DEEP-SEA MOORINGS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 June 1932, Page 3

DEEP-SEA MOORINGS

SHIP’S UNUSUAL TASK Laying deep-sea moorings means nothing to the landsman, but ask the sailorman what he thinks about it. It is a safe bet that he will tell you it s jolly hard work. The British steamer Mineric, which has just discharged phosphate at Auckland, recently laid new moorings at Make tea Island in 232 fathoms of water —the deepest in the world Eighteen days were occupied in the work" so the landsman can realise that the job was something more than tipping a mooring anchor, chain, and buoy .over the side. On arrival at Makatea, the Mineric, a typical tramp that has been afloat for over 20 years, loaded a part cargo before slipping over to rapeote to take on board ;i si.v-ton reef anchor to replace one which had been lost when the moorings broke adrift some months previously. New mooring gear had been taken on board at Makatea, and at Papeete everything was made ready for the hig job. When laid out in readiness for a commencement of the work, the gear occupied the whole of the starboard side of the foredeek. GEAR WORTH £2OOO Back at Makatea tbn Mineric hove up part of the old mooring, consisting of 45 fathoms of heavy chain and 120 fathoms of wire. The new reef anchor was lowered in 232 fathoms of water, and the work of putting all the gear over the fo’c’sle -head occupied three days. It was a ticklish job, for which special rollers had been rigged on deck, and, with the gear worth something like £2OOO, every care had to be taken. At last the job was completed and the ship completed her cargo of 7000 tons of phosphate before coming on to Auckland. Ono hundred and twenty-six miles distant from Papeete, Makatea is an island of coral formation with a population of about 1000. The workers on the phosphat fields are natives from Tahiti, many of them half-castes, and the officials are French. There arc also a. number of Chinese and Japanese, but the only Britisher is the harbourmaster, who is an Australian. The sides of the island are practically unscalable, and at Port Tcmao, where ihc phosphate is loaded, one is carried to the top of the cliffs by a small elevator running on rails. The phosphate is dug well inland and is brought to the coast by a light steam railway. By means of pipes the phosphate is loaded into baskets which are taken, by lighters to the ship at the loading buoy. Here the baskets are hoisted aboard and landed on a tipping block, the phosphate being precipitated into the ship’s holds. The master of a ship loading at Makatea has constantly to be on the watch for threatening westerly weather, and at the first hint of a blow bo has to cast off and bead for the open sea. Fruit and water are scarce on the island and amusements arc unknown. Altogether Makatea is not the sort of place to which any crew longs to return. “CURFEW BELL” AT SHANGHAI Before going to Makatea the Mineric, which has tramped ever 57,000 miles since leaving England thirteen months ago, too ka cargo of grain from Geelong to Shanghai. The’ fighting was over when the ship arrived at Shanghai on 20th March, but she passed a number of Japanese warships lying off the river. Woosung village was seen in ruins and in Shanghai sandbags and barbed-wire entanglements were still much in evidence. At half-past eleven each night a “Curfew bell” was rung and from that time until 4 o’clock on the following morning no one was supposed to bo about the streets. When the, bell rang the doors of the dance-balls- were shut and bolted and the dancers had no choicb but to continue dancing until the bell rang again. The Mineric was ten days at Shanghai, and the city was much quieter when she departed for Miike, where she replenished her bunkers before going to Makatea.