WRECK OF SCOW RANGI

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 36, 26 February 1937, Page 6

WRECK OF SCOW RANGI

Shipwrights & Surveyors Give Evidence FREEBOARD REDUCED AUCKLAND, Last Nig&t. Continuing the enquiry/ before Mr W. R. McKean into the lass of the scow Rangi, "William Lindsay Horne etated that it was possible that the scow struck a submerged object which caused her to open up, -but Mr Foden (representing the Marino Department) I>ointed out that the suggestion of . a collision was not borne out by" the statement of the . ship 'sv boy, Ma/son, who could recall no impact , prior to tbc foundering. i "From observations I made when viewing the wreckage of the Rangi, I would say the loss of the scow 'was due to its general debility," stated another shipwright, Murdoch William McQuarrie, whq was called by. Mr. ' Walsh. The corrosion of the fasteners did not appear so bad as the previous witnesses had said, stated John Willjam Townshend, sonior surveyor of phips, at Auckland, Who inspected the wreckage. jThe ntility of the fasteners he had seen ;was good and it was only natural that ,6omething "had to go," either the timbers or the fasteners, in the heavy sea of January 14. It was his opinion the Rangi had taken water over the top. The nautical surveyor of the Marino Department, Capt'ain Keane, doscribed his inspection of the Rangi wreckage while Captain A. Davis, nautical surveyor stationed at Auckland,. described 'the departmental deck survey of the. scow which had taken place last October. Mr. Walsh: Had any change been authorised in the Rangi 's freeboardf Captain Davis: In 1925 when she was engaged in the home trade, she had a> freeboard of 8ins., but in 1933 it wasreduced to four and a quarter inches for a trade restricted to the limits of North Cape and White Island and Opotiki. This would probably mean an increase in loading capacity of ab'out 25 tons. No special survey nor stripping ; of the hull was undertaken' to my knowledge at the time of the change but the rules in force at. the time did not require it. Mr. Walsh: We are going to disagree on that point. Here u a case of a vessel 29 years old when her load was increased by 25 per cent. Answering Mr. Moody, Captain Davis said throughout his experience with the Leyland-0 'Brien company, all hig instructions and requests had been ,thoroughly carried out. The engineering suTveyor who examined the scow in October, llorace Stanley Baldwin, said he was satisfied the scow wa's in a good condition und that the wreck was not attributabio to the breaking up of the fasteners or of xhe knees. After discUssion it was decided to ex•tract fasteners as exkibits for the in:formation of the Court after the hear'ing of the inquiry Is completed tomorrow.