MAMARI STRIKES ICEBERG

Hokitika Guardian, 4 May 1928, Page 1

MAMARI STRIKES ICEBERG

CRASH IX THE DARK. SHIP'S BOW CRUMPLED. WELLINGTON, May 2. A head-on crash into an enormous iceberg while steaming at full speed in the darkest hour of a pitch black night was the nerve-racking experience. of the officers and "crew of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company’s steamer Mamari on her last Ilomewaid passage from Wellington to London. The mishap, which was briefly reported in the cables at the time, was graphically described to-dav by Captain H. Falconer. Laden with a full cargo of frozen meat, dairy produce, and other goods, the Mamari sailed from Wellington on July Tilth, 1027. for Montevideo and London. The ship made a good run around Cape Horn, and passed the Falkland Islands on August -Uh. Captain Falconer sent a wireless message to Port Stanley, asking for ice reports, and was informed that no ice bail bec-u seen in the vicinity of the Falkland** since June Ist. and that a whaler which had just arrived from South Georgia reported that she had seen none during the passage. No indications of ice had been observed bv the Mamari. although a sharp look-out was being kept. The night of August Till was a particularly dark one. A fresh north-west wind was blowing, and it was raining heavily. The Mamari was proceeding at her ordinary full speed of about 13 knots. There was a fair sea running, when the second officer. Mr H. Moil alt. went on watch on the bridge at midnight, hut there was not the faintest indication of danger, and the- lookout man saw nothing at 1.3!)-a.m. Without

an instant's warning, there was an awful crash, and a horrible grinding and crunching of steelwork, and the ship, with her engines working at full speed, was brought to a standstill with a yiolenl shock. There was no mistaking what had happened. The steamer had collided how on with a huge iceberg, which was quite invisible from the bfhlg-c. For some minutes several tons of ice displaced by the impact fell on the forecastle head and piled up over Lite windlass, and the wreckage of Hie ships how. So terrific was the impact that the ship shook and trembled throughout her whole length of feel, and sevtral members of the crew off watch were roused from sice): by 1 icing thrown out of their hunks. In the stokehold the furnace doors were jerked open and the fires were thrown out on to the plates. The sailors and firemen of the watch below had a rude awakening in tile forecastle. The

n „ise of the impact in their quarters was terrific, and the how was ground

into a shapeless mass just on the other side of the bulkhead. The men rushed up from below to find masses of ice strewn about the forward deck. It was pitch dark and raining hard. Ominous noises were coming from forward. where- the crushed-in how was grinding against the berg, and above all came the roar of escaping steam from the exhaust pipe when the engines were slopped. Roused by the first crash. Captain Falconer was on the bridge in a lew seconds and took charge of the situation. He sounded “emergency stations." and the crew responded promptly. AH watertight doors throughout the ship were closed, and the limits were swung out- and fully provisioned. In the meantime the engines were kept working to hold the ship in position, and prevent her from swinging round, while all the wells wore sounded and a hasty iniinspection of the damage to the ship was made. It was found that the ship was not leaking in any compartment abaft the forecastle. The how had been completely crushed for a length of 20 feet or more, the- plating amt frames being crumpled up to within four inches of the collision bulkhead. How narrow the escape of the sleeping sailors and fireman had been was shown bv the fact that their bathrooms and" lavatories had been completely crushed in. The capstan on the forecastle head was smashed, and the barrel pipes also, while the anchors were embedded in a mass ol

crumpled plating. 11m first force of the collision seem

rl to have been slightly on the starlonrd how, for the stem and the plat„g and frames were twisted round to mri, and flattened, the whole how be-

iug crushed hack. Captain Falconer described the berg as of enormous size. Lighted up faintly by the foremast headlight, it could lie seen toweling high above the siiip. The Alamari must have run ,-igh.t into a huge cavern. because the ice overhung the foremast and the funnel (which is 112 feet high). Captain Falconer was manoeuvring bis ship for over lour hours after the collision, and when he judged himself well clear of danger he hove to till daylight. 'When morning broke, the Alamari steamed for 15 miles along an unbroken line of ice. which ranged from 350 to 400 feet in height, before she ran into clear water. During the dnv several bergs of great size were sighted. The collision occurred about 180 miles north-north-cast of the Falkland Islands.