SEA WRECKAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 November 1940, Page 8

SEA WRECKAGE

ON WEST COAST OF NORTH AUCKLAND MAY BE FROM MISSING TURAKINA. SOME SIGNIFICANT ITEMS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. There is a possibility that the wreckage which is coming ashore in large quantities along the west coast between Kaipara Heads and Ninety Mile Beach may be from the New Zealand Shipping Company's steamer Turakina, which has been unaccounted for since August 20, when she sent a radio message stating that she was being attacked by an enemy raider. Much of the wreckage corresponds to what would be the fittings of a vessel of the Turakina's type. A Press Association message received yesterday stated that 20 hatch covers, bunkside boards, bathroom gratings, and dunnage have been found on the beach south of Dargaville. The wreckage was inspected by Captain Dutch,' harbourmaster, and Constable Bruce, who removed most of it to above high-water mark. Large insulated hatch covers have been left to drift ashore.

A previous message from Auckland stated that during the weekend a number of ship's hatch covers and 14 small rafts were found strewn along the west coast at various points between Kaipara Heads and Ninety Mile Beach. One of .the' rafts bore a metal plate obviously affixed by the maker. It read: H. L. Perry, Barrow-in-Furness. April, 1940. Some of the wreckage was found on Saturday by a Government official travelling down Ninety Mile Beach. On Sunday the Kaitaia police found 13 small rafts measuring 6ft. by 4ft. All but four were broken. Four hatchcover planks were also found. No name or other indication of identity was found on any of this wreckage, but as it was all covered with barnacles it is assumed that it had been in the water some considerable time. Another raft of the same size and a hatch cover were found on the beach south of Maunganui Bluff on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon a Dargaville resident, who was fishing off the coast between Dargaville and Kaipara, Heads, reported that he had seen wreckage between Tikinui Beach and a sandspit at the entrance to Kaipara Harbour. Every few hundred yards, he stated, there were heavy planks measuring about 24 inches by 2 inches thick, coated with what appeared like crude oil. He said he also saw some hatch covers about 3 feet square. The news that insulated hatch covers were coming ashore possesses significance in view of the fact that the Turakina was extensively fitted for refrigerated cargo. The finding of several rafts also fits into the picture, since all overseas ships are carrying additional rafts and life-saving appliances for use in sudden emergencies created by enemy attacks. The Turakina was an oil-burning steamer, which might account for the fact that some of the wreckage was coated with what appeared to be crude oil.

The Turakina was on passage across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand when, in the evening of August 20, she sent out an SOS radio message stating that she was being shelled by an enemy ship. An intensive search by sea and air of the locality given in the message was made, but since the date mentioned no trace of the Turakina has been found.