Direct Shipment From tunisia

Northern Advocate, 30 November 1948, Page 4

Direct Shipment From tunisia

, HISTORIC DAY FOR WHANGAREI PORT

THE first direct shipment of fertiliser from overseas to be landed in Whangarei arrived on the m.v. Goldfinder this morning. The ship was sighted off Cape Reinga at 11 a.m. yesterday and berthed at Fort VVhangarei at 10 a.m. today. ~ The ship is carrying 270 tons of phosphate in bags, destined for distribution to farmers in Northland. Most of the cargo will be handled by rail, while the remainder will be tiUcked direct. She is expected to complete unloading tomorrow.

Health clearance was given by the port officer of health (Dr H. A. Good). It is nine years since he granted a ship medical clearance in Whangarei. Customs formalities were to have been relegated to the harbourmaster (Captain E. S. Ross), but. since the ship is not the usual visitor, it was found necessary to send a customs officer from Auckland.

Normally all the equipment that is held in bond would be sealed and held until the ship cleared for a foreign port, but, in this case, the Goldfinder will be remaining in New Zealand waters, so duty has to be paid on all her surplus equipment and stores. WAR REPARATIONS Built in Germany in 1939, the Goldfinder has been used in Eire and is part of war reparations to New Zealand. The ship has been purchased by the Northern Steamship Company for use in the west coast trade between Onchunga and South Island ports. The ship took a cargo to Lisbon and then proceeded to Sfax, North Africa, to load a cargo of phosphate for Whangarei.

She is ideally suited for coastal trade, having a net tonnage of 166 and a gross displacement of 293. As an ocean-going ship, however, she ‘is too small for comfort, hgving insufficient freeboard in heavy weather.

The trip was full of incident for the crew, who faced heavy weather in the Indian Ocean and the Australian Bight and a breakdown of the steering in the Red Sea.

SHARK TAIL AT MASTHEAD

When the steering gear broke down crew members spent an anxious night over the side on ladders in shark-in-fested waters working on the rudder, while another man stood by with a rifle.

One of the sharks \Vas caught and the tail is flown at the masthead of the Goldfinder. It is not a small tail. The ship’s master (Captain J. Appleton) has been on the New Zealand coast for many years on Northern Company vessels, and he did not require the services of a pilot to berth his ship at Port Whangarei.