LUCKY ESCAPE

Southland Times, Issue 20207, 18 June 1927, Page 8

LUCKY ESCAPE

ACCIDENT ON STEAMER. TOPMAST BREAKS OFF. (Per United Press Association.) Auckland, June 16. An unusual accident occurred on board the American steamer West Calera at the central wharf. A wooden main topmast snapped off and fell on to the deck, where it broke into a number of pieces. The accident happened when the crew were hoisting the wireless aerial into position, it having been lowered on the vessel’s arrival so as not to be in the way of the Harbour Board cranes while cargo was being worked. The broken mast struck the deck on the port side of No. 4 hatch between a ventilator and the winch. Had it fallen toward the stern it would have certainly killed some of the waterside workers who were unloading from No. 5 hatch. The men who had been working at Nd. 4 hatch had finished their work and had left. The mast struck the deck at the spot where a man had been sitting driving the winch a short time before. The mast broke off near the lower masthead, where the wood had perished. A topmast to hold the aerial was fitted before the steamer sailed for Hobart.