NAVUA IN A CYCLONE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 154, 29 June 1907, Page 5

NAVUA IN A CYCLONE.

.RETURNS TO PORT FOR REPAIRS.

HEAVY WEATHER EXPERIENCED.

An unexpected arrival this morning was the Union Company's steamer Navua, which left Auckland on Tuesday afternoon last for the South Sea Islands and Sydney. When the vessel berthed at the wharf it was ascertained that she had experienced boisterous weather, and that it had been found necessary to put back to Auckland for repairs to a leaky tube. The official report of the occurrence is as follows: — About 24 hours after leaving Auckland water was discovered in the tunnels of the engine room, being caused ky a leak in the stern tube. After twelve hours the ■water seemed to take off, but it again increased, and the pumps were brought into requisition. As there were no facilities in the Islands for 'tipping' the vessel, there was no alternative but to come back to Auckland. The Navua will go into Calliope Dock to-morrow afternoon, and it has been arranged for her to* resume her voyage at 6 pjn. on Monday next." THE CAPTAIN'S ACCOUNT. Captain D. McLean, the master of the Navua, supplied the following report of the trip:—The Navua left Auckland at 4 p.m. on Tuesday last with north-east winds. After clearing the land the wind increased to a strong breeze* with a rough sea. The wind continued from the north-east until 8 am. on the 26th, when the barometer commenced to fall. The wind increased and changed to northwest, and then due north. At noon it was blowing a heavy gale and raising a big sea!,- and the -ship was put head on to the sea. The weather was very bad and the barometer fell rapidly, dropping as low as 28.90, when the wind again changed, this time to the west. The storm lasted until midnight, and about eleven o'clock the ship was again put on her course for Nukualofa. The wind was now from the south-west, and the weather was steadily improving. 11 pjn. we changed our course for Auckland, owing to the accident to. the stern tubes. The vessel was then 293 miles from Auckland. The return trip was made in steadily improving weather. Mokohinau was sighted at ' one o'clock this morning, and .the harbour was-made at 8.15 a.m." A PASSENGER'S EXPERIENCE. 'Mr R. H. Nash, editor of the "Standard," Palmerston, and a passenger by the Navua, said, in the course of a chat with a representative of this paper, that when they left the Heads at Auckland there was a strong wind, which continued all Tuesday evening. Next morning the weather conditions were still worse. At noon •on Wednesday, the Navua ran into a cyclone in latitude MA7 south, longitude 176.13 east, 85 miles from Makohine, and! 147 from Auckland. There was a terrific sea, the waves washing completely over the- ; vessel, and flooding even the upper decks.' Nearly all the passengers were confined to their cabins, and some of them were considerably distressed. The barometer fell until it readied 28.90. During the the dynamo broke down, and the electric light went out. There was a good supply of lamps on board, and candles were used in some of the cabins'. -The cyclone continued throughout the afternoon of Wednesday-,-and Captain McLean ordered the.steamer to"be"hove to for some hours. Then, a course was steered west by south, which took the Navna out of- the cyclone area. The wind moderated, and the sea fell very fast, until the captain, at 10.45 p.m-, put the steamer on her usual course to the Islands. On Thursday morning the weather was improved, and it was j expected that Nukualofa would be made ' at eight o'clock on Sunday. That evening, in latitude 31.54 south, and.longitude 178:29 east, 293 miles from Auckland, a very heavy gale and sea arose, and Captain MeLean decided to return to Auckland to repair a leak which had sprung in one of the stern tubes. ANNOYED BUT NOT AFRAID. "We had a fearfully dirty time of it," remarked a pasenger to. a "Star" reporter . morning, "but there was never any alarm among the passengers, notwithstanding we had to turn tail and run back to Auckland. When we left on Tuesday everything showed promise lof a fairly pleasant trip for the time of the year. It was unfortunate, how- , ever, both for the ship and those of us who expected to be in Tonga by to-mor-row morning, that before we had beenmany hours out of port we dived into I a gale, and things became, from the landsman's point of view, mighty weti and unpleasant, to aay the least of it. ' The skipper endeavoured to avoid the worst of the storm, which continued to j increase in violence, by circling round it, 'but by Thursday morning it was really terrible. Mountainous seas deluged the |-vessel with their smother, and kicked her about as though she were a straw plaything." "i have been a. good many trips across these seas," he added, "but this was, I think, the worst in my ex--perience. On Thursday the hurricane was absolutely cyclonic in violence, and, to add to our difficulties, the packing about the shaft became loosened in some way, causing the stern tubes to weep. At first it did not appear to be of any gravity, but the straining pi the ship in the storm evidently helped to promote the negligible quantity into a serious difficulty, for, on the morning I speak of, the day the skipper decided to run back, the pumps had to be set in operation, and this necessitated the withdrawal, just when it was most wanted, of a considerable force of steam. Anyway, , she turned her back to it that morning, and ran South to Auckland for repairs. They are going to put her into dock tomorrow, and we are supposed to be off j again on Monday." "Trying for the ladies?— Yes, it certainly was, so far as weather was concerned. We had a good many on board, too. But there -was no alarm to speak j of, even among the most timorous of I them." "And it doesn't take a verygreat deal to scare some of those who j go down to the sea in ships, you know," I he mused, with a glance aloft.