The Globe. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1411, 23 August 1878, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1878.

One of the most extraordinary accidents —if wo may use the terra —which has boon placed on record in the shipping annals of the colony, was ventilated at Lyttelton last Wednesday before a nautical court constituted under the Inquiries into Wrecks Act, and which court was composed of the Collector of Customs and of a nautical assessor. From the facts adduced at the inquiry it appears that a passenger ship of about 1000 tons- — the Duke of Argylo which had left Lyttelton on July 30(h last, bound for London round Capo Horn, with passengers and cargo, had put back to its port of departure, very much against the wish of her commander, Captain Davidson, but compelled to do so by the unanimous voice of her officers, the passengers, and the ship’s company. It seems that, shortly after getting clear of the land, the Duke evinced tokens of instability such as totally upset the oquananiinity of every British sailor on board, the skipper excepted. To quote the expression used by the witnesses at the enquiry, and that also recorded by the master of the ship in his log-book, the vessel had no sooner got into fresh weather than she gave unmistakable signs of being very “ tender.” This word “tender,” as nautically applied in this instance, may lie stated to more practically mean that the Duke of Argylo capered about and swayed to and fro under the propelling influences of a fair wind, in a manner that, to the eye of every seaman on boat’d, denoted that the vessel was absolutely uuseaworthy, and unfit to weather some of those dangerous difficulties of the deep which are to be met with during long voyages. As a matter of fact, Captain Davidson — within twenty-four hours of leaving Lyttelton, and not impelled to do so by | stormy weather —thought best to relievo the ship of her three top-gallant yards, thus to a considerable extent crippling her sailing qualities. It is in evidence also that, upon being remonstrated with by his officers and crow as to the alarming state of “tenderness” still apparent in the Duke’s gait, the master spoke of furthermore reducing the weight of her spars by sending down the upper sticks, top-gallant masts and all. But his arguments proved of no avail, and, a mild kind of meeting against his authority having sot in, Captain Davidson—in his own words —gave way to the universal wish to put back to Lyttelton, and fetched port ten days after the ship's departure. The result of inquiries held under the Act which wo quoted above, is generally forwarded at once to the Department of Customs at Wellington, to be dealt with as Ministers may deem fit; and besides, it is seldom that, in cases such as that of the Duke of Argylo, anything further is heard of it. Therefore, wo have no hesitation in saying something in relation to what wo deem to be perhaps one of the grossest instances of official carelessness which has been recorded in these days, when every possible check has been placed by the Legislature upon the seaborne conveyance of lives and property. To our mind, the inquiry was as bald and indefinite as it could possibly be. The ship’s master, his chief officer, and two seamen were briefly examined; they deposed to the dry facts of the case, and the Court rose apparently satisfied on all points. No skilled evidence of an unprejudiced character was called. No elucidation of the facts which led to the Duke of Argyll being so badly ballasted and so wretchedly stowed as to be in extreme danger of “ turning turtle,” in sight of the land even, while about to encounter the difficulties of a voyage half round the globe, was demanded. Hero are a number of valuable lives which, according to the unanimous evidence of every professional man on board, wore scarcely worth a week’s purchase, left at the mercy of the incompotency or wilful neglect of certain parties who had charge, originally, of trimming the ship. Primarily, of course, the master of a ship is absolutely responsible for the safe trimming. The stowing or ballasting may certainly be done by stevedores, under the supervision of the mate; but as a matter of fact, it is upon the commander of the ship that the responsibility of the work being badly done rests entirely. In this case, howover, both the Government and the public are as wise as before. The only facts disclosed at the official inquiry were that the ship was “tender.” Whose fault it was that the ship, its cargo and its living freight, ran such terrible risks, it is impossible to state, or even guess, from the absurdly tame and indefinite nature of the evidence gathered by the Court. Of course the detention of “ Duke,” and the consequent expense and inconvenience which must have been felt by all parties concerned, is but a trifling matter compared with the far more important interests which at one time were in such great jeopardy. The captain, it appears, stood alone in his opinion that the ship was perfectly seaworthy. But in those details of technical seamanship such as an absolutely dangerous “ tenderness” of a sfiip. any able-bodied seaman of, say —half-a-dozen years’ experience afloat, can form as correct an opinion as the most scientific master-mariner. Answerable as Captain Pavidsop undoubted was for the mishap through which his vessel had to turn tail, it is not unfair to urge —on the face of the bareness of the inquiry—that it is very possible that his sense of the ships danger was to a large extent blinded by personal feelings of wounded pride. To all nautical men, without a doubt, the reading of the record of the inquiry will commend itself ; that part of it specially when the master of the ship was willing to reduce his spam to cuch an unheard-of extent sooner.'than partially aanaf the blundering way in which her stowage had been executed. Whether the Customs a,tmiOjfif;es in Lyttelton, who gave the Duke of Argyle hey clearance, or the Harbormaster who supervised her getting underway might not come in for a share el the blame for having let her slip her moorings in such a dangerous trim as was shown before the Marine Court, it is also impossible to judge from its proceedings. We again repeat it, a more extraordinary case of unchecked negligence on I the part of some one, to whom blamo ' should be attached, was perhaps never

brought to light in New Zealand before. And, considering the rigid state of Plimsollism which affairs nautical have assumed within the last few years, this case of the Duke of Argylo is still more incompohensiblo.

Until last night it w’as possible to believe that our evening contemporary was simply the unfortunate victim of imbecility, and that his aberrations from truth were merely the consequence of his inability to appreciate the meaning of words or the relation of figures. Last night ho asks bis readers to believe that the word “ tea” strayed into an article, on which wo had commented, by “a slip of the pen.” This excuse exhibits both mendacity and Imbecility; the former because our contemporary knows the statement to bo untrue, and the latter because presumably he expects people to accept his pitiable plea. If it was “ a slip of the pen,” how does ho account for the lapse not having been remedied in the proof, or subsequent revise, or even corrected in the following evening’s issue ? The public will now know at least how much credence to attach to the asseverations and arguments of a journal in whoso office such remarkably slippery pons are in use.