given facilities to wash and were served with tea. All praised warmly what had been done for them aboard the Rangatira. All had had a substantial breakfast before leaving the ship. Stewards had helped passengers into their lifebelts. WELCOMED AT THE WHARF. When the Waimarino came into the inner basin and was warped into her berth at No. 2 wharf there was a big crowd to welcome the rescued passengers. Anxiety continued to be felt for the fate of the Rangatira, and preparations were continued in Lyttelton for attempted salvage. Shortly after 3 o'clock the anxiety was ended by advice that the Rangatira, under the combined power of her own engines and towlines from the Lyttelton I and the Union Company's intercolonial vessel, had backed off the reef. This welcome news spread just as rapidly as the news of the stranding, and when the Rangatira steamed up the harbour shortly before 4 o'clock Evans Pass and the Summit roads were lined with hundreds of motor-cars. No one would have guessed, as the Rangatira steamed serenely up the harbour, that she had been aground and consequently in danger of serious damage for nearly ten hours, nor would one have suspected from her deft, and expeditious berthing that anything was. amiss. She swung round outside the moles and came in stern first,-the usual practice in berthing the steamer express. RAILWAY ARRANGEMENTS. Arrangements had been made by the Railways Department to transport the southbound passengers to their homes. Those .who were travelling to points south of. Timaru were conveyed in three railway buses, which left Christchurch in the middle of the afternoon. Passengers for south stations as far as Timaru were carried on the usual Sunday excursion train, which leaves Christchurch at 5.25 p.m. These passengers were obliged to leave without their, luggage, which was dispatched from Lyttelton by a later train. Mails from the north carried on the Rangatira were brought to the city on the 6.25 p.m. train from Lyttelton. HANDLING OF THE MAILS.

Smart work was carried out by the staff of the. Christchurch Post Office

in dealing with the large mails carried by the Rangatira. The mails reached the office about 7 o'clock. Before 10 o'clock the southern mails had been sorted for the Dunedin express, and city mails prepared for the morning deliveries. Before the task was completed a further large mail arrived from Wellington by the Wahine.