STEAMER ASHORE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20107, 29 November 1939, Page 6

STEAMER ASHORE

MISHAP IN FOG WAIKOUAITI ON ROCKS FOVEAUX STRAIT'LOSS CREW TOWED TO BLUFF CARGO MAY BE SALVAGED (Per Press Association.) INVERCARGILL, this day. The Union Steam Ship Company's cargo steamer Waikouaiti ran ashore at the south-west corner of Dog Island in Foveaux Strait in a fog at 9 o’clock last night. .The vessel was still fast this morning. The day is calm. All the crew are safe.

The ship was bound from Sydney to Lyttelton direct. Captain J. Bruce is in command.

The vessel struck the rocks oh Dog Island ,150yds out. The forepart is 7ft. under water at high tide, while the stern is high in the air, showing the propellers.

The ship will probably be a total loss, but the cargo of hardwood poles, sleepers and steel from Port Kemibla and Newcastle will be salvaged by the Gale and Wahabi, which are scheduled to arrive .at Bluff this afternoon.

Crew In Lifeboats

The crew of 25 took to the lifeboats With their personal effects and were towed to Bluff by the Harbour Board launch, arriving at !) o'clock this morning.

Captain King, marine superintendent oi the Union Steam Ship Company at Dunedin, and other officials left Bluff in a launch at M a.m. to make an inspection.

The weather is fine and the .sea is calm. Salvage will present no great difficulty if conditions remain calm, but the ship will be in a precarious position if the weather comes up rough,

Dog Island, where the vessel struck, is three miles from Bluff. It is half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. On the highest point, which is 50ft. above sea level, is a lighthouse tower which is 150 ft. high. Only the keepers and their families live there. 'Built in Germany in 1914, the Waikouaiti, then the German-owned and named Irrigat'd, was taken over after the war by the Union Steam Shin Company. She is well 'known on the Now Zealand coast and h'as been engaged chiefly in trade between Sydney. Newcastle and South Island ports, in recent years she was regularly engaged in this trade till she was replaced five months ago by a new vessel.

The master of the Waikouaiti is Captain J, Bruce, the first officer Mr. S. C. Angus, the second Mr. C. A Spencer, and the third Mr. J. W. Wilson.

The Waikouaiti, formerly a German ship, was launched at Rostock, Germany, in December, 1914, as the Neptun, and was taken over by the Union Steam Ship Company, Limited, after the Great War. The length of the vessel is 360 ft„ and she has a gross tonnage of 3926 tons and a net tonnage of 2379. The carrying capacity of the Waikouaiti is in the vicinity of 6000 tons. She is a single-screw .Ship with a speed of 10 knots.