HOVE TO

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20736, 21 February 1939, Page 7

HOVE TO

OPAWA IN GALE EXPERIENCES IN IRISH SEA (By Telegraph.—Special to Time*) AUCKLAND, Tuesday Practically hove-to for five days in the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel in the middle of last month during the terrific storm which swept the Atlantic Ocean and the English coast, the New Zealand Shipping Company’s 10,300-ton motor ship Opawa experienced some exciting moments. It reached Auckland from Liverpool yesterday, being five days behind schedule. The Opawa cleared the Mersey on the afternoon of Saturday, January 14, and immediately encountered the force of a whole gale. For nearly a week the conditions were the most severe one of the officers had experienced in 20 years. When the sea. crashed through the hatch covers on the forward deck the ship had to be put about to run before the gale to prevent possible serious consequences through flooding, and the manoeuvre of turning the deeplyladen vessel in the high seas was accomplished while the Opawa’s complement waited through long, anxious moments Damage to Cargo Repairs were made to the covers, hut the extent of the damage to the general cargo in the No. 1 hatch, which is believed to be fairly severe, <\mnot be accurately estimated until the hold is opened. The Opawa is the second ship to reach Auckland from Liverpool in the past month with cargo damaged by .^ea-water, the earlier vessel being llie Federal Line's Kent, which arrived here on January 28.