STEAMER KAIMAI

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 24, 28 July 1939, Page 10

STEAMER KAIMAI

WILD NIGHT IN COOK STRAIT

BRIDGE WRECKED

Severely buffeted by, heavy seas and a howling gale in Cook Strait on Wednesday night and yesterday morning, the steamer Kaimai, with the starboard side of her bridge splintered and smashed, lifeboats stove in, and broken glass scattered on the deck, showed only too plainly the wild time she had gone through, when she put into Wellington yesterday and berthed at the Clyde Quay Wharf.

The Kaimai, which is on ihe run be-' tween Westport and Auckland under. charter to the Westport Coal Company,' left Westport on Monday with a full cargo of coal, and shortly after she i had put to sea she commenced to experience bad weather. After sheltering behind Stephens Island she continued her voyage to Auckland, but on Wednesday morning, she found it necessary to shelter again, and she came inside the Wellington Heads, staying all day at Worser Bay. With an improvement in the conditions on Wednesday night the captai-> again put to sea, intending to run up the East Coast instead of the normal route on the West Coast, on account of rough seas around Cape Maria Vai Diemen. Heavy ,seas and a strong wind were met soon after the vessel rounded the Heads, and after a tempestuous night she was only off Cape Palliser yesterday morning. Huge waves, estimated to be 25 feet high, swept over the decks all night, but it was not until the morning, when the ship war caught broadside on by several seas, that most of the damage was done. One wave hit the starboard side of the bridge, ripped the end off it, tore the engine-room telegraph from the floor of tfife bridge, broke a speaking tube,, twisted stanchions, and dented the binnacle. The captain and first officer i who were standing near, the middle of ♦he bridge with- the steersman, narrowly missed being hit by the debris. Both lifeboats were heaved from their fittings, and were tossed about in the davits. The starboard lifeboat, which is said to weigh between five and six tons, had a hole in its bottom, bigger fhan a man*s head. The port boat wasi also holed. A porthole in one of the engineer's cabins was- smashed. Seas were taken aboard in practically every part of the ship, and evidence of this was given by the number of carpets and other articles that were hung out to dry when,the ship arrived. Nearly all the cabins were flooded. Water entered the ventilators and got down into the engine-room, causing large clouds of steam. A fireman said that it was so thick that he could not see his mate, who was working a few feet away from him. Water caused the electric wires to short-circuit, and the electric lights went out.

Interviewed shortly after the Kaimai berthed yesterday afternoon the master, Captain Rowlands, and the officers were reticent about their battle with the elements; but the appearance of the ship itself was sufficient to show the experience she has had. Owing to the regular companion ways, being closed on account of the sea, it was necessary for the crew to use an iron ladder on the bridge to go from the forward part of the ship to the aft. One man was hit by a wave as he was on this ladder, and completely winded. Another working in the stokehold chose to sleep there rather than go across the decks to the fo'c'sle.

The Kaimai, which has a gross tonnage of 1435. is well known in the coastal trade of New Zealand.. She belongs to the Union Steam Ship Co. of New Zealand. Ltd.. and was brought out to New Zealand in 1925. She will remain in Wellington for repairs.