SALVAGED TUG

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23130, 31 August 1938, Page 14

SALVAGED TUG

DAMAGE DISCLOSED NO DETERIORATION HOLE BY INJECTOR PIPE SIX WEEKS FOR REPAIRS The damage done to the Auckland Harbour Board's tug To Awhina after her port side had been pierced by the propeller blades of the Federal Line motor-ship Essex on August 11, was clearly revealed when she was drawn up for repairs on the board's slipway at St. Mary's Bay. Sho was taken tliero yesterday morning, the final refloating having been achieved on Monday night, and it is not thought that sho will bo in commission again for at least six weeks.

The chief damage was done just by tho engine room injector pipe. The pipo was stove in, part of the stabilising Ilango cut off, and a vertical slit mado in tho plate immediately aft of tho injector pipe. A little toward tho stern the tug was apparently struck another blow, a plate here being deeply dented.

No definite sum can yet be placed upon the cost of salvage, which entailed the hiring of outside machinery, and repairs, but it is not expected to bo less than about £SOOO. No Deterioration Evident No deterioration seems to have resulted from the vqssol's long immersion. Although sho will need a thorough cleaning and her engines will have to be taken down for examination and overhaul, it is not expected that any difficulty will bo encountered in putting her back into tho board's service as stout and seaworthy as she .was beforo the mishap. Two of tho ventjbitors arc buckled and othor repair work, apart from that to her side, will obviously have to bo undertaken, but it is thought that she came through her experience comparatively lightly.

Value to the Board

"The tug originally cost tho board £13,000," said the chairman, Mr. W. B. Darlow, yesterday. "At present it stands in tho board's books at a value of about £4OOO.

"However, this sum does not in any way represent what sho is worth to us. It has been suggested that we should have left her at the bottom of the harbour or else blown her up, although how wo could have done this I do not know.

"Actually, I would say. that tho To Awhina to-day is worth about £30,000 to us, for apart from the fact that it would cost about that much to get another tug, she still at least 25 years of service in her. It was good business to salvage and repair her."

Holiday for Stafi Members

Mr. Darlow said tho board would hold an inquiry of its own into the accident after tho Marine Department's inquiry had been held. No advice had yet been received when the latter inquiry was to start, although it is expected to bo held shortly. A tribute to the untiring efforts of tho board's staff in raising tho tug was paid by Mr. Darlow at a meeting of tho board yesterday, when he said that tho men on the task had spared neither their time nor their energy to get her afloat. On Mr. Darlow's motion the board decided to grant up to a week's leave to the men who had materially assisted with the task of refloating the vessel as a mark of the board's appreciation of their work.