SHIP SALVAGED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 January 1944, Page 4

SHIP SALVAGED

AFTER TORPEDO ATTACK VOYAGE TO SAFETY. INCIDENT IN PACIFIC WAR. With the sea flowing in the two after holds through huge holes on either side, an American Liberty ship, the Isthmain Steamship Company's William Williams, survived a torpedo attack by a submarine in the Pacific and is awaiting repairs in Australia. After being left as sinking by the submarine, the ship, with her stern railings Bft. under water and he) - bow 7ft. out, managed to reach an island port, partly under her own power and partly towed by a United States Navy tug, which steered her. By placing all her heavy equipment forward, the ship was trimmed to an even keel. After pumping' and slight temporary repairs, the ship made the. voyage to Australia under her own power. As her steering gear was still not in good order she was again assisted by the tug. TRIBUTE TO SEAMANSHIP. The salvaging of the William Wil< liams and her voyages to saftey are tributes to the seaman-ship of her master, Captain W. Freeman, of New Jersey, the chief engineer, Mr Niels Peterson, of Maryland, and her crew. On a' Sunday afternoon a few days out from port the ship, which was not carrying cargo, was struck by a torpedo on the port side. Tearing a hole below and above the water-line on the port side, the torpedo’s explosion, shot fragments of twisted steel through the starboard side. With the ship placed on an' even keel daylight can be seen right through.

Pieces of steel from the size of rivets to large sheets shot through the- holds »and punctured everything thqy struck. One piece came through five decks and damaged a steel raft davit. Some pieces tore through the main deck under the No. 5 winches and left them a twisted heap. A sheet of black vapour which appeared with the explosion is believed to have been oil fuel, which was found halfway up the mast. A. beam fell on an oiler who was washing his clothes. Fortunately it was bent by the explosion and did not fall flat on him. He suffered broken ribs and internal injuries, and was the only casualty. NIGHT IN BOATS. The crew took to the boats as the William 'Williams sank by the stern. The captain and the officers remained for a while, but they too, spent the night in. the boats. The submarine did not surface at any time. The following morning they returned to the ship. The lights were still working and Mr Peterson discovered that his engines were still in running order. He raised steam by burning wood. Some spent the next flight in the boats, but it was found that the ship was sinking no further and that the level in the holds remained constant. With the help of the tug the ship arrived in an island port six days after the torpedoing. Making- 150 miles a day on the voyage between Australia and the island port, the William Williams was running with her propeller shaft, unprotected at one part of the tunnel, revolving in water. Asked how the shaft went in water and if it had been damaged, the chief engineer remarked with a smile: "Well, the water didn’t boil.” TRIUMPH FOR WELDERS. The William Williams’s crew jokingly refer to her as the only Liberty ship in the world equipped with a swimming pool. Mute evidence of the skill of the men and women welders who helped to build the William Williams at the Richmond shipbuilding yards, California, last year, is expressed by the way the welding withstood the terrific pressure of the explosion. While some welds are broken by direct hits from flying fragments, in no case have they split. Steel plates have split away from the welding, but not along it. Spot welding has given way, but the solid, continuous weld has held remarkably well. One weld was broken three times within four feet, but there was not a split and the plates held together. Rivets in positions near the explosion shot out, but the welding held. One rivet was found right forward, and must have flown from near the stern and over the boatdeck and bridge. Although she has been damaged and held up, the 1,600,000-dollar William Williams has paad.e previous useful trips since she was built. In addition she shot down a Japanese dive-bomber in April. Three submarine! alarms occurred when she was coming, crippled, to Australia.