EVENTFUL TRIP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 244, 16 October 1939, Page 9

EVENTFUL TRIP

—’ |. VESSEL DiSABLEE I PROVISIONS RUN LOW | I MAUI POMARE’S TROUBLES I j. TOM FROM HIE KERMADECS I i A voyage which normally takes j eight days, but which ran into nearly thre ? weeks, shortage of provisions and water, a week at anchor in the lee of the Kermadec islands, and finally a long and dreary tow to Wellington, were the lot of 13 passengers who arrived by the Government Island steamer Maui Pomare from Samoa toward the end of last month. The vessel left Apia on September 7 and in the ordinary course of events 1 should have reached Lyttelton eight days later, but the engines, which on more than one occasion previously 'nave proved to be more or less a mecheanical puzzle for the men inj' charge of them, again decided to be-.! come temperamental, with the result[' that the ship completed the voyage in i 1 tow of the lighthouse steamer Maiai. ; 1 Praise for Captain and Crew. !< “It was a grim trip,” said one of! the passengers, “and in my opinion it j 1 was only by the grace of God, superb J seamanship on the part of the officers;.. and crew, and the back-breaking work [ ' of the engine-room staff that we I f reached port at all. One engine only I c was working when the Maui Pomare! left Apia, but eventually the other | 1 was also coaxed to do its duty, and for j ’ a time all went well and the spirits of p the passengers rose. “Then came a further period of; ( limping on one engine, but the effort P was apparently too much for it, and ‘' it, too, gave up the ghost,” the pas-| senger continued. ‘By this time lhe f vessel was well out to sea, and Ihe | 1 worries of the captain were added to | ' by the fact that the barometer was | * beginning to fall. Finally the eers succeeded in making the wheels I turn again, but not before the Maui! j Pomare had drifted to within 1-1 miles ( - | of Vavau, about 360 miles south of L j Samoa, sometimes with one engine |, I working, sometimes with the other, [ : but. rarely with both.” I? Oil Gives Out. I ” The ship worked its weary way to it the Kermadccs, a group of islands i roughly 600 miles north-east of Auck- s land, and at this stage the Jubric t- 1 ing oil gave out. .So serious was the 1 position that The captain decided to t anchor in the shelter of the islands and send out a message lor assistance. Meantime, the passengers were ha\ - T ing anything but an enjoyable trip.' l Provisions were gradually running p short, and so low had the level in the 1 5 tanks fallen that it was found neccs- P sary to ration the daily water supply. 1 There was little or no milk, and so ! short had supplies of fresh commodities become that fishing parties were | c organised with the idea of introducing! 1 a little variety into the menu. To [, make mutters worse, even beer and ' mineral waters gave out, but to some, extent this trouble was alleviated | when a woman passenger discovered i j' that she possessed a bottle or whisky i and half a bottle of gin, and these!* were compounded into what wasij promptly christened the “Kermadec | c cocktail.’’ 11 Matai Appears on Scene. : ( The appearance ol the lighthouse j I steamer Matai at the anchorage a welcome sight, no less so lor ; ie. ; captain and crew than the passengci.. |' Water, lubricating oil and other esse:.- ; tial supplies were transferred to the | Maui Pomare and the Matai steamed . I away. The Maui Pomare’s troubles were | not yet over, (hough, for in spite .if | all the efforts ot the engine-room staft ’ the engines again refused to function j and there was no alternative but to recall the rescue ship. After another anxious period the Matai returned, and, realising the difficulty of his position’. the captain of the Maui Pomare took a tow. For a small vessel like the Matai to | tow a fairly heavily-laden ship fr m I the Kermadccs to Wellington was no I easy feat, but it was achieved, and, ■ the'extremely travel-worn company | ot passengers stepped on to the wharf ■ at Wellington on September 27, three weeks all but a day after their de- ' nurture from Apia. 5 zs