In a Six Days Tow Degei Brings Awahou to Port

rERE is still drama to be found on the high seas.

At 11 ajn. on Sunday, October 8, every thing aboard the 400-ton vessel Awahou was functioning normally. The ship was on a voyage from Funafuti, in the Ellice Group, to Suva, Fiji, and her position was approximately 150 miles north of the Yasawas. After a severe buffeting, in heavy weather, she was now riding to smoother swells—a fact which the master, Captain W. D. Hay, greatly appreciated, in view of her light cargo of 1,000 empty oil drums.

In the small saloon, Miss Pat McKee was chatting to little Michael Mill and his mother; while outside the cabin, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, late of Tarawa, were taking cups of morning tea. The engine room staff were pumping the bilges.

At 11.30 a.m. the bilges were dry. But at 2 p.m. the fly-wheels of the twin en gines were sending out an arc of spray picked up from sea water which had risen to the plates. Chief Engineer Reeve, with his assistants, Scott and Norton, brought steam, electric and manual pumps into operation in an ef fort to check the flow, but the water gained so rapidly that steam had to be blown from the boilers to prevent an ex plosion. Shortly after, the electric pumps were submerged, and by 3.30 p.m. the Awahou had lost all headway, was listed to port, and lay wallowing in the trough of a smooth swell.

A distress signal from the Awahou was received by Suva Radio early on Sunday evening. The Fiji Government lighthouse tender Degei was hastily

equipped with radio gear and despatched at 3 a.m. on Monday, while the Carpenter Line ship Lakemba, bound for Sydney from Suva, was diverted to help Awahou.

Meanwhile, the Air-Sea Rescue Service of the RNZAF at Laucala Bay went into action and a Catalina took off at 4 a.m. on Monday. Contact was made with the Awahou about 9 o’clock, and the aircraft continued circling until relieved by a second Catalina, which stayed with the ship and directed the Lakemba into con tact at 3 a.m. Tuesday. Passengers from the Awahou were transferred to the Lakemba and subsequently to the Degei, which reached the scene that afternoon and took the Awahou in tow.

At 3.30 p.m. on Saturday, October 15, the Degei and the disabled ship had reached Momi Bay on the western coast

of Viti Levu. At 5.15 a.m. the following morning, the two ships again got under way, and the 300 mile tow against head winds ended in Suva Harbour at 3.30 p.m. on Monday, October 17 —almost a week after it had begun.—ROß.

Wright.

Photos show (left): Capt. W. D. Hay, Master of Awahou, after his week-long battle to keep his ship afloat. (Right): Capt. McKenzie, Assist ant Harbourmaster at Suva, who was in charge of salvage operations, and Capt. Asa Chute, of Degei. Lower photo graph shows Degei with Awahou in tow nearing Suva. —Fiji PRO photo.