BLOWN OUT TO SEA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 September 1924, Page 9

BLOWN OUT TO SEA.

SCOW’S STORMY voyage. CREW’S TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. “A MONTH OP TORTURE.” SYDNEY, Aug. 14. The crew of the scow Cathkit, which took 37 days to accomplish the voyage from Sydney to Hobart, had some terrifying experiences. “A month of torture,” was how the cook, J. Dodd, a Liverpool man, described the long trip. The Cathkit left Sydney on July 3 and should have reached Hobart six days later. Four days out bad weather was struck and it lasted for 10 days. A fortnight ago the scow was off the entrance to the Derwent, hut a gale of hurricane force blew her out to sea. She went 250 miles before a change of weather took her in sight of .land again. Then fate made her its plaything hv stiffening the wind into an offshore gale, which knocked her back once more. The vessel was then 24 days out. Her stores were running light and she was a wet ship from stem to stern. Time after time she shipped huge green seas, which flooded the crew’s .quarters and drenched every Lit of clothing and bedding. Hot meals were an impossibility. Occasionally the cook was able to make a boiler of coffee, but for days the meals consisted of “hard tack” and coffee. The Cathkit is a flat-bottomed vessel, and she wallowed in the seas like a half-tide rock. The pumps were going continuously. Her cargo of 50,000 feet of Oregon pine did more than anything else to keep her afloat. It was not until the scow had been 34 days out that the weather moderated and chopped round to the southwest. This friendly slant took her into Storni Bay, off the mouth of the Derwent. three days later, but even then her troubles w r ere not done, for "once again the wind changed, and had it not been for the fact that a steamer was handy she would have been blown out to sea again. What would then have been the plight of the crew may be judged from the fact that the last of the tinned milk and “hard tack” was used for breakfast on the morning that she limped into port. This is not the first time the Cathkit has given her owners cause for anxiety. She was once JO days out between Sydney and New Zealand. On the present occasion Captain MunU nearly lost his life a few hours before leaving Sydney. With his wife he was going ashore at Circular Quay when both fell into the harbour. Though he is more than 70 years of age, Captain Munn supported his wife in the water until they were picked up ten minutes later.