TRAWLER WRECKED OFF MARLBOROUGH UPON THE ROCKS

Grey River Argus, 20 March 1947, Page 5

TRAWLER WRECKED OFF MARLBOROUGH UPON THE ROCKS

WELLINGTON, Mar. 19.

A New Zealand Fisheries trawler, the Futurist, ran aground at Long Point, about 10 miles south of Cape Campbell lighthouse on the . Marlborough coast in the early hours of this morning. The keeper of the Cape Campbell lighthouse saw a distress flare at 4.30 a.m. and later received a wireless message, stating that the Futurist was aground with her bow pointing towards the land. The trawlers Phyllis and Maimai reported that they were standing by.

-’Visibility at the time was poor and a heavy southerly swell made conditions difficult.

At dawn a message from the Phyllis stated that there appeared to be no sign of life aboard the Futurist and reported later that the crew was safely ashore. The Maimai reported that the Futurist was down at the bow and appeared to be making water as all the lights were extinguished. It was thought that the engine room was flooded.

The Futurist is a 237-ton steam trawler and was built in 1920. She had been trawling off the South Island for many years. During the war she served as a minesweeper.

Vessel a Total Loss But All Hands Saved, Says Captain P.A. WELLINGTON, March 19. Captain A. Sutherland, master of the trawler Futurist, which ran aground at Long Point, near Cape Campbell, this morning, said when he reached the shore, that he thought she was a total wreck. Intervieewd by telephone, at Ward, Marlborough,- Captain Sutherland said: “She is well and truly on the rocks, with seas breaking right over her. I don’t think there is a chance of getting her off. We had been hove to, and drifting, all night, when a southerly sprang up, and set us into the shore. It was very dark, and a bit foggy. At 3.30 a.m. she struck. We didn’t know where we were, as we were well inside the Cape Campbell lighthouse beam, which was- cut off by other headlands. There was a fairly strong southerly swell running. We had difficulty in launching the boat, but we managed to get all hands ashore safely. Nobody was injured.

“The coast is lonely and desolate in those parts, but' people living nearby were very good to us. They took some of us over the hills and dells- on horseback to their dwellings. The only consolation it the whole mishap is that nobody was hurt”. Before dawn, distress flares were sighted by t,wo other trawlers in the vicinity, the Maimai and the Phyllis. The vessels steamed back ro the position, and stood off the rocks. They could see nothing in the darkness. At sunrise they saw the Futurist lying with her bow on the rocks. There were no lights on board, which gave rise to a belief that the engine room was flooded. The Maimai went, to the lighthouse on Cape Campbell to fetch rescue gear, but shortly after the Phyllis signalled that the crew were not on board. When the wreck became known, workmen from the Flaxbourne Lime Works went to the shore to offer assistance to the crew. Farmers on horseback and members cf the small township of Ward, about three miles from the wreck, also went to the shore.

Mr A. F. Loe, a Ward farmer, said that the trawler was sitting well on the rocks at Long Point. The night had been calm, but a southerly swell sprang up early. There were fiat rocks all along the coast, and at low tide some of them were bare.

Precarious Position of Vessel

P.A. BLENHEIM, March 19. Available information suggests that the trawler ‘‘Futurist,” which is on the rocks about seven miles south of Cape Campbell, is in a precarious position. Up till late this afternoon, it was impossible 1 to contact. members of the vessel’s company, except by an unsatisfactory telephone line at the homestead of a settler, to where the crew made their way after landing from the wreck.

According to information secured from the head keeper at the Cape Campbell lighthouse (Mr S. Schofield), who has been in touch with some of the shipwrecked men, the Futurist piled ashore at 3.50 a.m. The spot where she struck is an exposed piece of coast just north of the Mount Flaxbourne River. It is understood there is scant chance of salvage, as the vessel is hard and fast on the rocks, and is being pounded by a big sea. Mr Schofield said he was told it was a bit misty and drizzly at the time of the mishap. He thought that the ship might have been edged off her course by the set of the tide against the southwester that was blowing. Apparentthere was little warning of the danger. As the Futurist struck bow on to a shelf of rock lying about 10Q yards from the shore, waves commenced breaking over her. Luckily, the l crew was' able to launch a lifeboat and got safely ashore. Later to-day, the trawler had been dropped by the falling tide on a fiat reef. One report is that it is almost possible to walk cut to her. Before she reached her present position, however, she was apparently pounded over several reefs by heavy seas, and her hull must he in a badly battered condition.

The first news that, the wreck had occurred was received at the Cape Campbell lighthouse about 7.30 a.m. when the trawler Maimai came close inshore, blew her whistle, and sent off a boat. Its crew reported being attracted by distress signals to the scene. After an inspection of the abandoned vessel, they made for Cane Campbell to obtain life- saving gear and report. Subsequently, a second trawler, the Phyllis, stood in and signalled that the crew of the Futurist were all ashore. The Futurist owners requested the Maimai stand by until advised by her skipper, Captain Sutherland, if it would be possible to get his ship off. Two members of the ’uturist’s

crew tramped along the coast to Cape Campbell. They stated that the remainder of the party were on the beach opposite the wreck. Besides Captain and W. Bary, the mate, the Futurist’s complement comprises G. Battason, W. Dalziel (Napier), H. W. Paton (Hastings), A. Ingham, P. Gilliland, W. Whatnaugh, B. Whatnaugh and P. Bourke (Wellington).

THREE HOURS ON WRECK

The two members of the crew who tramped to the Cape Campbell lighthouse, said that after the vessel struck she was held fast by the bow, although she continued to rise and fall with the sea. As it was impossible to manoeuvre the ship’s beat over the reef in the dark, th crew had to stay aboard until nearly 6 a.m. A southerly swell was battering the unprotected ship, and several heavy seas broke over the stern and set the deck awash. Lowering the boat was d tricky business, but it was finally accomplished, and once over Ihe reef, calm water was encountered. As soon as the bon landed, two of the crew set off on the. long tramp to Cape Campbell, which took them nearly six hours.

In the opinion of these men, it will be impossible to get the Futurist off the reef until the southerly swell subsides. They do not think that the Maimai has enough power to do the job, and a tug will probably be necessary.