THE DISABLED WAITOMO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 15

THE DISABLED WAITOMO.

LONG TOW TO PORT. A TRYING EXPERIENCE. AUCKLAND. A -iust 3. A graphic story was told by the members of the crew of the Union Steam Ship Company’s collier Waitomo. which limped into port to-night in tow of the Kaitoke. Bound for Bluff and ladeii with about 8000 tons of coal from Newcastle, the Waitomo broke her tail shaft in a terrific gale in the Tasman Sea early on Monday, July 23. Eor two days she drifted helpless before the raging gale until she was picked up by the Kaitoke. Although the long tow of 850 miles was successfully completed, the nine days which elapsed before port was reached were not without danger and extreme discomfort for the crews of both vessels.

Good progress was made by the Waitomo for the first two days out. after leaving Newcastle on Thursday, July . 19. She then ran into exceptionally bad Weather, and on the Sunday the wind was blowing with cyclonic force. Huge seas reduced the vessel’s speed, and when the gale reached its height that night the ship pitched and tossed with her lower decks completely awash. With her heavy burden the vessel was very low in the water, and with every sea she shipped great volumes of water. There was little moderation in the force of the gale. Next morning, shortly before 8 o’clock, a great rolled .struck the Waitomo with shattering force. She seemed to stagger, and for a moment was thrown up on the crest of the seas with her propeller racing madly. Suddenly, it became apparent that something was wrong, and from one end of the ship to the other could be heard the unrestrained screech of the engines. A few seconds later the familiar pounding from below ceased altogether, and the vessel was left helpless in the storm. It was at first thought that the propeller had been carried away-. With all control gone the vessel plunged furiously, and although efforts were made to keep her head on to the gale, the outlook was far from promising. To make matters worse there was no further abatement in the gale as was expected. The nearest port. Westport, was 400 miles away. As soon as the vessel’s plight was seen to be serious preparations were made to ascertain whether the propellor was gone. With seas still washing over the decks, and in blinding rain, a seaman was lowered over the stern in an endeavour to examine the screw. His task war* hazardous, but after sevral duckings he was hauled back to report that the propeller was still attached. It was then decided to call for assistance, and a wireless message was sent to the company’s head office in Wellington notifying the occurrence.

For nearly three Jong days the Waitomo drifted at the mercy of the weather. Access to the various parts of the vessel" was rendered extremely dangerous through the constant shipping of tons of water. The crew had to watch their opportunity to traverse the decks, and several received severe shakings as a result of being thrown heavily on the steel plating. The ship’£ boatswain was thrown heavily while trying to scramble across the d. .k on one occasion, and hesuffered a painful injury to his knee. The cabins on the upper deck did not escape, and in spite of the fact that the outer doors were kept tightly closed, nearly all were running with several inches of water on the floor. So persistent was the inrush of water that even the keyholes had to be plugged with material to prevent the water from squirting over the men in their bunks. Work in the galley was carried on under, trying conditions, and the cooks suffered several serious burns through the spilling of boiling fat. Early on the morning following the Waitoqjo’s called for assistance the Kaitoke, which had been loading coal at Westport, left to take her in tow. The two vessels kept in touch by wireless, and towards nightfaff on the third day after the mishap the Kaitoke wat sighted from the disabled vessel. She was constantly lost to view in the heavy seas, and finally darkness blotted her out completely. Huge flood lights were then erected on the Waitomo, and these cast a fitful glare through the rain by which the Kaitoke was enabled to direct her course. • A couple cf hours later the two vessels were rolling within a short distance of each other, and in view of the Waitomb’s condition it was decided to waste no fur-, ther time in making fast the tow line. Manoeuvring for position in the heavy seas was almost impossible, and for three hours the Kaitoke tried t o get close enough to the Waitomo to throw a line on board by hand. This was finally accomplished, and in the blackness which was now relieved by flares on both steamers the work of making the two vessels fast was commenced. After a difficult task lasting some hours, during which the Kaitoke had to keep clear of the rearing bulk of the Waitomo, a long cable was run from the latter vessel and shackled to a hawser from the Kaitoke. This was then riveted on to a bridle attached to both quarters of the Kaitoke, the length of the whole tow line being about 300 ft. Little rest was taken by the crew of either vessel for the following two days. There was still no moderation in the weather, and, being light, the Kaitoke was tossed about unmercifully. The towline, was attached to provide a maximum of spring in the rough seas, but at times the Kaitoke was swept completely off her course and left at an angle to the Waitomo. Very slow progress was made, and not more than a mile was covered each hour for two days. Superb seamanship was shown in the handling of both vessels, and the towline was still fast when the long-looked-for improvement came in the weather.

