MISHAP TO LIGHTER

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 November 1921, Page 3

MISHAP TO LIGHTER

EMPTIES CARGO INTO MUD

The Kaipara S..S. Co.'s big ]oh of conveying ironwork and other material to Dargaville for use in the new £40,000 bridge over th.£. river there, is temporarily suspended, in consequence of the company's lighter, the " Scow," having come to rest side-up in the river. The lighter recently made one trip to Dargaville (towed by steamer) with 90 odd tons of iron girders on, and last week was loaded at the Helensville railway wharf with a further consignment consisting mainly of iron and steel bars, the estimated quantity being about 5000 pieces and the weight over 90 tons. The barge was moored to the wharf on Saturday, in readiness for the trip north on Monday morning. A young man named Griffiths, who slept on board,, stated that about 12.30 a.m. on he awakened with the feeling that all was, not right, and dressed and hastily scrambled to shore. He had only got a few yards from the wharf when he heard a series«pf crashes, and going back saw that the lighter had tipped over sideways into the wharf. Two heavy derricks, about ten inches through,, had struck the wharf and snapped off like carrots, and the bulk of the cargo slipped off into the mud I at the bottom of the river. Other gear, -including a donkey engine, tank, etc.,also became submerged.

A good many spectators vie~wed' the wreck on Sunday, and on Monday morning employees of -the company started to solve the problem of righting the vessel. Assisted by "bottle-jacks," the heavy mass was levered away from the wharf, the job proving a slow and tedious one. V A few bars of iron were' salvaged, all more or less bent. On Tuesday afternoon an attempt was made to pull the lighter over, one of the company's steamers doing the tugging. However, the wreck resisted all efforts, and to all appearances a long and expensive job is in front of the company and employees before the vessel is once more commissioned. *•