Ferry Steamer Aground

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1013, 2 July 1930, Page 10

Ferry Steamer Aground

HEAVY FOG CAUSES MISHAP

Passengers' Long Wait on Wharf

THOUSAND belated travellers shivered on Bayswater Wharf this morning. Twenty yards away the ferry steamer “Takapuna,” fast on a mudbank, churned tliq water in a vain attempt to reach the waiting crowd. The ferry ran aground at 7.25 this morning when about to berth at the Bayswater wharf, and did not reach the gangways until a few minutes before nine o’clock, being floated off by the rising tide. Meanwhile passengers who had intended travelling by the trips scheduled for 7.30. S.O and 8.30 a.m. had arrived and were clustered in the sheds or along the open wharf, peering into the mists in the hope of sighting a relief boat. Many of the buses to connect with the 8.30. a.m. trip to town via Bayswater were diverted to Devonport when it was learned that no ferry was available to carry the waiting passengers. Many were taken by special buses from Bayswater to Devonport, fares being charged for those who could not show tickets punched on the down trip. It was easy to recognise the business proprietor by his worried air when he discovered that he had the only key to liis shop in his pocket and realised that there would be no work done until he arrived in the city. The apprentice and the typist were inclined to treat the whole situation as a joke, and exchange ifght remarks anent harbour bridges and the dangers of sea travel. Even the r. »> who stood to lose through the delay were phil-

osopliical once the position hail been grasped, anil puffed vigorously at their pipes as they stared into the grey blanket behind which bells clanged and sirens hooted dismally. It was not until nearly 8.30 o’clock that the 3 2 passengers bound for Takapuna who were on board the stranded vessel within a few yards of the wharf remembered the ship’s boats. They were rowed ashore amid the ironic cheers of the onlookers who introduced each 'one iu turn, as lie came up the launch steps, as ‘‘Earl Beatty, gentlemen,” or perhaps as ‘‘Viscount Jellicoe.” The fog was still thick on the harbour when the ferry finally slid from the mudbank. A launch which came nosing its way into Shoal Bay at that moment had failed to find the wharf and itself become stranded temporarily on the mud flats. Traffic was delayed on other routes, too, and it seemed a miracle that even the experienced captains who felt their way through the darkness of the early trips had been able to find the wharves at all.