SEAPLANE TURNS TURTLE

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 26, 25 October 1921, Page 4

SEAPLANE TURNS TURTLE

FLOATING UPSIDE DOWN IN THE HARBOUR OVERHAUL AT AUCKLAND LIVELY Mr. Leo P. Walsh, owner of the flying boat now in Wellington, has had a good deal of bad luck one way and another. Prior to the arrival of the machine from Auckland, Wellington had enjoyed a long spell of fine spring weather, but since then there has been a succession of gales and much wet weather. Things culminated during Sunday night. A heavy southerly gale sprang up late at night, and increased in violence early in tho morning, until it blew with hurricane force. About 6 a.m. Mr. Johnson (works manager for Mr. Walsh), who has been managing the business hero, was notified from the wharf that the ’plane had turned turtle at her moorings between the King’s and Glasgow wharves, and was lying upside down in the water, Mr. Johnson informed a, Dominion reporter that he arrived at the wharf at about 7 a.m. to find the boat had turned over. “We had moored her for a portherly wind,” said Mr. Johnson, “ahd when the southerly gale gained strength it must have blown hal’d enough to submerge the leeward ’planes; then a gust, had probably struck the upturned ’planes to windward, and turned her right over.” . "It is the hardest of luck,” continued Mr. Johnson, “as we have had. a lot of bad weather, and have got a fairly long list of bookings ahead. Ono trouble is if the boat is out of commission for a few days the public get it into their heads that we’ve gone away." "I don’t think any great amount of actual damage has been done, but we can’t tell until the weather moderates, and we right her again -with the assist-. ance of one of the cranes. At present the boat is floating on a level with her lower ’plane, which, of course, means that the engine and gears are all submerged. This means a complete overhaul. We may be able to fix her up here but. as we can do this work so much better at Auckland, we may have to ship her up there. There’s little danger of her sinking, as the engine ana other Iron work only weighs about 7cwt„ whilst there is a ton of light wood in the boat.’