WANGANELLA: LIFTED FROM REEF BY SWELL

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 February 1947, Page 5

WANGANELLA: LIFTED FROM REEF BY SWELL

lear Disaster. Turned nn nr ® 1 lo Iriumph DRAMATIC SUDDENNESS OF EVENTS >■ (P.A' r ) WELLINGTON, February 7. ’ With dramatic suddenness, imminent disaster to the Wanganella was transformed into unexpected triumph at 9 o’clock last night, when the ship was freed from Barrett’s Reef by the heavy southerly swell. It was a time of great peril to the ship and there were fears that she had been gashed in No. 3 hold. ■ For more than half an hour, the ship while still held at.the ■ bow lay broadside to the pounding punishing swell. Emergency: measures for the safety of the crew were promptly taken. About 25 of the crew wearing life jackets were transhipped under dangerous conditions to the tug Kahamii, leaving on board only the minimum needed for the navigation, and operation of - the engines and salvage equipment.

The transhipped men reached port shortly before 9 p.m. and several spoke in the gravest tones about the position of the ship. Pessimism was evident and there were fears that the ship had been increasingly and extensively holed and strained and might founder if freed from the reef. Only a few minutes after this expression of alarm, transformation occurred. At one instant the Wanganella was rolling tremendously 3 before the swell, which was countered by a fairly strong northerly wind. The next moment the swell lifted her free from the reef, and for a few more fateful minutes, during which there was anxiety whether she would float and the bulkheads would stand, she , drifted broadside before the wind. Quickly her stern was put into the wind, and by 9.15, after a hazardous period in which anything might have happened, as a shipping official said later, she was making her way towards port. It was miraculous, the official said. The good fortune of favourable conditions throughout the salvage operations remained with the Wanganella at the crisis. Preparations Not Complete. This was not a planned attempt

to salvage the Wanganella. The preparations were not complete, and would not have been for several days. It was an emergency. It was also sheer drama, and the only feeling is one of thankfulness that the liner was sufficiently sound and buoyant when she was lifted clear. “The crisis proved the correctness of the salvage principles which had been applied, but had not been completed,” said an official. “The experts undoubtedly worked on the proper lines by deciding on sealing the forward holds and using pumps and air compression. Although the measures were incomplete, they fulfilled their purposes in the emergency and enabled the Wanganella to be brought to port safely. Would Have Been Saved. “Had the salvage operations continued according to schedule and not been interrupted _by the sudden events of last . night,” he added, “there is no doubt that the engineering measures taken would have saved the Wanganella, but there was a good deal of satisfaction in knowing that the correct principles were followed.” , . . x The Wanganella, berthed at Aotea quay, now has her forepart resting on the harbour bottom. No information is as yet available as to docking.