SPRUNG A LEAK

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 55, 26 August 1911, Page 9

SPRUNG A LEAK

A STIRRING SEA STORY. Melbourne, August 2. A stirring sea story of adventure and hardship was extracted from the whirl of broken English on the French barque Neuilly, which was dragged to an anchorage off Williamstown to-night by the tug Alacrity. The Neuilly is a barque which, passing Cape Otway, inward bound, at 10.15 a.m. on Monday, caused much speculation as to her identity, there being no barque on the list of expected arrivals due at Melbourne. She arrived off the Heads late on Monday night, and in response to signals from the pilot steamer cruising outside, she stated that she was on a voyage from Dunkirk to Noumea, but had put in for repairs, as she was leaking badly. Pilot Foul is was immediately put on board to navigate her up to Melbourne, and he found the crew working at the pumps mechanically, and thoroughly fatigued with .the exertions to keep the vessel afloat, ■ having been hard at it for 25 days. They were being assisted in their efforts by a steam donkey engine, and but for its aid the Neuilly, it is asserted on board, would long ago have sunk in the open ocean.

The Neuilly carried a crew of 25 men (including the captain and officers). There is one passenger—the captain's wife, a young Frenchwoman of 27 or "28 years of age, whose main anxiety on arrival in port was to arrange with the health officer to post a bulky letter to her relatives in France, no doubt setting forth her experiences during the anxious period of uncertainty which she, her husband and the crew have come through. The captain is very little her senior, and has been in command of the Neuilly for a considerable tilßß, having shipped cargo in Jier at Adelaide last year. His name is Gustav Floch, and it Was he who told the story of the ship's adventure.

"We left Dunkirk on April -24," he said, "with about 3000 tons of cargo for Noumea, the bulk of it being coal briquettes (2700 tons) and general merchandise (300 tons). The coal briquettes saved our Jives and the ship; but for them and the donkey engine we should have been down there," and he pointed impressively down at the deck. "The weather was fine and fair when we left, and it continued so to the island of Tristan d'Acunha, which is in the- South Atlantic, midway between South America and the Oipc of Good Hope. Then we met a hurricane. It blew tremendously from the westward, and raised immense seas. This was on July 5. Soon our sails were carried away, or 6uch of them as were set when it broke on us, and the waves came clashing aboard repeatedly. They carried away all our deck fittings, and smashed two of our boats to pieces. The hurricane lasted for two days, and when it had blown out I got the crew to work straightening the deck up and getting new canvas on the ship. While/they were at this work one of the mates discovered that we had sprung a leak and there was a large quantity of water in the forepeak. I immediately ordered the men to the pumps. That web 25 days ago, and they have been there ever since. We made progress with the water for some time, but the ship must have strained herself badly, for it began to make headway on us after the first day, and that so quickly that it was urgent to do something more. We had a new donkey engine aboard, by good fortune, having shipped it on the present voyage; and, what was more, a good supply of fuel in briquette cargo. About 30 tons of this was the sihip's property, and the remainder had been shipped by the French Government. My 30 tons soon went, and I am afraid that I have made considerable inroads on the Government's briquettes. The donkey engine pumped out 75 tons of water an hour, and when we first got it to work we thought the crew would not have to assist it, but we were soon disillusioned. Their united efforts in assisting it have just managed to keep the ship afloat, and even now the forward bulkhead is all that is saving her from sinking. The men were supplied with plenty of nutriment, and they stood up to their work well; but they are done now, and had we not made port I don't think they could have stood the incessant toil much longer." The insurance representatives visited the Neuilly shortly after her arrival, and inspected the forepeak, in which it is computed there is at least 80 tons of water. It is level with the 'tween decks, and the pumps are still going to keep it in hand.

Pilot Foulis had some experiences in bringing the Neuilly through the Heads. He succeeded in getting her into the entrance about 3 a.m. yesterday, but she would only steer with difficulty in her partially water-logged condition, being practically out of control. For this reason she. to use the pilot's expression, "turned turtle with him" when a light northerly wind struck her at this time, that is, she went suddenly about, and sailed out into the open ocean once more. The vessel would not make way against the wind after this, and it was necessary to engage a tug to bring her into .port. The Neuilly is a steel barque of 2468 tons register, and is owned by the Societe Anonyme des Longs Courriers Francais. She was built at Nantes in 1900, and is 277 ft 7in long, 40ft 3in wide, and 32ft sin deep.