Port Bowen Struck By Squall at Gisborne

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 22, 27 January 1937, Page 12 (Supplement)

Port Bowen Struck By Squall at Gisborne

DRIFT TOWARD ROCKS. While loading cargo for London off Gisborne on Friday the Port Line steamer'Port Boweu was struck by a fierce westerly squall and nearly blown ashore. She arrived at Auckland to continue loading yesterday afternoon. With one anchor down the Port Bowen was taking cargo from lighters alongside. It was about one o’clock on Friday afternoon, when the men were just about to resumo work after the lunch-hour, that the squall struck her. She dragged her anchor and drifted rapidly toward a reef of rocks running out from Kaiti Beach.

The officers and crew quickly reached their stations and the starboard anchor was let go. This checked the drift of the ship and she was brought up a short distance from, and parallel with, the shore. By this time her engines were in motion and the vessel was soon under way. The Gisborne harbourmaster, Captain A. Carson, who was passing near by in a launch, boarded the Port Bowen and piloted her to a more sheltered anchorage, where sho completed her loading.

The Port Bowen is under the command of Captain E. O. Thomas, and he paid tribute to the prompt action of those on board during the emergency.

The Port Bowen is a twin screw steamer of 8267 tons. She is some 38 years of age and is fitted with six steam-geared turbines. She is to go from Auckland to Napier and Wellington, and is scheduled to leave Wellington, for London on February 2.