TERRIFIC DUST STORM

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1930, Page 8

TERRIFIC DUST STORM

MOTOR-SHIP’S UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE.

WELLINGTON, February 4

An account of a terriiic dust storm experienced oiiside the entrance to Port Pirie on January 9th was given to-day by Captain P. J. Greenhill master of -th ! e Nitrate Producers’ Steamship Company’s new motor-ship Anglo Canadian, which arrived at Wellington on Sundav-afternoon from Port l’nie.

The Anglo Canadian, said Captain Gmnhill, left .Newcastie-on-Tyne with' "000 to is of coke consigned to the leg metal smelting works at Port Pirie. The voyage proved uneventful until the vessel approached the eastern shoal at the entrance to Port Pirie when at about 7 o’clock in the morning a terrific dust storm suddenly enveloped the ship, blotting out all sight of land and rendering the visibility so poor that it was impossible to see a ship’s length outside the bridge. The anchor was dropped and for 14 hours the vessel was swept by hot brown dust, which penetrated every crevice on the deck. The deck houses were sealed up so as to make them .almost airtight, hut even then the fine dust, which had been swept up from the arid country surrounding the port, had to be shovelled out when the storm was over.

Towards 9 o’clock that night when the conditions became less severe and it was possible to go on deck again, the Anglo Canadian, which but a few hours before was spick and span in the newness of her white paintwork, presented a sorry sight. Dust adhered to her sides and deck fittings, giving her the appearance of an old tramp steamer, and when the task of giving the deck a rough clean up had been accomplished it was estimated that nine torts of dust had been shovelled overboard.