THE KAITOA MISHAP

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 6

THE KAITOA MISHAP

INQUIRY HELD

COURTrBLAMESsTHE CAPTAIN ORDERED'TO PAY COSTS

; ' Yesterday a. Court of Inquiry' was held ;V.\(M>licernhig:.'tiie recent stranding of/the r little steamer Kaitoa at Cape Terawhiti. : The Court held the captain responsible ! for the-mishap;-. .- " Mr.-W. Gr. Riddell, S.M., presided at the inquiry,"and tho as'sess6rs'"Hvere ( ' Captai.ns .Grey and Lambert, ' Mr. V. R. ; Meredith appeared for ■ the ; Collector of 1 Customs;-wid Mr..E.-K. Kirkcaldie for the master" of' . the. Kaitoa (Captain , Stevens).' . " ;,. ... ■The questions;fpr -[lccision were:— (1) What was the cause- '.of tho ■ stranding?i. i ' . . (2)' Whether the stranding was caused' by or contributed to. by die wrongful ■ act of tho master? . In the coursc of his evidence, the of the 'vessel,., Captain Stevens, ;• \ stated that, as.far.as..he was aware), the Jiaitoa was, not insured. - On Sunday,. 'January.' 30, lie left. Nelson for Welling-'' toil, with sixty-two passengers arid sixteen crow'. He had a, permit, 'to carry an uflusual number of passengers; pro- ■ ■ , vided he .made a daylight trip. . When • ■ 'ho sailed' from Nelson the weather was [ 1 ilear. He ran into the'fog a little after ;-.'4.40 p.m. When laying his ; course .' (S.E. J-E.), he took the tide into con,- ... sideratioii. On previous occasions lib • had la'id a course .S.E.. by E; with safety. l. '!At 6.45 lie saw, a'dark object .a dittle less than half a mile ahead, and thought J it was another ship. He ported the helm ; .and ■ stopped - tho' starboard engine, and : ' immediately afterwards stopped the port engine. About a. minute later the ship touched. . Tho look-out saw the rocks : ahead, but "by then the engines had been stopped. He expected to; be, from two and a half to'three miles outside Terawhiti. He. had considered himself perfectly | safe. After the stranding he ascertained that- the ship was making ! no water, so lie had the engines put- '■ astern. ■■■' Tho, Passengers Were Landed. Tho ship did not move, avid ho landed the passengers in case had weather/came ; .up. Tlie passengers were all ashore soon after 8 p.m., .'and- lie sent th§m -tarpaulins, blankets, food,, and coffee., I v He then made another survey of, tho t~; vessel,:- and took soundings/ At about 8.35 tho vessel moved off easily, with t both- engines going astern. The weather [•"' .was -so thick that ,he left tho passen- . gers ashore till early morning. At 4 a.m; two boat-loads were got off, and u " a little after 6 a.m. the remaining- pas■sengers were- taken off the-land. ; At ; that time he .could riot see the", beach, '> dnd the passengers could not, see, the • v steamer, but .from,'.the';ship's bridge the - hills wero visible. • He had-been on the - iWellington-Nolson . run ; for thirteen I ■ 'months, and had made three • trips weekly. He had laid his customary course, and had expected the ebb tide to oarry:him two or three milesjto.the south of Terawhiti. He, bad sixty-two passengers aboard, and acCoitimodation for only. ten. Ho had maintained;the usual speed, as he did not wish to be ; ; in the strait, at -night in, a fog with* a large number of . people ,'aboard. - So ; , soundings would not liayq..helped him, and he decided.to rely on his know- . ledge of the- strait. Ho "did not use ■ ..the patent log, 'because lie war." all the while expecting the fog to lift. . Anyhow, he had not much faith in the patent log'in Cook Strait. . Tho chief engineer, Daniel Bonner, said' that the same course had on previous occasions takon tho Kaitoa well south of Terawhiti, and a , finer courso | : , had been safe. According, to Matthew Hall, tlie first engineer, the Kaitoa struck thirty sec- , onds following the order to stop. ... Till then the engines had been running full : speed., ... Joseph Healv. Government Surveyor 1 of Ships, said that he had found that some of the-Kaitoa's'plates required attention. ' Between £40, and.£so,should ' cover the damage. The Vessel had been repairedj'_ and'.had left tho patent slip 'that (Friday) morning. ..

Addresses and. the Findings. Addressing the Court, Mr. Kirkcaldie claimed .that the.-fog —the severest for many, years—was the cause 'of tlie T accident. As to the- question l * of---whether l master contributed to tlie accident,•. an eiTor of judgment in a- matter of difficulty was not- considered to be a contributory wrongful act. Tho master ,of the vessel had steered 'a similar courso .frequently, iand counsel argued. ( tbat in .the circumstances, it., was'. safer, for him to rely on liis own data. thau on ■jtho log. The Tnastei l : was " justified'in I 'endeavouring to avoid being out in tho ■ strait at niglit in .tliick. weather I with lover sixty passengers. aboard. -''Counsel thought it could bo ascertained that other and faster vessels came across on the same day at their usual speed, _ Mr. Meredith contended that in the circumstances the master should havo lowered his speed, checked his limning with tho patent log, and taken soundings. ;If ho had :not then'discovered his position, ho should havo got away from. Itho.' coast. , ■' Mr. Kirkcaldie said that the case'was one. in which the Court could Hot touch thc.ccrtificat? of tho master." . ;r";, Mr. Riddell agreed that that was' clear: ' - . . , After an hour's retirement tho Court" announced tho following findings ■ (1) In the opinion of the Court the -stranding was primarily caused by ,a thick fog, which prevented the master from seeing the land and correcting the ship's course. (2) The stranding of, and damage to, the ship was caused through the default of tho'master in not using the log. in order to verify tho distance run from the Brothers Island to Cape Terawliiti, and- in trusting, during the fog, when it was impossible to see tho land, to the ebb tide setting the ship sufficiently to the southward in order to clear. : Cape Terawhiti, although this had been his experience 011 former trips. "The only other question," said Mr. Riddel], "is that of costs, and the Court is of opinion the captain should pay tho rsmis of tho inquiry."