The Wreck of the Tasmania.

Hastings Standard, Issue 396, 11 August 1897, Page 3

The Wreck of the Tasmania.

+ THE NAUTICAL ENQUIRY. [By Telegraph.] (Per Press Association.) Auckland, August 10. Chief Engineer Whitfield detailed ■what he did in the engine room when the vessel struck. He did not thiuk the steamer drifted at all up to the time they got into the boats. Fourth Engineer Predcly said he could not tell when the vessel slipped off the rock. All the bulkheads were properly shut down. The two men at the wheel from 9 o'clock till the vessel struck and the two look-out men corroborated tbe statements of the third officer, Mr M'Grath. Mr Tole then intimated that was all the evidence he could offer on behalf of the Marine Department. Mr Campbell asked, as there was no complaint against the first and second officers, that theiir certificates be returned. He also pointed out that the whole of the evidence had been to show that the vessel had struck upon a sunken rock from three to three and a half miles from the land, and he was prepared to address the Court on the question. Captain 31' Gee, he continued, had received information from Australia that bis wife, who is in delicate health, was ill, and he desired to get away by the Anglian to-morrow. Mr Tole offered no objection to the return of the first and second officer's certificates. He pointed out, however, that their evidence might be required on some further points. He expressed sympathy with Captain M'Gee, and saw no reason why he could not go to Australia, but must leave his certificate behind. The presiding Magistrate then intimated that he and the Assessors would like that some of the occupants of the boats in which loss of life occurred should be examined. The Assessors had thought the carpenter should have been called. He, however, had left for Australia. Mr Tole said a surveyor left yesterday to survey the position of the wreck, and his evidence would be taken at Napier. He had communicated with Mr Campbell, and he did not think there was any necessity for his clients to be represented at Napier. The evidence could be sent up to Auckland. The chief officer and Captain M'Gee were recalled, and questioned as to the depth of water in the holds. The captain said cfter the lights went out he took a torch and examined No. 2 hold —the only one unbattened —and found the engine-room and the hold two-thirds fall.

The presiding Magistrate said after what had appeared in the Press as to • the alleged lack of appliances in the boats in which loss of life occurred, he thought someone in the boats should be called if possible. The inquiry was then adjourned till to-morrow morning, when the decision of the Court as to handing over the • first and second officers' certificates -vrill be carried out, and by that time possibly news will oe received from Napier as to when the survey would be completed, and as to whether any of the occupants of the boats in which life had been lost could be obtained. This day. At the Tasmania enquiry this morning the Collector of Customs reported that he had been unable to procure any additional evidence regarding the condition and manning of the two boats which capsized. He stated that • the report of the marine surveyor who was now searching for the rock would probably arrive here in the middle of next week. The Court retraced the certificate of the eeeoguLiefifcer (Mr Nicholson), who joins the Angjum for Sydney this afternoon. The Magistrate said there was no objection to Captain M'Gee leaving for Sydney this evening, on account of his wife's illness, but the first and third officers would require to remain in attendance. r The engineers and the rest of the crew were also allowed to go. The Court then adjourned till next Wednesday.