HARBOUR STORM

Grey River Argus, 29 April 1932, Page 4

HARBOUR STORM

AUCKLAND YACHTS Pounded Into Matchwood many craft suffer. (Per press Association;. AUCKLAND, April 28. Two yachts and a large launch were pounded to pieces in a fierce easterly gale which struck Auckland this morning. A number of other boats came ashore, and were damaged. Telephone communication with the north was disorganised. All work on the waterfront was interrupted. At times the wind blew with great fury, and the sea in the harbour was* the stormiest experienced for several Disaster came to the crack Star class yacht “June” soon after daybreak. The boat, which was owned by Mr A. W. Tamlin, Rear-Commodore of the Devonport Yacht Club, snapped her mooring chain, and piled up on the rocks off King Edward Parade, Devonport. Nothing could be done to save the boat, and within an hour she was badly shattered. At about eight o’clock the yacht began to break up, and she was soon a total wreck. Her mast was the only thing saved. The parting of her mooring chain was also responsible for the keel yacht “Iris” coming ashore on the waterfront road breastwork. As the tide rose, the seas continually broke over the yacht, which soon became littered with seaweed. At every blow the boat would shudder, and pound against the rocks, and at midday she broke up

completely. A large fishing launch, owned by Mr .7. Lowe, of Kohimarama, broke away from her moorings off Kohimarama, and came ashore at the eastern end of the beach at Mission Bay. Apparently the launch passed underneath Kohimarama wharf. Pounded by heavy seas, she soon broke up, and early this afternoon all that was left of her was a large pile of broken planking. There was no sign of her engine. This is the second launch Mr Lowe has lost in a storm. When the tide turned, there w’as a heavy sea running in Mission Bay, and several other small craft were being hard put to it to ride out the storm. A number of other small craft got into difficulties. A keel yacht came ashore on the beach at St. Mary’s Bay. and a large launch, slightly damaged and leaking. was rescued from the stone breastwork at Bayswater. A small yacht got into danger under the Ponsonby wharf. • Over at Devonport, a number of ‘boats other than the “June,” which i was smashed to matchwood, were considerably damaged. The eighteen footer “Doris” turned turtle, and her decking was washed away. A report that a dinghy which contained two men had capsized near the Eastern Tide Deflector was received by the Harbourmaster. Captain Sargent, shortly after ten o’clock. A launch was dispatched to the rescue, and the men picked up. A store launch belonging to H.M.S. “Philomel” dragged her moorings shortly after midnight. She was picked up off Stanley Point, and towed to safety by the training ship’s pinnace an hour later. Two men, in a small launch, which broke away from Orakei at daybreak, narrowly escaped being shipwrecked. The engine had broken down, and the launch was rapidly carried towards the Eastern Tide Deflector. Fortunately the plight of the men was noticed when a tow boat took the drifting launch in charge. She was then dangerously near the rocks. The two men said that they had given up all hope of the launch being picked up before she struck.