RANGATIRA BUFFETED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 June 1938, Page 5

RANGATIRA BUFFETED

* BRIDGE WING DAMAGED BY HUGE SEA. MEMBER OF CREW KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, June 14. Struck by a huge sea before she had cleared Wellington harbour on Monday night, the inter-island steamer express Rangatira was considerably damaged about the bridge and fittings, and an able seaman, D. McKenzie, Wellington, was knocked unconscious.

A strong gale blew at Wellington on Monday and before the departure of the Rangatira everything was battened down in preparation for a rough trip. Most of the ventilators on the foredeck were removed, the vents covered, and other precautions taken. Notwithstanding this, the Rangatira arrived at Lyttelton this morning with the starboard wing of the bridge smashed in, one of the smoking-room windows broken and with a ventilator missing and other damage.

It was just as the Rangatira cleared Barrett’s Reef, near Pencarrow Head, that she took the sea aboard. The vessel had been slowed down to six knots from Worser Bay. As the huge wave struck her those in the wheel-house heard a crash of timber and glass from the starboard enjl of the bridge where McKenzie had been on the look-out. Investigating, the chief officer, Mr C. Hill found a big gap in front of the bridge and a heap of smashed timber from which McKenzie’s arm protruded. Mr Hill at once held fast to the arm and called for further assistance. With the help of the third officer he then got the injured man into the wheelhouse and found that he was unconscious. McKenzie recovered consciousness soon afterward and was made comfortable in a spare passenger cabin. The damage to the bridge wing included the smashing of frames and the glass of several plate-glass look-out windows. Some of the heavy counterweights from the windows were afterward found at the other end of the boat deck. A heavy iron door leading from the foredeck was also damaged. The starboard navigation light was damaged and had to be replaced by an emergency oil lamp. Crossing Cook Strait the Rangatira was kept down to six knots, reaching Cape Campbell at 1.30 a.m. instead of 10.30 p.m. Normal speed was resumed from off Kaikoura and the vessel berthed at 10.15 a.m., about three hours and a half later than her usual time. Passengers for the south left Christchurch by a special express train.