THE BARENFELS BELAYED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15262, 28 March 1913, Page 8

THE BARENFELS BELAYED.

* FRACTURED CRANK. ?

TEMPORARY REPAIRS AT SEA,

The Haxxaa steamer- Barenfels, which ■ ax* • , rived at Auckland early' yesterday morn- -fll ing from New York, via Capetown and' i i Australian ports, met with a serious ~ ; breakdown to her main. engines when '. ; about 500 miles out from Sydney. The. 5 | accident occurred shortly after noon on- •••': Saturday last, and after temporary repairs, which occupied 15 hours, had been effected, : the vessel was again put on her course,, - and came on to Auckland under easy. a steam. ■ ' ;,/v.

The Barenfels left Sydney at 7 p.m. on , Thursday on the last stage of her long ' * voyage, and made excellent progress with , . the fine weather prevailing until noon on Saturday, when the . low-pressure crank fractured "and fell apart. The machinery was immediately stopped, and the chief ; engineer, Mr. Heidmuller, and. his assistants made a start without delay to re- ' pair the damage, in order to bring the ' ' . steamer to Auckland. This necessitated, , a largo proportion of the machinery heing, > and three iron bands were ;■ made and securely bolted round the v broken cranks, thereby holding the hug* ~:- mass of steel, in position. The work was , laborious, but was carried out as expeditiously «.s possible, and just 15 hours after the breakdown had occurred the vessel was again under steam on her way to. • Auckland. When the scanty supply ofmaterial available is taken into considera-. tion the work of carrying out repairs in < such a short time is a splendid perform' *• ance.

Shortly after the Barenfels was berthed /; at the Queen Street Wharf a start was made to dismantle the. engines, in order that a new crank,' which is carried on board, may be fitted. On firing a visit to the vessel's engineroom yesterday afternoon, a Herald representative found the ship's engineers hard at work with ham-' • mers ana • spanners, and the engineroom plates covered with intricate pieces •of ma-,' ■ ohineiy. Tenders are being called at Auckland for repairs to the • machinery, which will be carried out under the super- • vision of Captain C. C. Plunket, surveyor to Lloyds. The repairs will necessitate the Barenfels remaining in port for about five days. - V