Strong easterly winds continued to make progress slow, but on Wednesday there was a marked Change for the better. Fine weather then prevailed,- and the two vessels were able to cover 171 miles on Thursday. They arrived off Rangitoto beacon shortly after 4 o’clock this afternoon, and were met by two tugs, which took lines from the Waitomo, and. after rounding North Head, the line which had'held the

two steamers together during nine eventful days was parted. The Waitomo was then taken to King’s wharf by the tugs, an “ a fte_ r over an hour’s manoeuvring was finally tied up. She will unload at King’s wharf, after which she will be docked for repairs. ' . ‘ • Neither vessel suffered any serious damage, although many of the cabins and the men's quarters were still wet from flooding' .

THE " VALUE OF WIRELESS.

CONTRAST WITH YEARS AGO.

THE PERTHSHIRE AND WAIKATO

The experience-of the Waitomo affords a striking illustration of the value of wireless in its application to shipping The vessel broke her tailshaft 400 miles off the west coast of New Zealand. With wireless equipment, as certain, as the telephone, she advised the owners, who replied that they were sending a steamer to tow her into port. The facts are published in the newspapers, the public reads them, and, finding that there is nothing in the'weather conditions to arouse alarm, passes on to the next column.

Consider what would have happened before the days of wireless! First (says a writer in the New Zealand Herald) the Waitomo would have been reported overdue. from Bluff, whither she was bound from Newcastle. On account of the stormy weather that had occurred, the first day would have passed without serious anxiety. But the following day, provided no ship had spoken the Waitomo and had reported her disablement, alarm would have been sounded in every newspaper in the land, followed by the despatch cf vessels to search the wastes of the Tasman Sea for her. No matter how many vessels engaged in the search each would have had to operate at its own discretion or according to orders given at the time of departure. Every ship running between Australia and New Zealand would have kept a careful lookout, and perhaps would have varied its usual course. Thos belonging to other owners would- have had the incentive of the hope of earning heavy salvage to add to the unwritten law of the sea to save distressed mariners if possible. If ithe experience of the Perthshire were repeated, day after day would pass by without news. Then a schooner would arrive to report that she had spoken the drifting steamer. Without power she could do nothing else. Other vessels -would proceed in the probable direction, guessed at by knowledge of currents and winds. Weeks would pass -without a sign of the Waitomo. Again she would be reported by another wind-jammer, -with the information that she had crossed and recrossed the- main highways of the Tasman without sighting help. Hope would alternate with despair. The kin of the crew would dread the appearance of a telegraph messenger, and huge costs would be piled up by the searching fleet. At long last—47 days in the case of the Perthshir, which was adrift in the same waters in 1899—she would be picked up by lucky chance and towed into port. In the time she might have drifted 1500 miles, nearly the distance covered by the Perthshire, which broke her tail-shaft when two days out from Sydney on a voyage to Bluff and was near Norfolk Island when she was found.

A much longer drift was made by the steamer Waikato when in the same year she snapped her tail-shaft off the Cape of Good Hope during a voyagle from London to Wellington, and failing to make steering way with the small amount of sail she was able to hoist, drifted several thousand miles, during which she crossed her own track seven times. She was picked up on the hundred and third day of the drift and towed into Fremantle.

A return prepared for the Australian Federal Senate, in 1909, showed that in a period of eight years from January, 1901, a total of 27 vessels'trading to or from Australia were disabled by accidents to their propellers. In 17 cases their drift was less than 24 hours. Among the others was the Anglo-Australian liner Port Stephens, which drifted southward for 35 days, when her company abandoned her and safely reached Sydney. The vessel was never seen again. Another ship that encountered trouble in the period was the Union Steam Ship Company's Hawea, which, after being adrift off the coast of New South Wales for 28 days, made port under her own steam, her engineers having made temporary repairs. The A.U.S.N. steamer Pilbarra drifted for 13 days, and the Federal liner Norfolk was helpless in the Indian Ocean for 13 days. What a contrast with the pre-wireless days when overdue vessels were reinsured at high premiums are the conditions of to-day when, virtually, the master of a disabled steamer rings up his owners or his agents and asks for a tow, and, unless exceptionally severe weather is encountered. has* little cause to -worry over the safetly of the vessel. Yet wireless was still in the experimental stage when the century began. Only in 1899 did Marconi “ bridge the English Channel with.electric waves and establish practical wireless . telegraphy • between ships and the shore.” In that year the British Navy used wireless for the first time, t-wo cruisers being equipped. By 1905, however, many Atlantic ships carried wireless, but it was still the wonder of the age when, in 1909, the White Star liner Republic collided with the Florida 200 miles off Nantucket, and a number of ships, having received “ ethergrame ” summoning help, prcfinptly arrived on the scene.

But for years many freighters did not carry wireless. It was believed that the appalling loss of life in the Titanic when she struck an iceberg in April, 1912, would have been avoided if a freighter called the Lena had been equipped with it. She passed within 20 miles of the Titanic soon after she struck, but help had to steam 500 miles. To-day the small boy builds his receiving set for a few shillings. Wireless is the common thing, but what would the plight of the Waitomo have been without