NEARLY READY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10319, 31 January 1927, Page 5

NEARLY READY

TO PROCEED TO AUCKLAND WATER UNDER CONTROL IN ' stricken liner JCO 2 HOLD TO BE SEALED With the list to port eliminated, i , r bows higher out of the water and Tain" at anchor on an even keel, he "federal liner Northumberland . t j ie roadstead presents a different 'iMit compared with when she lirnps? into the Bay on Monday afternoon last. Salvaging operations have rocooded almost incessantly since jwj time, with the result that the liner’s condition is so..much improved hat the intention is to tow her to Auckland, where she will be run onto N the Calliope dock for repairs to her hull- It was proposed to leave the roadstead this evening, but the work n the bulkheads will probably delay | lO steamer’s departure until Tues[ay night or Wednesday morning, liie patching of the holes in the hull rt 'itli collision mat*, tarpaulins and ihoepskins has Keen successful and ,umpiiig has greatly reduced the cater level in the hold. The Harbor board’s pump, which was used .in No. 1 hold, has been dispensed with, L lias also Mr Goodman's in No. ’2 hold, and the pumps of the tug jl'erawhiti are all that are being used Intermittently in the three holds to Keep down the water level. The Ivater is now well under control and lit the seat of the danger, No. 2 liold, the water has been reduced bellow the-, second hatch, while in No. 1 and SXholds there are only a few feet of to bo seen. It is proposed to seal down the lower hatch of No. 2 hold with the wooden hatch covering, battened with timber, and covered with cork, and finally covered over with a layer of cement and bitumen to prevent the water rising on the voyage to Auckland. A large gang of artisans has been busy during the last few days shoring up the bulkheads between No. 1 and 3 holds to strengthen and protect them against bursting from the pressure of water. This work is being undertaken under the supervision of the Marine Dep i. - t nent’s surveyor at Gisborne, Mr J. White, who has been supervising operations during the past *,vo days and nights. This work is of a complicated and difficult nature. The protection of the three collision mats covering the holes m the hull in preparation for the trip to Auckland engaged the attention of the Harbor Bonrcl staff throughout yesterday and, last evening. another collision mat covering a!l three previously adjusted was ragged. mto position. The binding off of the mats and covering of them, and iot'ii g them ofF with heavy steel wires, round the bottom of (he vuse) was also completed last evening, but it is probable that further bane's may have to be. adjusted to- keep the mats in position. Captain Plunket, Lloyd’s chief sur veyor. for Now Zealand, arrived m Gisborne, from Auckland on Saturday evening and immediately proceeded to the Northumberland to overlook the salvage work and to ensure that the vessel is fit for the trip to Auckland. Calliope dock, Auckland, to which the Northumberland is to be taken for repairs, will not be large enough to take the whole of the liner, and the undertaking of repairs there will ho one of the biggest for which the lock has utilised. The Northumberland is 530 ft in length and the Calliope dock from the head to the bilge for the caisson at the level of the blocks is -521 ft, while there is additional narrow space at the head of the dock to accommodate the stem of a long vessel. 'Mr D. Holderness, the Auckland Harbor Board’s engineer, stated that he did not know whether the narrow space at the head of the dock would be sufficiently wide to take tb#f Northumberland’s stem, but, in lvt* said, part of ' the dock could be removed to make room for the vessel. The Port Chalmers clock has been the scene of a large number of the largest- undertakings in marine repairs to liners that have come to grief on the New Zealand coast, but that dock, according to inquiries in Dunedin, *is too small to accommo-. date - the Northumberland, having .a total length of only 521 ft. The harbor construction and other pul die works now proceeding in Gisborne have resulted in a concentration of skilled artisans and equipment, so that G'is bore lias been able sio provide more specialist assistance n the salvaging of the liner than many of the seaports of the New Zealand coasts, there being a large (timber of shipwrights and fitters enfiged in the harbor works who have lit considerable assistance.