COLLISION AT SEA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 8

COLLISION AT SEA

m. ■ - STEAMER KILLS WHALE \ NO DAMAGE TO VESSEL (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND. Dec. 23. Struck by the port propeller of the Orient liner Orford, when steaming at 16J knots, a whale was killed by the vessel when she wr.s 210 miles off the Australian coast last Tuesday morning, en route from Brisbane to Auckland. The Orford arrived this morning. The liner was steaming through a calm sea at the time, and shortly before the incident occurred two whales were sighted ahead. These were avoided by the. ship, but the third whale, apparently rising to the surface, was not so fortunate. This whale, which was not seen by the officer on watch, came .up under the Orford. A bump was felt at 9.40, and the liner trembled. This was the first indication that anything was in the path of the Orford. Passengers on the after-decks saw the carcass of the whale, between 30 and 40 feet in length, roating astern. The sea nearby was tinged red with blood. No damage appears to have been caused, the propeller, ■it is thought, having cut through the fleshy part of the whale. The propeller was turning at about 70 revolutions to the minute, it is stated, and had the whale's backbone been struck, serious damage to the blades might have resulted. This is the'second occasion on which the Orford has struck a whale. Two years ago, when the vessel was steaming through the Gulf of Aden, a whale became impinged on the bow, and the liner had to be stopped and go astern before the mammal could be released.