Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 30, 2020 23:28:45 GMT 12
This is an unusual story. Pretty neat. From the EVENING POST, 12 DECEMBER 1944
ARMY LIGHTER ASHORE
P.A. DARGAVILLE, This Day. An Australian-built steel lighter, 90 feet long and 19 feet in beam, and estimated at 450 tons, floated ashore on the west coast, 25 miles north of Kaipara Heads, and was found yesterday by residents of Tangaihi, who have claimed it. It is branded "s.s.s 53G, U.S. Army."
The finder, Mr. J. W. Houghton, placed a man on board and drove to Dargaville to report his find. Yesterday afternoon, with the harbourmaster (Captain J. M. Dutch) and Constable A. D. Knight, he returned to the vessel and found it seaworthy. One bow compartment was holed, apparently by a shell, and there are other shell marks. Everything aboard was shipshape, and the hawsers and cables coiled. There were no signs that the boat had been inhabited. A Diesel engine pumping equipment was the only motive power aboard. The police have taken possession of the movable parts.
ARMY LIGHTER ASHORE
P.A. DARGAVILLE, This Day. An Australian-built steel lighter, 90 feet long and 19 feet in beam, and estimated at 450 tons, floated ashore on the west coast, 25 miles north of Kaipara Heads, and was found yesterday by residents of Tangaihi, who have claimed it. It is branded "s.s.s 53G, U.S. Army."
The finder, Mr. J. W. Houghton, placed a man on board and drove to Dargaville to report his find. Yesterday afternoon, with the harbourmaster (Captain J. M. Dutch) and Constable A. D. Knight, he returned to the vessel and found it seaworthy. One bow compartment was holed, apparently by a shell, and there are other shell marks. Everything aboard was shipshape, and the hawsers and cables coiled. There were no signs that the boat had been inhabited. A Diesel engine pumping equipment was the only motive power aboard. The police have taken possession of the movable parts.
