200-MILE TOW

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20127, 22 December 1939, Page 11

200-MILE TOW

CRAFT FROM TAURANGA BARGE FOR TIMARU A 200-mile tow was completed yesterday by the 38ft launch Kiritas, which put into Gisborne about noon after a fine-weather passage of 44 hours from Tauranga. The Kirita had in tow a 00ft barge, which is being transferred to Timavu for use in a rock-dredging contract and the skipper of the launch had hoped to hand over the tow as far as Lyttelton to the m.v. Pukcko, which sailed for the south last night. The Pukeko was unable to make the tow This trip and the barge ,’s expected to remain at Gisborne until the middle of next month. The tow will be carried out then by a coastal vessel, probably the Pukeko, with the Kirita in company. The Kirita will continue on to Timaru with the barge, which should reach its destination at the end of January.

“The launch is a shell around the engines," was the manner in which a member of the boat’s company described the Kirita, which is fitted with two units producing 74 horsepower. The craft has three propellers, one driven by the forward engine- and the other two by a chain drive from the after unit. The ship's company numbers four and with two engines placed fore and aft there is little space left for the comfort of the crew. The four bunks are alongside the rear engine.