SHIP BUFFETTED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20512, 2 September 1936, Page 6

SHIP BUFFETTED

SURREY’S MOORING DELAYED HEAVY SEAS OFF PORT A strong southerly sea and a heavy ground swell prevented the Federal overseas steamer Surrey (8564 tons) from entering the port on her arrival from Bluff yesterday morning and it was not until late in the afternoon that the seas moderated sufficiently for the harbourmaster (Captain H. C. White) to bring her into the harbour. In the morning and early part of the afternoon, great white combers poured over the gap in the Eastern Extension and for some distance off the coast conditions were very rough, but after high water, which was at 2.33 p.m., the seas abated considerably. The Surrey arrived from Bluff about 11.30 in the morning and soon after Captain White went out in the pilot launch to bring her into the harbour. After a rough trip round the extension, the harbourmaster decided that there was too big a sea running to permit the vessel to be berthed safely, and the Surrey stood off the coast until the afternoon. A large group of small boys and other interested spectators assembled at the shore end of the extension about 2.45 when the pilot launch made another stormy voyage out to the freighter. Some idea of the conditions could be obtained from the manner in which the little launch was thrown about by the large waves. It was a strenuous battle round the end of the extension, and Captain White and his crew had an unenviable trip. The small craft was equal to the task, however, and before long was in the smoother waters off-shore, where the Surrey was lying. Screw Out of Water Those ashore anticipated that the big liner would have a rough passage into port, but apart from a period of a few minutes as she rounded the | extension she received only a moderate I buffeting. At times, her single screw 1 was completely out of the water as she was lifted by huge seas, and as she turned she was put over at an angle, but it was not long before she reached the shelter of the harbour. Shortly after 4.30 she was tied up at No. 3 wharf. The Surrey is a single screw turbine vessel, a type which is particularly difficult to handle under conditions such as prevailed yesterday. It was a coincidence that on the ship’s last visit to Timaru, to 1933, she encountered similar weather and berthing was delayed on that occasion for a day. There was a lift of about a foot in the harbour yesterday as a result of the rough conditions outside, and the Shaw, Savill and Albion vessel Zealandic, at No. 1 wharf, was uneasy at her berth.