SYDNEY'S SERIES OF FOGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23828, 7 June 1939, Page 17

SYDNEY'S SERIES OF FOGS

SHIPS ON HARBOUR ENDANGERED FREIGHTER CRASHES INTO WHARF (S'rom Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 26. Shipping in Sydney harbour had a perilous time during six successive nights and mornings of fogs, but there was only one casualty. The Union Steam Ship Company's motorsnip Wanaka crashed into a ferry jetty almost under the harbour bridge during the worst of the six fogs. The Wanaka, a freighter, from Tasmania ports, with a cargo of potatoes, was on her way up the harbour to her berth-at 11.50 p.m.. when the fog came down. "It dropped' as swiftly as a theatre curtain, and hid as effectively ' what was beyond," said one of the crew. "We were passing Port Denison at the time."

It was impossible to see more than a few feet. After a few minutes. Captain Adams decided to drop anchor and wait for a clearing. Soon after the anohor was dropped the rattle of trams and trains overhead indicated that the Wanaka was under the harbour bridge, in the middle of the fairway—a position in which she could not be allowed to remain. The" Wanaka was moved and was nosing around, seeking a safe place to. wait, when she struck the wharf. Captain Adams and his officers did not see the wharf until the freighter struck. Then, as they heard the rending of timbers, they saw the glow of a motor car's headlights going down to the wharf.

two persons were on the wharf at the time of the crash, and. from the deck, members of the crew dimly saw them racing up the hill. The motor car stopped, and two persons got out, turning and running after the others. The Wanaka's bow cut about five feet- into • the planking of the wharf, chopping through and splitting a big beam on the edge of the wharf. In extricating herself, the Wanaka bumped the wharf a second time,' several feet nearer the shore, but this time she merely left a mark there. After she had backed out of the wharf Captain Adams headed the Wanaka towards Circular quay. Sounding her siren and moving cautiously, she crossed the fairway. Picking up Circular quay in a fog that blotted out every light was difficult. A voice from somewhere ahead was heard from the bridge. An unseen man was shouting that the ship was off No. 1 East Circular quay. He could just make out her dark bulk. Shouting instructions, he guided the Wanaka to the wharf and assisted her to get her lines ashore. The Wanaka remained there until late in the morning, when the fog cleared, and then moved around to her berth to discharge her cargo. Her only damage was a mere scratching of paint around the bows, chiefly on the port side, Chips of wood were clinging to her stem.