TEETH THAT BITE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1446, 22 May 1912, Page 5

TEETH THAT BITE.

SHOULD BARRETT REEF REMAIN? OPINIONS l'I!0 AND COX. With the high Pencarrow light a few hundred yards away 011 a cliff-top, and a good low light u few feet above highwater mark, another vessel has lonnil that, in tho dreaded Barret Reef, Wellington's harbour month lias -teeth whicii can bite. A line, of irregularly-placed black rucks, extending for nearly a third of the way uci-0.-.s the entrance to tho harbour, undoubtedly form a menace to tho shipping of a port of the size and importance of Wellington. 'fake a look at the reef 011 a calm day in summer, with the tide at half-ebb, and anyone \yifl ree how extremely awkward tiiese p'iniiaelo rocks are arranged, i'or a distil nee from the shore tho reef is clearly delinod, then there are a few dark noses well abovo the wash of the tide, others lower out further, and just when one concludes he has seen the end of tho reef, ho will perhaps notico curious swirls and eddies a good deal further out. They are the outermost fangs in the jaw—fangs that are as often entirely concealed as not.

On a dirty, (lark night there is always a danger-to the mariner off Wellington Heads, if the night bo clear, alt is well. The leading .light on Somes Island shows red as lons us the reef is between tho light and tho vessel, and the nose must not poke north-lialf-west until the binnacle is silver-plated by the white beams from tho quarantine island. Then thero are tho Pencarrow high and low lights to take tho skipper gently by the hand, and lead him into port. It is when llie weather thunders up out of the south 111 a solid grev mass, obscuring tho bravest star, and blotting out every trace of tho artificial glimmers of man, that tho thought of tho sailorman Hearing homo must revert to the danger at the door.

When all is dark the safest plan is to " 'bout ship" and keep off tho land until it clears, but there arc times when a master may .get too close in to manoeuvre with safety—then the chance must be taken. If ho has judged tho distanco run, and has made careful allowances for wind and tide, tho chances arc that the experienced mariner will get through. Some skippers havo had to "swallow their hearts" at just missing; others have struck Chaffers Passage, and the unfortunate havo been bitten.

The latest is the Haupiri. AVith the world blotted, out by Ihick rain, which obscured even the loom of the hills, she faced the southerly, and came down in the cleft of a submerged rock, and .had to limji back to iwrfc like a beaten thing. In view of such possibilities, tho question was raised yesterday—should Barrett Reef remain? It would admittedly be a big work to blow up the wholo of the rocks east of Chaffers Passage, but much bigger barriers have been blown to atoms in other parts of the world. In any case, it is considered that the entrance to Wellington Harbour could lie widened considerably by the destruction of the outlying half-dozen of pinnaclo rocks. Ono master mariner with a long experience of Wellington says that Barrett Reef must always be a danger to shipmasters in thick "weather. As long as one could see the lights the way was clear, but there were times when they became obscured, just as tho entrance was being reached.

"If a master thought he was well out into the while sectare he camo on," said our informant, "but personally if I lose tho lights I would go about at once, and keep oft" tile stones until I picked up a light that would tell me where I was. In the ease of tho small boats in very bad southerly weather they have to como in if this side of Terawhiti. I have been placed in such a fix—with a. deck load of wool and no hatches on either. It was too bad to attempt to weather tho gale at sea, and wo had to come on. Down camo tlie rain, thick as paint, and shut out the world, I had to find the stones, so I cropt it closer and closer until 1 heard tho breakers, picked up my point, and then felt my way in. A man doesn't want many such experiences.

"There can lyj no doubt that if B:irrett Reel' ivere blown awnv tho port would bo a safer 0110 to work. Instead then of having an entrance nearly tlircc-rinarters of a mile in width, it would be the best part of a mile. Barrett Reef has a bad effect on the tides. Instead of coming ill straight, there is a distinct set towards the Penearrow side, which I hold is caused by the Reef.

"As you know, the low-liglit at I'encarrow.was to help us know where we are not so much as regard to Pencarrow Hear!, but in regard to the reef opposite. If the entrance could be widened 500 or 600 yards by knocking some of the rocks over to a depth that would allow safe navigation, it would be a distinct gain for Wellington Another ancient mariner who should know as much as anyo-ao about Wellington Harbour and its entrance was conservative in his ideas. Ho did not believe that the removal of Barrett Reef nr any narfc of' it would do much good. "If ynu blew the reef to smithereens," said he, "there would be nothing to cheek the southerly seas, and you would have a terrible range in the harbour. The Reef acts as a barrier., and breaks up the seas, making comparatively smooth water inside." A contributor recalls that the steamer Tui should bo added to *ho«c which have met trouble on Barrett Eecf.