Engine failures hit Navy boat two days in a row

The navy has revealed one of two engines on its dive tender, HMNZS Manawanui, failed just after the ship had crossed one of the country's worst bars.

The following day as the ship steamed north on one engine at the reduced speed of six knots to search for a sunken fishing boat, the starboard engine failed and it took engineers six hours to get it going.

In the latest issue of the navy magazine Navy Today, the navy said the port engine failed without warning just after the ship had cleared Auckland's Manukau bar on the west coast.

"Despite a substantial investigation and much scratching of heads, the reason for the shut down could not be established."

The Manukau Harbour bar is one of the worst in the country and is the site of the country's worst shipwreck -- the sinking of the British warship HMS Orpheus on February 7, 1863, when 189 sailors and marines died.

Two days earlier Manawanui had crossed the bar in a heavy 3.5 metre sea which broke over the dive deck as it entered the harbour.

The magazine said after the port engine failed the ship's speed was reduced to six knots but the next day the starboard engine failed as it headed out to search the seabed for the fishing boat, Iron Maiden, which sank off the west coast at the top of the North Island on August 16 with the loss of two lives.

Manawanui searched for 16 hours but returned to the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland for repairs to its port engine before heading back to Pandora bank to resume the search on October 26.

Manawanui found the fishing boat three days later and sent its remote operated vessel down to take pictures for Maritime Safety Authority investigators.

- NZPA