UNIQUE SALVAGE JOB

Evening Star, Issue 23687, 21 September 1940, Page 9

UNIQUE SALVAGE JOB

Dismemberment of Port Bowen Refrigerating Plant for Freezing Works The salvaging of the Port Shipping Company s liner Port Bowen, aground on the Ironsand Beach at Castleoiff since July of last year, is unique for this country. “ Debuilding conveys the intention better than salvaging or wrecking, for the vessel is to be taken apart rather than wrecked. Other'Stranded vessels have been savalged on the New Zealand coast, but the Port Bowen is bigger than any of these, oyer 8,000 tons, and this is a reclamation in war time, when whatever can be recovered has more than a money value because material and fnachinery are difficult and perhaps impossible to obtain from overseas. So instead of being ripped down in quick time to clear the beach the Port Bowen will, within the limits of economic working, be stripped down plate by plate and member by member a real waste reclamation of some thousands of tons of machinery, fittings, and hull. Not all will be recovered; the weather will determine how far the work can go.

The biggest single item of salvage will be the complete refrigerating plant, which will be installed, at the Ivakariki freezing works, near Feilding. These works were built and briefly operated during the last war period, then were closed, and gradually have been stripped. It is not at present proposed to reopen the killing-sections, but Kakariki will give almost half a million cubic feet of additional cold storage space for these war years. But for the'compressor, thousands of feet of brine piping, insulation, and equipment from the Port Bowen, the works would have remained derelict, or would have cost vastly more to re-equip with new plant.

The Port Bowen went ashore on July 15. - Over 2,000 ?tons ’of hunker coal were jettisoned to lighten her and removal of cargo went on through August and September. She was never, and is not now, fast settled on the ridgy beach, and heavy seas and the coastal current have moved her off and on nearer the shore and half a mile along the beach; she is clear of water on the land side at low tide now. In October last year she was given up, though still unholed and seaworthy except for easily reparable damage, but lost as a war year carrier. Discussions between the owners, the Wangangui Harbour Board, and the Government resulted last June in the handing over of the ship, as she lay, as a girt to the Government. She was empty of cargo and more besides, for in the eleven months between stranding and handing over a lot that was movable was wafted ashore. Only some know how. The ship became the charge of the Minister* of Industries and Commerce, and after a detailed survey by the department’s experts it was decided to obtain the expert services of William Cable and Company to demolish the wreck. The Minister of Industries and Commerce enlisted the aid of the Public Works and Railway Departments and things moved quickly. Within a month a railed jetty five or six hundred feet long was built from the shore to the boat, and Public Works 'men, transferred temporarily from the Turakina deviation job, built ah extension, a mile and a quarter long, to the Castlecliff railway a pri-vately-owned line. Power and water were taken from the. shore, hoisting gear installed at two great ports cut in the hull, truck gear built for the jetty, and a gantry built at the shore end to transfer heavier weights to the railway. This extension runs through backyards, over front entrances, across the Castlecliff tram line; everyone con-.' cerned was willing to waive rights to get the job done.

DECK GEAR FIRST. While these preliminaries were on the way the clearing of the ship had made a very fair start. Fine fittings and deck gear went first—fifteen, winches, cables and anchor chain, three ship’s compasses, saloon fittings, and hundreds of feet of twenty-years-seasoned inch-thick oak panelling. With the removable gear out of the way, the oxy-acetone burners swung to it. The' funnel was dropped and sliced into strips for handling. The high bridge and officers’ quarters were cut down tier by tier, .and work began with the heavier decks. This heavier stuff ' and the three-quarter-inch hull plating are. to he taken out plate by plate by “ blowing ” the rivets with the oxy-acetone flame, the burr being melted off and the rivet punched through. At a guess 100,000 rivets have been blown so far; there are plenty more.

TWENTY-TON RUDDER. Some of the cuts are heavy; the biggest so far was the severing of the 12m rudder pillar to free the steering quadrant. This weighs tons, and if shipbuilders in Britain want it ready made it will be shipped away with accompanying steam steering gear. The rudder, 20 tons of it, may be cut through at the pintles and dropped to the beach as too awkiyard a piece to' salvage. A good part of the steed plate, sections and rounds, to be recovered from the hull has been placed already; all of it can be used. Inevitably there

TURBINES SOUND, There are 12 feet or more of water in the engine room, seeping in through bottom plates, but though the six turbines have been half-submerged for months, it is thought they will be sound and free of salt water, as they are sealed to wo* at high pressure. They and secondary plant in the engine room will be dismantled and possibly shipped away. The recovery of the twin propeller shafts will entail heavy but worth-while pumping. The twin propellers are bronze, worth hig money as metal.

will jbe a considerable scrap yield, most of which will be railed to the (Railway Workshops at Eastern Hutt. One of the problems in the repair of the Armadale, on the floating dock, after her collision with the Ole Jacob, was to obtain channel steel for the main members to patch the huge hole in her bow. The Armadale will have first call upon channels from the Port Bowen.

There are three double-ended marine boilers, probably to be taken out late in the salvage by cutting away the side of the boat and hauling and rolling them out. Big money again. The weather will have the final say as to how far the demolition can go. The coast is open to westerlies which blow up crashing rollers. Seas confounded the efforts to refloat the ,Port Bowen and repeatedly held up the removal of cargo, and though they are later this year they will come again. As the hull is now, only “ old man ” seas drown her, but the further the demolition proceeds the greater the effect of lesser seas will he, holding up ■work and : threatening ■ the, less buttressed hull.. Everyone on the job knows that westerly weather is going to be tough, but at whatever stage the debuilding of the hull may be stopped the holds and engine and refrigerating sections will be cleared, and the country’s stocks of plate, channels and sections, or marine and converted marine machinery will appreciate considerably at a cost much less than would go in overseas purchases, assuming that they could he made at all to-day. The whole plan of salvage and the speed with which it has been commenced since agreement was reached and the ship handed over to the Government reflects the full co-operation of owners, Harbour Board, the owners of the Castlecliff railway, and several Government departments under expert advice and direction.

Considerable tonnage of brass and copper tubing and non-ferrous metal in other shapes will come from the engine rooms and various ship’s services, and there are miles of usable electric cable.

Concurrent with the discussions between' the owners, Harbour Board, and Government over the salvage as a whole, there were discussions with the Wellington Meat Export Company over the rehabilitation of the cold storage block at Kakariki, leading to an agreement satisfactory _ in every way to bring back half a million cubic feet of storage, , The five insulated bolds of the Port (Bowen are lined with fine Baltic pine, behind which is approximately 50,000 cubic feet of tightly packed granulated cork and silicate cotton. Even after equipping Kakariki there will be a surplus for similar use elsewhere. There were about 100,000 ft of brine piping in the holds, more than enough for the cold storage block at Kakariki. The compressor will be dismantled, and with no great alteration will be changed over to electric drive.