DIFFICULT NAVIGATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 33, 7 February 1903, Page 2

DIFFICULT NAVIGATION.

DENSE FOGS AT SEA. j All sorts cf rumours hare been current ■ in New Plymouth regarding the ex-' periences cf the Rotoiti and the Nga-j puhi oa account of the dense fog which prevailed along the coast all Thursday | and F.i\;iy. CAPTAIN ROBERTSON INTERVIEWED. VVi h a view of asearUining actually what has occurr,d, a representative of | the Daily News interviewed Captain Robertson on the R>toiti, and from him 1.-arned tint he experienced fin' weather till about 9 o'clock, when on rounding Cape Egmont they ran into a dense fog, Opunake was passed about 8 o'clock, the coast being qui'e visible, and the weather clear. On running into the fog the engines wer - slowed down, and thii fog horn soundbd. Later on the Takapuna's fog horn wa' heard, ard sooa after she loomed up 'hrough the fog, picking her way slowly down th 9 coas ,and Captain Robirtson I expected she would soon run out of the fog. Arriving oft' Pungarehu, ho stood out frcm the co&st a little, and felt his way al ng for some time by saundir.g', but being unable to Jocite the Sugar Loaves, Clip tain Rober'son hung about to the south-west of them till evening, when no improvement taking pkce, be stood right out to sea till morning. The sea, Captain Robertson stys, was v<ry smooth, making it doubly difficult to locate the dangerous reffa to the sou h of the Sugar Loave»\ Shrly on Friday morning Chptain Robertson returned, and al. hough th j fog was very d- nse, ho succeeded iu locating the outer Sugar Loaf, and reached the wharf shortly after 8 a.m., and berthed alongside the wharf.

CAPTAIN NOUBURY INTERVIEWED. Captain Norbury, whose smart looking craft lay on the other sile of wharf, and whj wag reported to hivo brought up wi hin his ship's length of the sugar loaf, was then interview* d, and said the weather was heavy and dull when he left; Manuk u, a denee fog- hanging about tho hills, bus not Very low down, A c juple of hours out, however, they ran into a dense fog, which hung to them all the way down. He arrived at the Sugar Leaves early on Friday morning, aad, after some little delay, feeliDg his way by souLdiDgs, he picked up the outer rock, and at once cime inside. this time the fog became very dense, and for a little while it was impossib'e to make oat either the whaif or the breakwater. After feeling about cautiously for a few minutes the former was located and the Ngapuhi moored alongside in time to connect with the mail train. WANTED A FOG BIGNAL. Both captains agreed that they h».d had tn anxious-time, and considered some soit of horn, whistle, or signal for use in case of fogs would be exceodingly useful if locited on the breakwater, and that the absence of anything to enable them to pick np the breikwater caused a good deal of loss of time. IndeeJ, Captain Norbury said it was the whistle of one of the railway engines that enabled him to pick up his position, just as he bad decided to lay off for the fog to lift. Both captains »re to bs congratulated on the caution di?p'ayed by them and the cireful matn r r ia which tbey succeeded in bringing their vessels into p->rt in the face of the dense fog which existed.