WANGANUI PUMP SENT TO STRANDED WANGANELLA

Wanganui Chronicle, 22 January 1947, Page 6

WANGANUI PUMP SENT TO STRANDED WANGANELLA

Following an urgent request received by the Wanganui Harbour Board from the Huddart Parker Line, owners of the Tasman liner Wanganella, aground on Barrett’s Reef, the board’s submergible pump was rushed to Wellington by lorry late yesterday afternoon. There are only two pumps of the kind in New Zealand. It is electrically driven and can be operated either in the hold of a ship or on deck.

The pump is expected to play an important part in attempts made to refloat the Wanganella. It was specially designed for pumping out the hold of stranded vessels and apparently will be used in Wellington for this purpose.

Only other pump of its kind in New Zealand is in possession of the naval authorities in Auckland. Th e Wanganui unit is part of the equipment of the board’s salvage tug Kahanui, which left Castlecliff at 10 o’clock on Monday night after steam had been raised hurriedly and a crew assembled.

Had time been available the pump would have been loaded on to the Kahanui. It weighs two tons, however, and is awkward to handle. Rather than los e time when its services were urgently required in Wellington yesterday morning, the Kahanui did not wait.

The pump was loaded on to a lorry at Castlecliiff yesterday afternoon and t<ie trip to Wellington was started at four o'clock. It was expected to have the pump on th e scene of operations last night. Most likely it will be used from the Kahanui.

The pump is of a type, however, that can be operated independent of the tug. it has already played a notable part in raising a sunken vessel. This was some years ago, when the dredge Canterbury sank in Lyttelton Harbour.

Attempts to laise the vessel had failed, and a request was sent to the W anganui Harbour Board for the loan of its submergible pump. The equipment was despatched to Lyttelton and played no small part in raising the dreage. On that occasion the pump was used independent of the Kahanui and its assistance in raising the dredge was warmly praised, thousands of gallons of water being pumped from th e ship. The Wanganui Harbour Board's equipment is intended primarily for marine salvage work, but it can also be very useful on land. This was demonstrated some time ago when the Palmerston North City Council had trouble with its water supply. Equipment available at Palmerston North was insufficient to pump out a well, but when the Wanganui Harbour Board’s submergible pump arrived it performed the task without any difficulty.