TWO SHIPS IN TOW

Radio Record, 29 April 1938, Page 18

TWO SHIPS IN TOW

VOYAGE OF THE "FROSTY MOLLER" umcceccoeme CAPTAIN POTTER, of the tug Frosty Moller, may be excused if, after his trip from Port Chalmers to Shanghai, he has more than a sprinkling of grey hairs. The Frostv Moller was formerly the tug Southland, which has been laid up at Port Chalmers for 10 years. Prior to the lay-up she had had two years’ service at Bluff. She was recently sold to Moller’s, of Shanghai, who had her refitted by a Port Chalmers firm. During a relay taken from the wheel-house of the Frosty Moller before her departure Captain Potter outlined to Allan Foster, engineer at 4ZB, the struggle ahead. The captain explained that the vessel had to tow back to Shanghai not one, but two ships. One of these, ansther tug, will be picked up at Melbourne, and the other, a small coastal steamer, will be taken in tow at Sydney. Then, of course, the fun will star With two vessels on a 900-foot the Frosty Moller will be faced with : hazaidous trip. The most dangerous part of it will be off the north-east coast of Queensland. The captain remarked that in Torres Strait, a stretch of 3000 miles of enclosed waters frequently swept by storms and subject to strong tides, the initial method of towing will be discarded. The operation adopted may seem somewhat dangerous and complicated to the layman’s point of view. Instead of being towed behind the Frosty Moller the two charges will be brought alongside and grappled, one on each side. This manner of progress is considered the most practicable in such enclosed waters. ‘The undertaking is expected. to oc cupy twe or three months,