FERRY RUNS AGROUND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 774, 21 September 1929, Page 12

FERRY RUNS AGROUND

LATE HOUR EXPERIENCE FOR SHORE RESIDENTS TAKEN ASHORE BY LAUNCH Passengers on the 11.25 p.m. ferryboat from Auckland to Devonport ! experienced an unusual happening i when the ferry, owing to the rapidly ; falling tide, ran aground off Stanley Bay. Attempts to run astern into deeper water were in vain and the passengers were eventually taken by launch to the wharf. The fern - steamer was bound for Devonport via Stanley Bay with about 150 passengers aboard, mostly theatre-goers, while there was also a number of navy men. Just before reaching the Stanley Bay Wharf the boat went aground. “There was no jolt or anything like that,” said a passenger; “it was just as though we were running into the wave made by some passing steamer." The passengers were immediately ordered to the stern of the vessel and the engines were reversed, but the boat was j i*rd and fast. A launch was . dispatched which took aboard the Stanley Bay passengers, enabling them to arrive at their destination about 15 minutes later than the schedule time. The launch then returned for the Devonport passengers, who were landed at about 12.15. A naval pinnace also came to the assistance of the night launch in taking the Devonport passengers j ashore. j As the tide rose at 4 o’clock this [ morning the ferry went off under her | own steam.