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Not sure if the steam winches were second hand or not but on my second trip on the Kabala we had as deck cargo the President of Sierra Leone's state railway carriage. On arrival at Freetown much was made of this and the quay was full of government officials. It was to be the first to be discharged. After much argument and discussion who was to control the winches it was the SL governments decision that it was to be their men not our Nigerian sailors. Lashings were untied and the lift started. Over the side it went, still high above the quay when there was a rush of steam/rattling/shouting then crash as the winch let go and the carriage went straight down on to the quay. I was on deck and immediately went with my cargo discrepancy note pad to inspect the damage. The two bogies had gone straight through the carriage floor and wrecked both ends of the carriage fixtures and fittings. I spent some hours writing up the damage, The Captain, Chief Officer and Second Mate were extremely pleased it was local labour who were at the winches. I attended the 'Masters Meeting' at the end of the voyage and much time was spent discussing this matter as it had (not to our knowledge when on the coast) caused quite a diplomatic incident.
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