STRUCK BY WAVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1946, Page 8

STRUCK BY WAVE

FERRY BOAT PASSENGERS INJURED

STORM IN. SYDNEY HARBOUR

SYDNEY, April 16.

Passengers were battered, syept along the decks, and showered with broken gsss when., the big Dieselengined Manly ferryboat,’, Barren Joey, was struck broadside on by a huge wave when crossing inside the Sydney Heads this morning. One of three women who were injured was still unconscious when taken to hospital by an ambulance, which met the damaged ship when she reached Circular Quay. When the wave crashed aboard, the passengers were swept right across the lower deck, and the force of the blow caused the Barren Joey to heel over until water came abbarej the l.ee side. The injuries suffered "by the three women rushed to hospital include a strained back, possible internal injuries, and cuts caused, by flying glass. Other harbour incidents included the battle of two tugs to rescue a watchman adrift on a pile-driver which broke from its moorings. Late this morning the pile-driver was finally towed to a safe anchorage. After the mishap to the Barren Joey,her sister ship, the Barracoola, which took over the Manly run, struck a heavy sea and aTrived at Manly with, five windows shattered. A 19-year-old girl was taken to Manly Hospital suffering from severe cuts on the legs, and face. At Newcastle a caretaker was severely injured about the head when an avalanche of rock fell 60 feet into his cottage. A slab measuring 9ft by sft crashed through the wall of the cottage and buried the caretaker under a pile of splintered timber and rock. He sustained a fractured skull and concussion. The Sydney Metropolitan area has been subjected to the greatest rainfall on record for April. The suburbs recorded as high as 737 points for 24 hours. No vessel has left port for 36 hours. A 50-mile-an-hour gale, heavy seas, and torrential rain are causing damage in the metropolitan area. Rail, road, and air traffic is disorganised, and small towns just north of Sydney are partially flooded. The foreshores in some parts of the harbour are littered with the wreckage of small boats. Flood warnings are being broadcast to residents in the Nepean and adjacent river areas.