AWATEA LATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23010, 11 April 1938, Page 10

AWATEA LATE

DELAY OF 24 HOURS STORM IN TASMAN SEA MINOR DAMAGE DONE STATEMENT BY CAPTAIN Tremendous head seas and a wind of whole gale force have caused a delay of 24 hours in the arrival of the Union Company's transtasman liner Awatea, which is now due at Auckland from Sydney at 7 a.m. to-morrow instead of seven o'clock this morning. The delay has only one precedent in the record of the Awatea since she has been in the Tasman service and in order to assist her to resume her normal running and land passengers for Australia as quickly as possible at Sydney on her return voyage she will leave Auckland again at 5 p.m. to-morrow, thus cutting down her stay in port by three hours. Speaking from the Awatea by radio telephone last night, Captain A. H. Davey told the New Zealand Herald that the weather was the worst he had seen since he had been in command of the Awatea. Some of the waves had been so huge that they had smashed windows of the chart-house and bent the breakwater on the forecastle head. Green seas had been shipped almost continuously, although no damage had been reported from the passengers' quarters and windows on the promenade deck and in the cabins had escaped breakage. Eased to Nine Knots

"I ran into easterly gales as soon as the Awatea cleared Sydney Heads," said Captain Davey, "and they got steadily worse. From noon on Saturday until noon to-day I had her eased down to nine knots, but. we have not been liove-to and there is nothing wrong with her engines." Captain Davey spoke from the ship at about 8.45 o'clock last night and he said the Awatea was then about 500 miles from North Cape. The worst of the weather was over and although it was still blowing hard with a heavy sea running he had increased the speed to 17 knots. For hours the wind had been from 50 to 60 miles an hour. Kakapo at Half Speed "I have not seen the Reliance." said Captain Davey, "but this morning we saw the Kakapo. which was reduced to about six or seven knots, about halfspeed. She was coming through it very well, however." There were 303 passengers on board the Awatea, he said, and although the ship had been pitching, but not rolling, they had not seemed to experience much discomfort because of the storm. Most of them had been about and last night the lounge was well filled and moving pictures were shown as usual.

The delay to the Awatea will mean that New Zealand visitors to Australia for the Easter period will not now arrive at Sydney on Thursday, but on Good Friday morning. The two other liners due at Auckland early this week will arrive as expected. The HamburgAmerika liner Reliance will berth this morning about 7.30 and' the CanadianPacific liner Empress' of Britain, although the Tasman storm forced her to cancel her proposed visit to Milford Sound, will berth at Auckland at 8 a.m. to-morrow.

Originally due at Auckland to-day, the Kakapo will also be a day late, being now expected to-morrow. This is her first return voyage from Australia since she arrived at Auckland at the end of last year to enter the Union Company's coastal service. On her crossing to Sydney recently she made exceptionally good time.