Waihora in Cyclone.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 March 1923, Page 4

Waihora in Cyclone.

A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. STEAMER SWEPT BY MOUNTAINOUS SEAS. ! STEERING GEAR BROKEN. j AUCKLAND, Fell. 21. j The officers and crew of the Union , Company's steamer Waihora, which has arrived at Auckland from Nauru Is- j laud, tell a stirring tale of their never- j to-lie-forgotten experience ol a cyclone- . The vessel ran into a cyclone, and for j hours her decks, from stem to stern, ! were swept bv mountainous seas. INTO THE CYCLONE. When the steamer left Nauru on February 9th, the barometer was high, anil the weather was favourable . The sea, after a few days, was more than j moderately high, hut no importance j was attached to this, since it was j thought to he the outcome ol a cyclone , reported from Nukualofa, Tonga, on { February 11th, hv wireless. The swell , continued, hut otherwise the weather conditions did not portend any great change, and during the night of February loth, nothing untoward occurred. On Friday the dawn broke clear, and nil went well till about !) a.m., when 1 without a minute’s warning, the sky became darkly overcast with great hanks of black clouds, a violent easterly wind roared over the ship, and the . en rose in huge billows, crested with swirling foam. Within two minutes the vessel was in the grip ol the cyclonic storm, trembling from stem to stern, with the wind shrieking its fury, and mountainous waves washing over the decks, lie fore anybody had grasped the significance of the situation, the Waihora wa- in the trough of the sea, with a gigantic green wave lowering high above rlic level of t lie. bridge. Next minute she ruse high on the crest of a tremendous billow, with the spray drenching everything and everybody, and water poiiirng over the decks, the after-deck being awash to a depth of fullv four feet. DEAFEXIXG ROAR OF EI.EAI.ENTS’. "The barometer had fallen right down, and it seemed as if the bottom had dropped out- of the world!" said one nf those on board. This was only the beginning of it. Although had at first, the fury of the cyclonic storm increased as the hours passed, and at I p.m. it reached ils height. It was impossible to hear anybody speak, and the captain’s orders, bellowed through a mega illume from the bridge, trailed away like a child's feeble voice, drowned as if by the crash of bass notes of a mighty cathedral organ. Standing on the bridge it was impossible to discern t lie ship’s bows. Stinging -pray, thick as log. enveloped the ship, atm the roar of wind and wave was deafening. In addition there was rain, but

ties •eareolv mattered, since the ship, was Hooded fore and alt. whil-t the drenching spray was worse than any rainstorm. STEF.RINC HEAR BREAKS. In these cicrumstances, it is not difficult to imagine lilt- anxiety rsiunt'licod by Captain Harris, nod Its on cci’s when it was learned that tic steering gear wa- useless. b'uc ot * j ■■ chain links, an in-h and an eigidli ;:i thickness, had snapped, rendering e ' !■■ ■' nothing les- than ft I ions r.eig • ( wottid have -napped tin chain, and tins serves to give soteo ith’it e! ike fury ot •' e la:in . 1! u -al -o Ini. lid I iia I lie i under li”d been bent by the s!i’”n:dh el .ic re-”?.-, coen t which nothing cunM -land. Fiery avail.d lu man v.: while seamen struggled with lie whrrii.o v 1„. .1. online it a I ereiilean task In bold it. Waves pinned ever them, and their plight was wretched hevend weld-. St l’e,i ttotis elfnrts for three himi -. with the men w> rkiitg iit w ater up to their neck-, found the steering sy-toie once more in order, and it.relief of these at the I'aml-wl'eel e.nild eni’elv 1.0 greater than that n! the uTu’ers and erew , w ho reali-ed lull well t hat, had it I”i n inmo-sihle l o ellc ■ repairs, the -hpi would net have ••■to” d a ehaiwe in a thousand. One of the cooks was severely injured about the hip, another received a painful blow on the knee, and a third was nearly si untied. ’MIDSHIPS BOAT SMASHED. A lifeboat swung amidships came in for much buffet ting, and, as the result of a huge wave catching it on the beam it da-lied to pieces. Several ventilator shafts were torn elf. and anything about the decks of a movable nature that had not been lushed down was (Illicitly lest overheard. To wall; the Hooded decks was an ordeal which seamen are -eldem called upon to face, and it seemed niii-niulnu- that nobody wa- ln-t, since the decks were under water from shortly after 9 a.m. till nearly 6 o'clock. In the opinion of I lie officers, it would have been impossible to save Hie ship bad the cyclone been encountered (luring the night. Captain Harris remained on the bridge throughout the whole of the exciting period. Ti e -hip was lime-in a- seen as possible, the undertaking being fraught with coii-iilerable danger on account of the giant seas and l lie heavy cargo of pho-plutte- in the Waihora'.- hold. She was too hem ily-hulen to rise to the swell, and her buffeting was the more severe s a consequence. Had the cargo not been stowed with special care, in view of the fact that the trip was to be made in the hurricane season, it would almost certainly have shifted, with disastrous results. On one occasion, when a ventilator shaft was wrenched oil', one of the holds was in danger of Hooding, but the hole was quickly covered with it tarpaulin. TIGHTEST CORNER OF A LIFETIME.

The wind dropped and the sea abated with the same suddenness as they had arisen. Captain Harris considered that it was tiie tightest corner lie had experienced In all his nautical career, extruding over a period of twenty year.. Had the wind remained steady longer than it did, the most consummate navigation and skill could not have brought the vessel out of the eyeione, and all on hoard owed their lives to the change of the wind when matters looked blackest. Oil was poured oiitiie water from every pipe and scupper, and this served to slake the fury of the waves to some extent. The wind was so strong that it seemed the bridge would he blown away bodily. Had is vessel been within reasonable distance of shelter, an effort would have been made to run for it. hut the lull force of (he hurricane was encountered when the Waihora was between Hunter Island and Conway Cay (or reef), neither of which offered a haven. There was no chance to get in the lee of anything and there remained "Hohsotl s choice, to take a long change and lieave-to. Officers and crew stood by l aptam Harris with great courage and loyalty: and emerged from the ordeal with grea 1 iv-'c-'t for his ability as a navigator.