THE STEAMER AS SHE IS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3593, 5 August 1912, Page 5

THE STEAMER AS SHE IS.

DEEP IN THE ROCK. Tlie spectacle which met the eyes of the many who journeyed to the Kaiti Beach yesterday was indeed a sorrv one, for the big steamer was hard down at the bow. little more than half the hull, being visible. The slant to shore is more pronounced, as is evidenced by the height of the starboard propeller over the one on the shore side. The rise and swing of the stern can he detected from the shore.

But the best experience is an hour or two aboard, with time to hurriedly survey tlie steamer. It is not altogether a pleasant one, but a profitable.

When a “Gisborne Times” reporter was on board yesterday, there was a big sea, running, and the rook-hold steamer was swaying to the weight of the swell. There was a perpetual tremble on deck, and it was some time before one was able to gain his “sea legs,” ior rather “wreck-legs,” for there was required a great deal more dexterity to tread tlie sloping, shaking deck than to promenade a steamer in a rolling sea. - At the nose, the steamer was down dee- only the tops of some deckhouses and the wheel of a winch being in sight. No 1 hold is blotted from view, and No. 2 hold is in a similar state, while the water in the third hold is a couple of feet from the level of the deck. On occasions, the whole of the steamer, for’ard of the bridge, was wave-swept, and the sound of the seas, churning and curling in the holds, was _such as to liken the place to pandemonium. Toe steamer is undoubtedly burrowing into the papa more every hour, and some opine that she has finished her journey through the papa and commenced. to penetrate the soitor mud. The telescoped foremast is. wobbling noticeably, and it is within the realm of possibility that she might topple over at any moment. Going astern, one is confronted with a sight bearing striking contrast to that in the bow. A peep over the extreme stern shows that it is a sickly depth to the sea, and it is here that the sliiver of the hull can be most clearly felt. The stem swings shorewards with the swell until the pull on the anchor lines gives the vessel acruel jolt, which vibrates 'throughout. There are, by tlie way, three heavy anchors out astern and two bower anchors at the head. These anchors, with 270 fathoms of cable attached to each, are quite salvable. In the wheelhouse astern, there is a considerable amount of spare gear. One gains the sensation of a toboggan run in looking down the deck. The slope is a surprising one, making it necessary for the uninitiated to hold back like a man “doubling” down hill when making forwards. In the central portion of the steamer’s deck the animation was greatest, the officers, engineers, and mep beings engaged in hauling and lifting the salvage and other gear for loading on to the Gos ford and Hipi, which, lav alongside. Among the cabins and deckhouses there was considerable “bustle on,” as the Americanism goes. The salvors’ assistants, who were to come ashore, were hard at it making up their kits, and members of the ship’s company were inspecting the larders and storehouses, unearthing bottles of piquant pickles, dried fruits, and other equally appetising edibles Such were the scenes on deck.

Down With The Engines. Down below all was not well. It did not require a particularly powerful nasal organ to detect a smell of dampened charcoal or fire-damp when one approached tlie entrance to the stokehold. In a side vent water could lie seen. A trip to the engineroom and the staunch frame-work and remarkable complication of wheels and cylinders and rods was seen to glisten almost as brightly as before. On tlie floor of the ship it was different. Four Gwynne pumps were hard at work, coping with the water which gave promise of creeping from the (stokehold. The bilges were filled with water, and pumps coughed and clicked as they kept it from gaining the level of the engine-room. Further along between the rows of boilers, and one came to the water in the stokehold. It was lapning along as at the seaside, and a big-boned fireman stood ankle-deep, attending to liis solitary furnace. “Yes,” lie said, “it’s nretty bad. but the pumps are a good match. Take ray tip, they’ll hold the water here.”

Then came a grunt from tho bottom of the boat ami a lurch which upset one’s equilibrium. The whole ship had shaken, they said above. It was an ominous sign,’ and probably showed where the L?g steamer is see-sawing on a bridge cf rock. In this regard it might be mentioned that one of the official party inclines to tho belief that the steamer stands a big chance of being severed amidships or of “turning turtle” in a heavy sea. Part of tho refrigerating machinery is dismantled.

Early this morning the steamer was rising and falling to a heavy swell.