DOCK GATES BROKEN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16758, 7 June 1920, Page 3

DOCK GATES BROKEN.

DESTRUCTIVE WAVE CAUSED. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright, LONDON, June 5. A collier leaving a dock at Birkenhead crashed into the gates, and the water pouring out into the river overturned barges arid small craft. The collier herself was washed into the river on a ten-foot wave. Rescue vessels were helpless against the torrent. Six lives were lost. [The docks are approached by double gates some distance apart, forming a lock. The collier bad entered the lock near low tide but, before the gate, could be closed behind it, crashed into the outer one, letting out the water held up in the dock.]