A STORMY VOYAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 9

A STORMY VOYAGE.

DUTCH STEAMER BUFFETED,, GAXE ON 'AUSTRALIAN BIGHT. SOME DAMAGE ' SUSTAINED.

Exceptionally I'stormyl'stormy weather was experienced oil •the Australian coast by the Dutch steamer Djember,' which arrived at Auckland from -Fremantie and,' Buhbuvy yesterday morning.' • The vessel, which was heavily laden with hardwood, completed' loading, at Bunbury. on August 20, but was.unable .to sail that day owing to; the stormy weather outside. The. following morning she left for' Auckland, and as. soon- as she cleared the port she encountered 'a hard west-north-west; gale, whiclvblew at- times with hurricane force, accompanied by mountainous seas. . • Off Cape Leeuwin the sea was very confused, and the • Djember . was badly buffeted.. Crossing 'the Great Australian Bight the.wind and sea- was on the .vessel's beam, 1 and she rolled; and tossed in an alarming manner. . The heavy-sea, repeatedly broke on. board and kept the deoks continually .flooded fore and aft. A large quantity of water found.its way into tho officers' and the crew's quarters, until there was hardly, a dry spot on the steamer.' v.,..

Considerable damage was done on deck, where' steam pipes and' steam pipe casings were smashed, .arid' everything movable washed away. 1 • • ,- •" ■"'. - ;Ort the eight day out from Bunbury the tempest reached its height- • Shortly after midnight' an exceptionally, heavy sea broke on board high over the boat deck.' where the port forward boat was lifted out of the cho.cks and badly bilged. The sea flooded'the engineroom" and the stokehold. Chaos reigned for a while in the stokehold,' in' which' there "was four feet of .water. Electric wires were also damaged, with the result that part of the vessel-was plunged in darkness.' <• • The 'loose coal .'washing .about the stokehold interfered with the ship's pumps, and it -was .with difficulty that, the engineroom.and stokehold, were cleared of water. The vessel!was hove-to for two hours to allow- of repairs being carried out, and conditions being .made more secure. ■ ' Next' day. the' ; weather .improved and the Tasman.Sea . was. crossed in. fine weather, although there was a noticeable heavy' north-west swell to Cape Maria.The Djember is a fine type of cargo steamer, and was built at Rotterdam in 1914. In spite' of being loaded down to her marks with a cargo of solidly-heavy timber, site is reported to have behaved very creditably under the severe stormy conditions. The Djember's cargo consists of ' 2,500,000 ft. of hardwood, about 180,000 ft. of which will be discharged at Auckland, and the remainder at Wellington, Lyttelton. ,'and Dunedin. •