PLIGHT OF THE KENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22904, 11 June 1936, Page 5

PLIGHT OF THE KENT

VESSEL’S NARROW ESCAPE DRIFTING TOWARDS REEF The escape of the Federal Steam Kavi- - gation Company’s steamer Kent from striking the Mbengha Barrier lleef, which encircles the island of' MbSngha, near Suva, on her voyage from Liverpool to Dunedin, where she arrived last evening, appears to have been even more narrow than was indicated in a recent Press Assot ciation message from Auckland. Interviewed by a Daily Times, reporter last night, Captain Tuckett stated that the safety of the ship was due to the remarkable expedition with which the engineers effected repairs to the driving machinery, with the result that the vessel was under way, whereas in another quarter of an hour she would have been on the reef. “We were passing through the Kandavu Passage at 9 a.m. last Thursday,” said Captain Tuckett, “when we ran out a bearing in the main driving machinery. We were only six miles off the coral reef, which is known as Mbengha Barrier, and there was a set which caused us to. drift at the rate of two and a-half knots. We rigged sails to'the best advantage, and this assisted considerably in counteracting the effect of the set, with the result that our spare time;was increased; but it was an anxious period. It is impossible in a case of this sort for the engineers to give an accurate estimate of the time'required to make repairs to machinery, and when II o’clock came ■ I decided to send out calls for assistance. Luckily,_ these proved unnecessary, .for the repair work ivas completed by noon and ,we were able to get under w r ay and resume l our normal course. “We were not more than half a mile off the reef when power became available once more, and another quarter of an hour would have seen the ship in dire peril. The water is 150 fathoms deep right up to the reef, so it was impossible to anchor.” Captain Tuckett is making his first visit to New Zealand in command of a vessel, but he has been in these waters on numerous occasions as an officer on'other ships. Asked if he had had any previous experience of the perils of the sea, Captain Tuckett said he had been third mate on the full-rigged ship Cromdale when she had gone ashore off the Cornish coast in 1913. The vessel had, been a total wreck, though thooe had been no loss of life. The Kent is a steamer of 8694 gross tons, and was built for the Federal ComSany in 1918 by Palmers’ Company, Ltd., ewcastle. She is well known in the Dominion, as she has been in service between New Zealand and West Coast of England ports for a number of years. On this trip she has .general cargo for discharge at Dunedin, Timaru, and Lyttelton, and is to load homewards at Oamaru, Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, 'Wellington, and Napier.