SIGNALS AGAINST ARATAPU

Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1929, Page 4

SIGNALS AGAINST ARATAPU

VESSEL BERTHS AT WAITARA. BAR CONSIDERED UNSAFE. Allegedly ignoring the fact that the signals were against her, th© auxiliary scow Aratapu, which had been lying off th© Waitara River mouth for over two days, on Tuesday morning crossed the bar and berthed at the wharf. The harbourmaster (Captain W'oods) stated that when th© Aratapu arrived on Saturday evening she was drawing Bft. 3in., and there was only 6ft. of water on the bar. There was also a shoal extending across the channel 100 feet from the wall. He had sounded the channel from a launch on Monday night, and again at low water, and had found ridges in the sand on the shoal which might not have been detected with an ordinary sounding rod. He considered the bar was unsafe when the Aratapu crossed it. When the Aratapu berthed at the wharf the manifest was not produced and he could not take her cargo into the harbour board’s sheds. The master of the Aratapu (Captain T. Henderson) stated that, after waiting outside the river mouth for two days, he took his own soundings and found that there was sufficient .water on the bar, despite the adverse signals. The Aratapu was stranded on the Waitara West beach for several days in March.