QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 201, 20 May 1919, Page 6

QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

CAUSE OF THE WRECK

LIGHT OBSCURED BY FOG

MASTER AND MATE EXONERATED

The judgment of tho Magisterial Court of Inquiry into the cause of the wreck of tho Queen of tho South near Caps Campbell lighthouse in tho early morning of Saturday, May 10, was delivered >e3tcrday morning. The Court consisted ol Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., and Captains W. Manning and C. M'Arthur. ■ The decision of tho Court was as follows :—

"The Court is 'of opinion that ilit \vreclc cif the Queen of tne South on thfe morning of Saturday, Hay 10, on a rae! off Cape Campbell was primarily due to the light on Cape Campbell being obscured by "fog, and, to no other lights or landmarks being visible by which the master might have seen that the vessel was not making a safe course. The evidence shows that the course set after leaving Pencarrow—S. by W. 4W — should have taken the vessel about nin& miles off Cape Campbell "had the tidebeen as the master expected it would be. Theoretically a safe course was steered, but had the master had more experience of the locality he would havo made an allowance, to counteract the effect of the flood tide. While accepting the theory that the two cases of magnetos shipped as cargo might possibly hav& been a contributing causa to the accident, the Court points out that there was no evidence adduced to prove that these coses were stowed in such proximity to the compass as to have produced a desufficient to have been the sole .cause bf the ivreck. "The Court finds that the loss of the vessel was not caused by or v contributed to by the wrongful act of the master or any of his officers or ci'ew, but might not have occurred had the. muster possessed more experience of the tides in that part of the Strait. The Court therefore returns the certificates of tho master and mate, and does not consider it a case where the master or the mate should be ordered to pay costs." In a memorandum to the judgment the Court recommended: (1) That official tests should be made to ascertain at what distance magnetos' attract com; passes; (2) that all electrical goods shipped should be clearly marked "Electrical."

' The Court indicated that the reason it made tho recommendations was to ascertain what- effect the carrying of electrical goods in the holds of small vessels might nave upon the.compasses of such vessels. At the hearing the Marino. Department was. represented by Mr. J. Prendeville, Mr. EJ K. Kirkcaldie appeared for Captain J. R. Owen, master of the lost ship, Mr. P. J. O'Regan for certain members of the crew who were membors of tho Seamen's Union, and Mr. JI. Myera for tho owners of the v.essel, tho Queen Shipping Company. " ' -