FLOATING MINE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3828, 26 July 1927, Page 69

FLOATING MINE.

SYDNEY, July 14. The war has been over for nearly 10 years. It is nine years since the German raider Wolf was abroad in the Pacific laying mines which resulted in the loss of several British merchant steamers. Yet this week a seafaring man who had had previous experience cf mines reported that he had seen one of these grim reminders of the war afloat near Gabo, off the far south coast of New' South Wales. The mine was reported by Mr Norman Heggarty, of Sydney, a launch proprietor who was the successful tenderer for the purchase of the cargo landed from the stranded steamer Riverina, and who is now engaged in transporting the cargo to Sydney. In a message to the navigation authorities in Sydney Mr Heggarty reported that he saw the mine in a position about seven miles south of Twofold Bay. Mr Heggarty was accompanied by three fishermen who were familiar with the appearance of mines found olf Gabo after the Wolf had laid a minefield near there in 1917 They believe this to be one previously undiscovered by minesweepers and recently broken from its moorings. Immediately the report was ’eccived, warnings were wirelessed to masters of steamers As soon as confirmation is received of the report, the Navy Department will send a vessel out to destroy it. But the suggestion has been made ’that the object sighted might have been a barrel from the Riverina’s cargo, although the possibility that it is a mine is given official support. ' One mine was discovered floating near Gabo as late as 1922. If it is a mine freshly broken loose from its moorings. it constitutes a menace in the path of Inter-State shipping, although a considerable body of expert opinion declares that 10 years’- immersion in sea water would have so corroded it as to render it ineffective.