JUDGMENT ERROR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20128, 23 December 1939, Page 7

JUDGMENT ERROR

SHIP’S MASTER LOSS OF WAIKOUAITI CERTIFICATE RETURNED NO WRONGFUL ACT FINDING AT INQUIRY (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Although the court found that Captain John Bruce, of the Union Steam Ship Company’s freighter, Waikouaiti, which was wrecked off Dog Island three miles from Blufl on the night of November 28, had committed an error of judgment, it returned his certificate without endorsement, and did not order him to meet the costs of the inquiry. The actual finding of the court is as follows: — “(1) The cause of the casualty was that after 8 p.m. on November 28. the master of the ship, when fog and weather conditions rendered Dog Island light and all the neighbouring landmarks invisible, the vessel should not have proceeded. “(2) In so proceeding upon his course, the master committed an error of judgment.” Giving the reasons for the court’s decision, the Magistrate, Mr. A. M. Goulding, said that from 2 p.m. on the afternoon of November 28 until 8 p.m., the Waikouaiti had steered a course which brought her to a point 2J miles off Bluff Hill and 5i miles west of Dog Island light. This light in normal weather was visible for a distance of 18 miles. Making Against Tide

The course from 2 to 8 p.m. was charted by bearings from time to time, the latest being at 7.56 p.m. when the position of the vessel was fixed as stated. Between 4 and 8 p.m. the course showed no deviation, but the log readings between 4 and 8 p.m. showed that the vessel was making against the ebb tide. The tide tables would suggest that after 3 o'clock the ebb was still running, and the master expected that if there Were any set it would tend to take the ship south of the course he had set.

At 8 p.m. Dog Island light and Bluff Hill were invisible owing to the fog. Even the rocks along the shore were invisible, but the sea was calm. The master was in charge of the vessel. He remained on the same course between 7.56 and 8.15 p.m. when he ordered a change in the course of H points southward. There was no alteration in the speed. Dog Island light was not seen until after the stranding, the point of which was later fixed at somewhat less than half a mile from the light and almost due west of it. Warning in Almanac

In. finding there was an error of judgment in proceeding on the course after 8 p.rn., the court drew attention to the warning in the Nautical Almanac concerning the tides around Bluff harbour. There was no evidence from which the court could properly infer that the ship was set off her course by any unusual tide set, but there may have been and, if there were, it occurred after the position was fixed at 7.5 G p.m. and in the distance of 51 miles from there to the place of the stranding. The warning in the Nautical Almanac seemed to be an additional reason why extra precautions were necessary, and rendered it still more necessary not to proceed. The master was no stranger to the Ideality and should have been aware of the warning.

In proceeding as he did, the master steered a course to take him south of Dog Island. The court thought he took a risk which was not warranted, but it did not think that he was guilty of any wrongful act in the management of the ship. After the. disaster, he took all proper steps. In the circumstances, the court returned a clean certificate to the master, whose long and unblemished record extended for nearly 20 years, and it did not mulct him in costs.

The magistrate added that at 7.50 the fix was the result of a bearing taken in a failing light, and one of the points was some 20 miles away. The court accepted the evidence of the ship’s position then, but drew attention to the possibility of error in such circumstances, though the error had not been established.