ATTEMPTS TO REFLOAT THE VESSEL.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12757, 1 April 1910, Page 2

ATTEMPTS TO REFLOAT THE VESSEL.

At live o'clock yesterday morning operations in connection with the raising of the steamer Koi , which foundered while making the new entrance on Wednesday afternoon (full details ot which appeared in yesterday's issue)' were commenced. The Anchor <-ompany's steamer Nikau, with a staff of workmen from tho Anchor foundry; under "the direction of Mr T. Brown, proceeded to the spot where the Koi is lying, about hair a milu westward of the mole, and having located the sunken steamer, an attempt was made to place her on an even keel. 'I he- Koi was then lying on her starboard side, the funnel pointing towards the Rocks road. Steel hawsers were slipped round the vessel's hull, but when the winch was started these were unable to- stand the strain, and several snapped. Operations, unattended py success, were continued until midday when the Nikau returned to port. Practically no impression was made oa the Koi, which lay on a sandy bottom in eleven feet of water at the lowest state of the tide. At high water she is submerged to a depth of. twentythree feet. ... One of the Koi's boats, several lite buoys and some of the steamer & runnin<* gear were recovered yesterday morning. The weather then was ideal for tho work attempted, the sea being without the slightest sign of a npplo. Two of the crow of the Koi have participatod in mishaps at sea on previous occasions. Mr G. Hendry, A.8., was in the barque Lutterworth when she was thrown on her beam ends in Cook Strait some years ago, and Mr Fowlei' the seaman, was on board the Anchor. Company's steamer Charles Edward when she was wrecked, on the Wanganui bar some time ago. LAST NIGHT'S OPERATIONS.^ Further attempts to raise the Koi were made last evening by. the steamers Nikau and Waverley, of the Anchor Company's fleet. Although the latter-vessel, which has been undergoing an extensive overhaul, is not quite ready for sea, owing to repairs to her engines not being completed, it was decided to use her as a punt, and she was accordingly towed to tho scene of the accident by the Harbour Board's tug Gordon. The. Waverley was laid alongside the sunken steamer, and a staff of men from the Anchor foundry attempted to pass chains from the Nikau underneath the Koi, on to the Waverley. By this means it was hoped as the tide came in to raise the Koi sufficiently to enable her to be earned into shallow water near the Boulder Bank, where she could be righted, pumped o\vb, and subsequently towed into the harbour. With the incoming tide last evening a large .number of sheep, which -were drowned in the foundering of the Koi. floated on to the Boulder Bank, andwere collected by means .of oil launches and brought ashore for despatch -to Mr Fairey's boiling down works at Stoke. - . ' It is understood that a departmental enquiry into the foundering of. the Koi will be held by Mr J. W. Culleii, Collector of Customs, this morning.