DOCK BURST.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3565, 30 August 1920, Page 6

DOCK BURST.

avalanche of ships. - ' £1,000.000 DAMAGE. Within sight of hundreds of passengers in the Mersey ferry boats, on Juno 6,-the 500-ton steamship Countess of Glasgow, was seen to burst the gates of toe Alfred Dock, Birkenhead, and to coni j head clown into- the river, followed by a cataract of released water on which sixteen smaller vessels were tossed like corks and sunk. The loss will be about £1,000,000. "When the event occurred it was about three hours from high tide, and the Countess was riding in the Alfred Dock waiting until the rise of water would enable the dock gates to be opened, so that she could pass out into the river The level of the water in the dock was then twelve feet higher than tide level in the river. It was the “thirty feet gate,” one of the four spanning the openings to this important dock system, which was involved. Behind

ia y a.U manner 01 crart, xrqm iiueis iu Steam tugs, badges, and flats. Wilhcut warning the Countess struck the gate, smashed it to matchwood, went head- down over the 12feet waterfall, righted .herself as if "by a miracle, cut in halves a barge lying outside, and plunged into midriver, to the consternation of ferry boat passengers and the skippers of other vessels. • A thrilling spectacle followed. People saw the onrush' of 500,000 tons of water through the 30-feet gateway. “It bubbled out like champagne through the neck of a bottle,” was ipne eye-witness’ description, SHOOTING- THE RAPIDS. Barges and lighters were spun round and up and down in the swiill as if they were toy> boats caught in a storm. Their crews were helpless to stave off .what seemed, certain destruction, and stuck grimly to their posts. Thoir craft ivere sucked into :he cauldron and cast headlong into the rive,r. “It made me think of pictures I have seen of shooting the rapids,” remarked one young steersman, “and the plunge a the end was terrifying. Most of the barges broke in two. Ten were found at low tide, just outside the dock entrance. Apparently one had gicno crashing on the top of another. Ironwork was like wire. Many thousand tons of coal and grain "comprising their cargoes led up around them. ' As thei- craft sank, the crews were thrown violently into the swirl. Nearly thirty men were rescued by tugs. Many men saved themselves by leap-' ing from one barge to another before leaching the gateway and jumping on to the quaysides. Those who went over the cata.raet clung for dear life to the sides of the .vessels. A man and his two sons were rescued together. Another man helped his brother to the side until he could be hauled to safety.

diver closed the gap. The sudden rush of -water from the dock placed the vessels moored inside in jeopardy, as they all touched bottom and were feeling the strain. Emergency gates, however, were closed and shackled by _a diver. In the river there was a trail of ■wreckage through which the fefry steamers ploughed. There was a similar happening at the spot 22 years age.