STEAMER IN A STORM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 10

STEAMER IN A STORM.

MABAMA A DAY LATE. extensive damage caused. WATER POURS INTO CABINS. PASSENGER FALLS FROM BUNK. [EST TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON. Wednesday The Mar&ma arrived from Sydney this morning 24 hours late Sbe left Sydney at 4 p.m. on Friday and on clearing the heads encountered strong head winds with a considerable sea. By mid-day on Saturday it was blowing an east-north-cast gale and very high seas were running. On Saturday night a portion of the crew's quarters was stove in by a heavy sea and the men's quarters were flooded. All through Sunday the ship was badly buffeted and Monday brought no change. In the evening the wind increased in violence and heavy sprays swept the decks. A giant sea struck the vessel on the port side at nine o'clock on Monday night. It smashed the gangway lashed to the rails, tore rails out of their sockets, shattered the double doors of the first saloon smoking room on the top deck, broke two leadlight windows, ripped away the canvas screening along the port side of the upper deck and stove in a thick plate-glass window of a lady's cabin on the lower or C deck. Water poured in to all the top deck cabins, the smoke room, along the alleyways, into some of the lower cabins and even invaded the first-class dining saloon. Mrs. Latimer, a passenger who occupied the berth underneath the "broken plateglass window, fell out of her bunk and received several cuts on one of her feet from the splintered glass. The vessel was hove to for a couple of hours and temporary repairs effected. The ship then came on under reduced steam. 'The gale and heavy seas continued until late on Tuesday night. Better conditions prevailed through Cook Strait. Members of the New Zealand University football team were in the upper deck cabins, which were flooded. Passengers say the ship behaved splendidly under the trying conditions.