NEARING COMPLETION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26903, 15 October 1948, Page 6

NEARING COMPLETION

RECORD SALVAGE TOW HALFWAY ACROSS PACIFIC P.A. AUCKLAND, Oct. 14. The longest salvage tow ever made by a merchant ship neared its end late to-night when the P. and O. Line motor ship Palana (Captain F. R. Spurr) and the disabled British freighter Fernmoor (Captain F. B. Lamb) passed through Colville Channel into the Hauraki Gulf, having covered 2300 miles from the Eastern Pacific in 23 days. The ships will anchor off Rangitoto at 8 o’clock in the morning to cast off the tow. One of the Auckland Harbour Board tugs will meet the Palana and Fernmoor between Rangitoto and Tiritiri, and will stand by to give assistance during the long and difficult task of taking in the wire and cables at anchorage. She will be joined later by another tug, and both will then bring the Fernmoor over the last few miles into port and to berth. The Fernmoor, which was bound from Sydney to the United Kingdom with a full cargo of wheat, will require medical and Customs examination as soon as the towline has been taken in. The Palana will steam into port and will berth. She was diverted to the Fernmoor when on a voyage from Lyttelton to London with a full cargo of South Island produce. Stores and water will be taken on board before the vessel resumes her journey to England. Ship surveyors and marine engineers will inspect the Fernmoor’s engines to assess the extent of the damage which forced the freighter to call for assistance when some 700 miles south-west of Pitcairn Island on September 19. Captain Lamb has reported that the cylinder cooling water castings were smashed and that portions of the shattered castings jammed the crank webs, causing the engines to seize. Replacement parts arrived at Auckland from London by air on October 5.