Freighter Completed Record Tow Today

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1948, Page 4

Freighter Completed Record Tow Today

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, This Day. A month to the day after she left Lyttelton with a refrigerated cargo for Britain, the P. and O. freighter Palana, crept into port today, completing the longest tow ever made by a merchant ship. She berthed about 10 o’clock. Captain F. R. Spun and the crew told a graphic story of a day and night of continuous work in howling gales and huge seas when the towline broke, and also of moments of tension as the line threatened time and again to break again when the Fernmoor was blown abeam. The Fernmoor throughout was completely helpless, as she rolled without steerage way in heavy seas and could depend only on the skill of the Palana’s officers and crew for safety. The record tow of 2300 miles ended at 7.55 this morning when the tug William C. Daldy took the disabled Fernmoor’s towline and. proceeded slowly toward Western Wharf. The Palana’s tow from mid-Pacific took 23 days and ended in a calm, sun-bathed sea. Ship surveyors and marine engineers will inspect the Fernmoor’s engines to assess the extent of the damage which forced the freighter to call lor assistance when some 700 miles south-west of Pitcairn Island on September 19. Captain Lamb has reported that cylinder cooling water castings were smashed, and that portions of the shattered castings jammed the crank webs, causing the engines to seize. Replacement parts arrived in Auckland from London bv air on October 5.