GROUNDING OF MARORO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 2 December 1927, Page 9

GROUNDING OF MARORO.

EVIDENCE AT INQUIRY. (BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) NAPIER, Dec. 2. At the inquiry into the stranding of the barque Maroro near Porangahau, Captain J. W. Jones said that the vessel had met increasingly bad weather from Turnagain onward. He turned the vessel seeking shelter, and at Cape Palliser ho turned again owing to weather and hove-to till daylight, when he set out for Castlepoint to anchor. The attempt failed and he headed for Napier, Ultimately the weather forced him to shelter under Blackhead, anchoring on November 23. Ho took all precautions and retired at > p.m. He returned on deck at midnight, when conditions were fairly good. An hour later they became worse again and he decided to seek shelter round Cape Kidnappers. The vessel began to drag both anchors in spite of the engine going full speed ahead, and the vessel struck aft at 4 a.m. When the tide receded the vessel was left high and dry. He sheltered because he was short of lubricating oil, and the vessel, being without cargo or ballast, was unmanageable.