TIRI MAKES BID FOR FREEDOM

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31198, 24 October 1966, Page 1

TIRI MAKES BID FOR FREEDOM

Radio Pirates Arrested In Mid-Harbour (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, October 23. Fantastic scenes erupted on the Auckland waterfront tonight as the pirate radio ship Tiri made a desperate bid for freedom which ended with the arrest of the crew in mid-harbour. Hundreds of spectators alternately booed crowds of policemen brought to the Western Viaduct lighter basin, and cheered the Radio t Hauraki crew.

The spectators made the escape of the Tiri possible after the bridge across the viaduct entrance was partly lowered in an attempt to stop the vessel.

About 50 of them hauled on a rope to free the main mast of the Tiri from the top of the bridge where it had been stuck for about half an hour.

The escape bid began at 8.30 p.m., an hour after the directors of Pacific Radio Advertising. Ltd., the company backing the pirate radio venture, had had the second hour-long conference of the week-end with the Minister of Marine (Mr Scott).

Police had been waiting on the wharf to stop the Tiri, the subject of a detention order signed by the Minister.

When the directors arrived back from the meeting in the ministerial rooms at the Post Office they conferred to work out how to make their escape from the lighter basin. The spectators cheered as Radio Hauraki members loosed Ae stern line attaching the Tiri to the wharf. inspector K O. Thompson. of the Auckland police, jumped from the wharf on to the vessel in an attempt to to enforce the detention order. As the stern of the yellowpainted vessel swung away from the wharf the bow line was dropped and the Tiri began to drift slowly backwards. Almost immediately the bridge began to close across the open entrance of the viaduct. The office of the Auckland harbour bridge operator had been manned shortly before that. ; Bridge Stopped Two or three Hauraki 1 members were standing right under the point where the “jaws” of the draw bridge were closing together. Because of two figures braced in their path the “jaws” of the bridge suddenly came to a halt. Other figures, including the pirate radio chief, Mr D. J. Gapes, managing director of the promoting company. were sitting under the bridge on the edge of the wharf. Hundreds of spectators whose cars jammed the viaduct on either side of the gap cheered the group and then booed as policemen tried to persuade them to move. In spite of police attempts to close the area off. more figures darted under the bridge to join the sitters.

The spectators cheered again and again, calling, “Hurrah for Hauraki” and asking, “Is this a police state?” The Tiri found the tide low and grounded on the muddy bottom of the lighter basin a short distance from the wharf. The engines of the vessel could be heard revving loudly as attempts were made to get her free. Finally a rope was thrown

ashore and spectators got together and hauled.

There was another cheer minutes later as the Tiri began to move forward. Moments later the ship was free, moving slowly forward until her nose wedged in the entrance to the viaduct gap. Another rope was swung round a bollard on the wharf and the stem of the Tiri swung round until she was pointed out towards the open harbour.

The cheering redoubled as the engines of the Tiri roared up and the ship began to move forward. All eyes were on the forward mast as it closely approached the top of the bridge. “It won't make it,” called onlookers, and with a crunch which rocked the mast backwards, the Tiri struck the bridge. The Tiri moved back slightly, a rope was run ashore and spectators heaved the vessel barge-like towards the western side of the bridge. As the Tiri moved forward a figure appeared on the top the bridge, Colin Broadley, one of the Radio Hauraki lieutenants. He braced his feet against the mast and, precariously poised some 50 feet above the Tiri. managed to keep it clear of the bridge as the vessel moved. But at the centre of the bridge the mast caught again against an obstruction. More figures appeared at the top of the bridge after climbing up the sides, now slippery with light rain. They strained to free the craft, but a shackle was lodged fast. Crowd Chants

Crew members put a line ashore fastened some distance up the mast. Concerted hauls amid intense cheering failed to budge the mast. As fresh attempts were made the crowd chanted to the bridge operator: “Up, up, up. up, . . .”

With the Tiri lodged firmly in the entrance, Mr Gapes ran to the vessel Kaimanawa, laid up nearby, and tried to telephone Mr Scott. He said that the Minister had told them privately he would not order the bridge lowered. But he could not get any reply from Mr Scott’s home at Whenuapai. Boarding Party The police launch Deodar, which had been cruising outside the lighter basin entrance, pulled in alongside the Tiri. As uniformed police began to clamber over the side of the pirate ship a burst of booing broke out. The men on top of the bridge were calling out: “Onlytwo inches. Only two inches to freedom.” Another call was made for a spanner to free the shackle. Then one man climbed from the bridge top on to the mast itself with a rope and inched his way until he could attach it securely near the very top of the mast.

Another group of police had arrived in police cars and boarded the Tiri from the wharf.

More booing broke out, but the line from the mast was ashore and a great crowd was swinging on it.

Once more the engines roared and a tremendous cheer arose as the mast top began sliding slowly along beside the bridge top. Then just as the forward mast came clear one of the two shorter masts aft struck the bridge with a crash. But the Tiri was slowed for only a moment as, policemen outnumbered crew members on the deck, the pirate ship moved out into the harbour. A tremendous wave of cheering from the wharf burst out as a television launch and the Deodar swung in behind. And most of the crowd spontaneously took up the song, “For They Are Jolly Good Fellows.” Ten men taken ashore from the Tiri in the Deodar were later charged at the Auckland Central Police Station with obstructing Marine Department inspectors. Inspector K. O. Thompson said the police were acting in the capacity of inspectors for the department He said there would also be two charges of obstructing police-

men and one of assault on a policeman. The picture on the right shows part of the crowd on the wharf watching the crew’s efforts to free the mast.