MISHAP TO BREEZE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 30 (Supplement)

MISHAP TO BREEZE.

Runs Ashore in Fog at Robinson’s Bay. CREW’S FINE EFFORTS. Struggling against a dangerous rush of water into the engine-room, the crew of the coastal steamer Breeze brought their badly damaged vessel limping back to Lyttelton yesterday afternoon. Several hours beforehand, when proceeding souih from Wellington, she had run aground in dense fog at Robinson’s Bay, near Cheviot. With the starboard bilge keel ripped away, the seventeen men of the crew had a Herculean task to keep pace with the inflow of water, and the pumps had to be kept working full bore. It was a tiled crew when Lyttelton was reached. The men considered themselves lucky to come through with their lives. Fog Like a Blanket. At 5.5 o’clock on Thursday evening the Breeze left Wellington bound for Lyttelton with general cargo. Calm weather with a north-west breeze was encountered when the vessel entered Cook Strait, and all was well until early yesterday morning, when the ship ran into heavy fog. According to reports the fog, which hung like a blanket around the ship, reduced visibility to less than fifty yards. Under these conditions the Breeze felt her way south, keeping to the ordinary course steered by coastal vessels en route for Lyttelton. Between seven o’clock and 7.30 o’clock yesterday morning she ran ashore at Robinson’s Bay. By good fortune the vessel struck on a shingle beach. Fifty yards southward and northward w r ere two heads of jagged rock. Had the ship run on to either of these there is little doubt •that she w’ould have been held fast. The watch below was asleep in the forecastle when the ship went aground and the heavy impact brought them from their bunks in their night attire, in a rush to the deck. The ship was pounding heavily, due to the incoming tide and an oily swell. Captain M’Arthur, master of the vessel, was on the bridge when she struck. It appears that the vessel had been carried inshore by a strong north-east-erly set. The lookout man and those on duty on the bridge and wheelhouse were not aware of their precarious position until suddenly the coast loomed up fifty yards ahead through the fog. Excitement on Board. The order, “ Full speed astern,” was given immediately, but it was not in time to save the vessel from plunging her bow up on the shingle beach. The Breeze went aground with a crash of steel grinding against shingle, the impact shaking her from stem to stern. In a moment the sleeping members of the crew were awake and out on deck. For the first few moments there was some excitement, fog-blinded men being apprehensive of their fate as the ship pounded heavily and shivered as she rose and fell with each incoming swell. A hurried look round showed that the stern was in deep water. Preparations were made at once to get the vessel off the beach, but other difficulties quickly presented themselves. With the order given for full speed astern, the vessel veered round so that her stern was pointing north-east, and with the northeasterly swell she became broadside on to the coast. The vessel had a list to port and from this side a boat was lowered with three or four members of the crew, who rowed towards the coast. The ship’s whistle had attracted several early risers to the beach, and from these the boat’s crew were able to ascertain the ship’s position. Requests for help to be sent from Christchurch were shouted to the people on shore. A kedge anchor was then run out astern of the Breeze and, by hauling on this with the engines going full speed astern, the crew managed to kedge the vessel off the beach. One hour and a half after she struck the shore the Breeze was back again in deep water in Robinson’s Bay. The anchor w T as dropped to enable the master of the vessel to fix his position. This done, the Breeze sailed south at low speed. Her starboard bilge keel had been ripped away by the impact on the beach. Water coming in through the sprung plates in the stern was gaining fast in the engine-room and was also welling up in the forward hold. The pumps in the engine-room were set going and after a short period reduced the volume of water, and from then on until Lyttelton was reached they were able to keep pace with the inflow. Crew’s Strenuous Battle. To combat the inflow into the forward hold buckets were brought into commission, the crew being hard at work bailing out the water during the run to Lyttelton. Owing to the condition of the vessel. Captain M’Arthur rang for full speed, which was maintained until the Breeze arrived off the Lyttelton Heads at 4.15 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Her tired crew had had a strenuous battle and a grim one to save the ship, and they were seventeen thankful men who took their rest when the vessel berthed at 5.5 o’clock. Captain H. Monro, marine superintendent of the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company, and chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board, after hearing reports from Cheviot, arranged for the tug Lyttelton to go to the assistance of the Breeze. The harbourmaster, Captain T. M. Hunter, ordered that the vessel take on additional bunker coal and be provisioned for two days at sea. The tug was ready to sail at 12.15 o’clock, but when it was learned that the Breeze was proceeding to Lyttelton under her own steam, her trip was cancelled. Captain Monro also made arrangements for Mr R. S. Taylor, a member of the Canterbury Aero Club, to take a member of the company’s staff up the coast to search for the ship. The ’plane made a search along the coast, but owing to the heavy blanket of fog, returned without sighting the vessel. The Breeze, which is owned by the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company, is of 542 tons. She is well-known in the New Zealand coastal trade. Captain M. M’Arthur has been master of the ship for about twelve months.