STABILITY OF THE WARATAH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1023, 12 January 1911, Page 5

STABILITY OF THE WARATAH.

. —« ' COMPLAINTS OF TENDERNESS USE OF SPAR DECK FOR COAL . STOWAGE. QUESTIONS BY COUNSEL. By Telecraph—PrcES Association—Copyright(Rec. January 11, 11.25 p.m.) i London, January 11. The Board of Trade Inquiry into the loss of tho Lund liner Wnratah, 9000 tons, which disappeared between Durban and Cape' Town' in July; 1909, with 300 persons aboard, was continued to-day. Mr. J. Dickinson, Metropolitan Police Magistrate, presided, and had with him as assessors Admiral Davis, Commander Lyon (of the Naval Reserve), Professor Walch, and Mr. J. H. Hallett. Evidence was given by the captain and chief officer of the Clan Macint-yre, which signalled, the Waratah at, 6 o'clock on the morning of July 27, 1909, and was the last ship' to, sight the missing vessel. These two witnesses stated that the Waratah- had -no . list. The chief officer declared-. tljat if the AVaratah's steering gear failed on the course she was steering she would' become unmanageable, ■ and would be in grave danger in the trough of the sea. . Lumont, an apprentice on the Clan Macintyre, said the Waratah was pitching and leaning like a yacht, and listing to starboard. , On-being-questioned by counsel the wit.'■ness''admittcd that he was on bad terms with the officers on his ship.-. Mr. Shanks, Messrs. Lund's superintendent engineer, stated that tho coal consumption of .'the Waratah wa9 15. tons a day more 'on the second voyage than on the first. This was ; due to the distillation of drinking water and the weather conditions. He had not heard of any difficulty in coaling at Sydney owing to the ship.being too tender, but he admitted receiving Captain Ilbery's letter to that effect: Questions by counsel elicited the fact that when the Waratah was built at Glasgow it was considered unsafe to coal her there beyond what was sufficient for the voyage to London. The witness, continuing, stated-that the arrangement was to build tho Waratah stable as the Geelong, previously constructed for the same owners. It was not true thut the vessel listed so heavily on the voyage from Glasgow as to frighten the officers. Counsel quoted a letter from the chief engineer to the owners'stating that' Captain Ilbery had asked him to take sufficient coal to drive the vessel. Mr. Shanks declared ,that neither tho. owners, the builders, or himself had suggested utilising the space on the spar deck for coal.. - Counsel thereupon .produced a plan showing the space marked as coal bunkers. The witness replied that he never regarded it as a permanent bunker. It might have baen-.of, some assistance in coaling to place a small quantity of coal on tho spar deck. -He had not heard anything about the vessel's instability; Asked why coal was not placed on the spar deck.at Glasgow, Mr. Shanks said it was not considered safe. It was quite certain that the decks, did not leak badly. . 'Captain Moore, of the steamer Insizwa, said, lie saw four objects like bodies off .the l African on August 11, 1908. Bad ■weather, however, prevented examinationfrom being-made. l . 4 "

.The affidavit of Walter Merry, of Adelaide. stated .that ho had been warned by-sailors who were in the ship on the first .voyage not to sail, as she nearly turned turtle at the wharf at Sydney.