STEAMERS IN TROUBLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19333, 20 November 1924, Page 7

STEAMERS IN TROUBLE.

OPUA ARRIVES AT GREYMOUTH. VESSEL APPARENTLY UNDAMAGED. (Per United Press Association.) GREYMOUTH, November 19. Tlie Opua, which went aground five miles east of the Capo Farewell light, arrived at daylight in the roadstead waiting for tho bar to moderate, and is expected to enter at high tide. Tho vessel is apparently undamaged. MISHAP TO RAMA. VESSEL LEAKING BADLY. BEACHED IN NORTHERLY GALE. (Per Unitei) Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 19. Captain Gartner, of the Rama, which struck when going out of Kningaroa and which W'as reported to be leaking badly, has sent the following message by radio: — “Water steadily gained after midnight, Tuesday. Beached vessel 4 a.m. Wednesday. Stokehold and engine room both full, and both holds full of -water. Landed crow in northerly gale.”

The Rama left Wellington on November 11 for Westport, en route to the Chatham Islands, to which she made trips in intervals of running under contract to tho New Zealand Government in the AucklandNiuo Island service. This is not tho first mishap that has occurred to tho Rama. Last year, when she was in same vicinity of Kaingaroa, which 19 one of the ports on the main island group, she was hard and fast for some hours on a rock, but was eventually got off without a great deal of damage. As H.M. gunboat l Torch, the Rama served for a considerable period in the capacity of one of the vessels of the New Zealand Navy. When it was judged that her usefulness as a warship was at an end she was dismantled and finally sold to Mr E. G. F. Zohrab, who overhauled her and had her running for some time to (he Chatham Islands on fishing trips, fitted with refrigerating machinery to fit her for the carrying of fish. Running under the aegis of the Chatham Islands Fishing Company, she made many trips to the outlying group without incident, except as mentioned above. The Rama has made three trips from Auckland to Niue, and she wag scheduled to leave Auckland for Niue Island on November 84, taking supplies 'to carry the inhabitants 'of the islands over tho hurricane season and to bring away a cargo of fruit, including a largo consignment of bananas. She was built in 1895 at hia Majesty’s dockyards, Sheerness, with a gross tonnage of 610 and a net tonnage of 244. Her principal dimensions are: Length 181.6 ft, breadth 32ft, and depth 14.5 ft, The horsepower by the ship’s register is 93.