Two Ferries Collide In Fog, Third Ship Ashore

Northern Advocate, 20 July 1949, Page 6

Two Ferries Collide In Fog, Third Ship Ashore

AUCKLAND, Wed. (P.A.). —Two ferry boats collided and another ran aground on Northcote Point in a dense fog which shrouded the harbour this morning.

Little damage was caused to the vessels and nobody was injured.

The fog upset harbour ferry schedules and hundreds of people were late for work.

Whenuapai airport was closed most of the morning and over 100 inward and outward passengers were delayed. Two overseas aircraft could not take off on schedule because of the fog.

Tbe ferry collision occurred between the vehicular craft Mollyhawk and the passenger ferry Peregrine.

aged and continued in service. Fog delayed the departure of a flyingboat for S3 r dney by over three hours.

Both vessels carried on to their destinations.

The Mollyhawk was replaced and goes on the slip tomorrow, but repairs should take only a day. SUPERFICIAL DAMAGE

A Pan-American clipper left for San Francisco at 11.15, over two hoilrs late. Seven outward National Airways flights and one inward flight were postponed until this afternoon. A plane from Wellington due at 10 o'clock has been cancelled.

The Peregrine, with only superficial damage, continued in service. "As the Peregrine loomed out of the fog, somebody on our boat yelled ‘hang on,’ ” said Mr S. Robinson who was a passenger on the Mollyhawk.

"I grabbet hold of a car mudguard but the shock was not very severe when the boats collided.

‘‘The light on the Peregrine's foremast flew into the air and crashed into the sea.

‘‘For a moment I thought it was somebody’s hat.’

Other eye-witnesses say the Mollyhawk and Peregrine were almost on top of each other before they appeared through the fog. Passengers say the engines of 'both vessels were going astern when they collided.

The fog affected most harbour ferry services and groups of passengers were kept waiting on fbe wharves LONG WAIT. When the ferry boat Vgoiro bound for Chelsea ran aground off Northcote Point in the fog shortly after 7.30 the passengers, who were mostly Chelsea sugar workers, had a long wait. The tide was ebbing and the vessel was not re-floated until 9.15.

The Ng'oiro was apparently undam-

North Air Service

Northland air services were also delayed by the fog at Whanuapai. The 8.40 a.m. plane from Auckland did not arrive at Whangarei until 12.30 p.m. and other planes to the north were correspondingly late.