ORDEAL AT SEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22390, 9 April 1936, Page 10

ORDEAL AT SEA

STEAMER DALEMOOB —_ ANTWERP TO DOMINION SIXTY-SEVEN DAYS' VOYAGE'I POUNDED BY HUGE WAVES [by telegraph —OWN correspondent] NEW PLYMOUTH. Wednesday Bearing obvious signs of the ordeal through which she had passed, and coated white with salt spray and rust, the steamer Dalemoor, of 5756 tons, reached New Plymouth to-day after an adventurous voyage of 67 days from Antwerp. Since March 4 the steamer's '

decks have never been dry, as she continually shipped heavy seas. She was pounded by mountainous waves, blown from her course by a terrific wind, and the crew were almost frozen by the bitter cold experienced in a latitude of 45deg. south. The Dalemoor sailed from Antwerp on February 1 with her holds filled with slag for New Zealand ports. For a month she experienced ideal weather and reached Durban to bunker on March 3. She cleared the port two days later in the teeth of a storm and until yesterday had a terrible voyage of more than 30 days. In all that time the Dalemoor did not pas-s a single vessel and had to fight continually against the elements. Officers stated that they had never experienced seas comparable with those encountered in the southern Pacific. The vessel was loaded down to her marks when she was berthed, draw, ing 26ft. of water. She is owned by the Moorline Company and is under charter to the New Zealand Shipping Company. On her present voyage she carried 7500 tons of Continental slag, of which 3000 tons is to be unloaded at New Plymouth. She will then pro-" ceed to Wellington and Auckland ta complete.