BY STEAM AND SAIL

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8367, 1 March 1913, Page 9

BY STEAM AND SAIL

"The garrulous sea. is talking to tha shore; let us go down and hear the graybeard’e speech/"

It is estimated that the 500 vessels belonging to the port of Cardiff earned a clear profit of nearly £5,000,000 last year. The following are a few authentic instances of rapid money-making. Mr Edward Nicholl, of the Cardiff Hall Line, bought the Welbeck Hall five years ago for £II,OOO, and recently sold the vessel for £13,500, after making £15,000 in freight profits, mainly in the last two years. Messrs Evan Thomas, B-adcliffe and Co., with thirty vessels, made a profit last year of £300,000. Messrs W. J, Tatem and Co., twenty steamers, profit £211,000. Messrs W. and 0. T. Jones, Ltd., eleven ships, profit £68,000.

The P. and 0. Branch steamer Narrung, which sustained serious heavy weather damage at the outset of her voyage from London to Australia, arrived back at Gravesend on December 27th, and moored at the buoys. The vessel had a pronounced list to starboard. Her fore deck, it appears, was swept by heavy seas ; the bulwarks were stove in, and the steam windlasses seriously damaged. The vessel experienced heavy weather from the time she left London on Christmas Eve, but it was early on Christmas Day that the full force of the south-westerly hurricane was felt. In the morning huge quantities of water were shipped. Most of the passengers were busily engaged in baling water out of their cabins. As the morning advanced the weather got worse. Sea after sea swept over the raiL It was just after midday that a tremendous sea broke over the fore well deck. The ship was then off Dshant, and immediately a wireless appeal was made for help. A response came quickly, and the steamers Bavaria and Nevada proceeded to the Naming’s assistance. A communication was also received from the French naval authorities, offering to send a warship. THE CAPTAIN’S STATEMENT.

The captain of the Naming, according to mail advices, said;—"l have had thirty years’ experience of the Bay of Biscay, and have never seen such a gale or snch tremendous seas. In the afternoon a mountainous wave struck us. I have never seen anything like it before. It simply swamped the whole ship, burying her forward altogether, and wrecking all the tackle in front of the foremast.

“It flooded all the passenger accommodation, carried away winches, and broke in through the hold. The women and children were quartered in the flooded cabins. It tore up the iron deck, turning it back like brown paper. Not for some time could we see from the bridge-what the damage amounted to, but I realised there was no possibility of going on through it. The only thing was to get her round before another such sea struck her. If she had taken another it would have been all up with us. ■ “Turning round in the teeth of the gale was a very anxious time, and X told the Marconi operator to signal for assistance. He sent the ‘S.OJS.’ message, and soon obtained responses from several -quarters. He got into communication with Brest, and the French Government promptly, replied, saying that they were willing to send us a gunboat if it were required. As soon as I found we could run her, I sent another message all round , saying that we were under control. It was impossible to get forward to see what the damage amounted to until.we had got the ship round. It took one hour and twenty minutes to ,get round, and we were running four or five hours more before we were out of danger.” CHIEF OFFICER'S STORY.

Mr W. C. Postlo, the chief officer of the Naming, said: “I have been round the Horn many times, but I have never seen a sea such as that which swept over us. It must have been 70 feet high at least. It was that one sea alone that did all the damage, and as soon as we had taken it I knew that we could not go on. Only one man was injured, an able seaman named Quirk. He was swept away by -the sea. and dashed against something or other—no one could teU what —and they carried him up to the chart-room. Here the doctor found that he had put his shoulder out and broken three ribs. Captain Bidwell refused to leave the bridge; and while the danger lasted ho would not take food, though it was brought to him. I have never been in such a ‘blow’ in my life. Our mast there is standing only by the support of a single tackle.” A BIG REPAIR JOB.

The Naming was surveyed by Board of Trade surveyors and officials of the P. and O. Company, and it is understood that at least five weeks must elapse before the repair can be completed. The fore deck is a mass of wreckage; iron plates in the bulwarks are twisted as if they had been so much cardboard, and the mast is almost denuded of rigging. Doors with their panels smashed to fragments and thrown all about the deck amid a mass of splintered steel and iron are further evidence of the force of the gale.