THE WOOTTON'S BREAKDOWN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11871, 8 June 1909, Page 2

THE WOOTTON'S BREAKDOWN.

AN ENGIXEROOM DTSA.STKR

The news that the well known little trader Wootton had broken down m Cook Strait, and that after «n unsuccessful attempt at salvage, .she had beencast adrift again, vn used quite a -stif'ijr the places . where she js known . (stales the Lyttelton Times), Great eagernfss for news was manifested at Ijytteltoji; and an , extraordinai-y . ftt^rprise wo.?:. sprung upon the port when,, about. 3 o'clock. she was signalled as 'approncKing I»yttelton Heads. She came into port, under her own Steam, at 4.46 PiinV Vl :■-' ■" '.■ ■: ;V ' \- _ '"■ ['■ ■.» The Wootton 's adventures*.. fully ' justify: the engineer's proverb that ; many strahge ; things happen .m the .engineroom at «ea. She ha's it small set of compound engines, and it was due ; to a> serious smash m the engineroom that $he . was disabled. The steamer was still m Cloudy Bay on Wednesday afternoon, making her way from Nydra Bay to Lyttejton, when the low-pres-sure connecting rod broke. There were old flaws m both jaws at the small or upper end of the rod and they snapped off' simultaneously. The lowi pressure piston jmmediately flew to the top of the cylinder, till the cross-head on the ■ pis-ton-rod .^topped- it, and smashed the top cylinder cover into pieces, sending it flying to> the skylight and across the engineroom. The connecting rod carried away a guard .and fell clattering to the floor. Fortunately the Wootton is fittsd with sail ' and is a. good "windjammer." In fact, nh<H does a good deal of her travelling under sail. Th?re was a freshening nor'-wester and a.fising sea, and the was got under sail as fast as possible, while the engineroom hands drew the fire preparatory to, seeing what could be don« below. The damage -at first appeared irreparable, owing to the arrangement of the engines. In some types part of the set can be disconnected without seiribusly impairing the rest, but ib L this' case, duster ovcrtr>ok tl^e wrong half. The weather was rapidly becoming worse, and as some of the Woot^on'aj canvas wor carrying a^ay,,tb6 dpptfarJi anee of the. steamer Bknheitti was w*l-i coined. She was signalled,} and after milch trouble cnme alongside, and took a | tow line aboard. The nor'»tvester proved too much for her, ■■ however, and the course she *se{> for Wellington direct cotdd not bo maintained, owing to the •wind abeam. ;After about 12 hours', towing, the Blenheim signalled that she was unable f o keep up -the struggle any , longer, having run short of coal; and sb© cast off at 6.40 p.m. on Thursday., . THe Wootton was, m An. unfortunate, and disagreeable -predicament, for slje wtus making very heavyN weather of it; Tlie news tliat presently -came ; from i-tlie 1 . engineroom. that there' was a, possibility, of "getting a turn out of , the eugiries," was therefore very Svelcome.: The" device adopted wiis necessarily makeshift m the, extreme, , but . it succeeded. The piston was fixed at .the bottom of, the • lbwpressuve cylinder, the" hroken tonnect-lnff-rod removed, nhd the cover pieced together ami replaced. The engines were set going again, using only the high-pressure cylinder. The difficulty of that proceeding would have beori.far less but for the fact that all the pumps of the engine. were driven vfrom the lowpressure eropß : head, which, w^s ne:es J sarily stationary. The cbiidenser . was useless, as the air pump _ coiild not ",.jb'e worked, and the steam had trt bo allpV'ed to blow through the condenser, I'aß of it was. con denied, but the jest, had- to escape , in' a smother m tl>e enginerbb-m. The boiler feed-pump was also out jof action> and overy time the water got low^ in, -the boilers. .the fires h^ad to- tie drawn and the pressure allowed to- drop .till • the ; pumps available - were/ able to force water m. Salt water had to be used, because of the impossibility of recovering the fi^eflh water, ' ( Nevertheless the Wootton manaßeo'/to limp along, and when she got into a fair wind again, after passing Kaikoura, she made fine speed under canvas. Captain Scott had decided to take advantage of the favorable wind tb conve to Lyttelton instead of trying to work back to Wellington, and the 7 Wootton arrived safely after a most ; unpleasant ' experience. 'v ' •• v ■'„.'', ■'*•,•!