GROSS NEGLIGENCE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 902, 23 August 1910, Page 5

GROSS NEGLIGENCE.

STEAMER SINKS AT SEA.. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. London, August 21, The judgment of the Board of Trade inquiry at Cardiff into tlio loss of the British Standard on her maiden voyage to Brazil declared iliat the influx -jf water into tho vessel was due to human agency. The master and chief ■ engineer were censured for gross negligence, and it was added that thero was some evidence of collusion between the managing owner and the master.

Tho latter's certificate was suspended for eighteen months, and he was mulcted in a thousand guineas towards the cost of the inquiry. The certificate of tho chief engineer was suspended for-twelve .months, and he was mulcted in fifty guineas costs.

AN UNFORTUNATE SHIPOWNER. In its marine insurance market notes of May 28, the London "Times" said of the loss of the British Standard:—

"In this instance it is not high values that confer distinction, but the ill-luck that has attended the managing -owner : ship. I believe it is correct to say that the managing owner of tho British Standard was the managing owner of one steamef in 1908—namely, tho Albion. That wcssol was lost oil Corcubiou, and though the Court of Inquiry exonerated everyone on board the •' boat r and tho owner of all blame, tho case derived prominence from tlm fact that speculative insurances had been placed on tho vessel by outsiders, and the evidence given was one of the factors that led up to the legislation concerning 'gambling* policies. The Duffryn Manor succeeded the, Albion, and was wrecked on Minicoy Island just over a year ago while returning from Burma with rice. Here tho Court of Inquiry considered it open to doubt whether the captain exercised proper care in allowing, two apprentices to bo the only look-out men on watch besides himself, while passing an island whose extent and surroundings and tho position of the light on which .ho was admittedly entirely unaware of, but an attempt to show that- the vessel had been thrown away completely failed. "The third- loss is that of the steamer British Standard, a vessel' of 3458 tons, built this year, and managed by F. Brown, of Cardiff. She is valued at .£32,000, an'd it is understood that a certain amount is placed in tho market, besides' the insurances against all risks. She is reported -to have foundered after striking an unknown object off Cap Frio while bound from Cardiff to Rio do Janeiro. No lives were lost. At first sight -the incidence of these three- losses within so short,a time may seem to tho layman remarkable, but the facts will not appear to the underwriter so surprising. Such coincidences occur, one might also saj-, frequently, and the really scientific underwriter considers all eventualities'before he accepts the risk, and appraises them in the premium he is prepared to accept. Of a very famous lino it is said that accidents to the vessels of the fleet occur in pairs, a saying that is based incontrovertible' on experience. A long period'of immamty from mishap is followed by a streak of ill-fortune, which in turn gives way ,to better times." ,