THE RECENT WRECKS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5527, 13 December 1878, Page 3

THE RECENT WRECKS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —The decisions given recently in the Resident Magistrate’s Court here, at the inquiries iuto the losses of the City of Auckland and Southminster, must lead to the conclusion that the information on the Admiralty charts is so scanty and inaccurate that ships approaching this port from Cook Strait or the South may quite possibly run on the rocks, though all proper precautions are taken. If this conclusion is correct, the sooner a resurvey of the neighboring waters is made the better it will be for all interested in the welfare of this the finest port in New Zealand. If incorrect it will have a most mischievous effect. Insurance companies will want a higher premium and shipowners higher freight for ships visiting this locality, whose neighborhood, according to the Resident Magistrate’s Court, ia so badly surveyed. X do not know if mischief is already done in the other colonies, where no doubt these decisions have been published in the shipping columns of the papers; but it might be as well to inquire on what authority these decisions are founded. In the case of the City of Auckland there was hardly a word of evidence on which the slightest doubt could be thrown on the information in the chart. The only conclusion to be deduced in that case was that if they steered the courses given by the master, and went at the rate he said, the ship ought to have been dangerously close to Otaki; no extra current of any kind was required to put her there. I have not got the Resident Magistrate’s decision by me for reference ; but as well as I remember, he attaches some weight to errors in the information on the chart.

Again, in the -Southminsfcer’s case, Messrs. Holdsworth and Graham, oa the authority of Captain Fraser, and, I suppose, the nautical assessor, say there is a _ current or tide in a locality where the chart, on the authority of Admirals Stokes and Richards and Captains Evans and Pender, notes there is none. Were there no other men acquainted with that part of the coast who could have been examined ? It would have been as well to have had the evidence of Captains Johnston and Fairchild, the captains of the Kiwi and Tui, and some others, before the Court took upon themselyes to say the work of such distinguished surveyors is wrong. It is quite possible it is ; but more evidence is wanted. I am well aware that masters of small coasting schooners think they are better qualified to judge of tides and currents than those who are in steamers. They say they are becalmed so many hours and carried fabulous distances by some tide or current; but how often are they really becalmed so that the vessel is not moving ? It is a very rare occurrence. During this socalled calm how was the vessel’s head ? It would generally be found that this current had set in the same direction as the vessel’s head was for the greater part of the time ; but they call it calm, and don’t take any trouble to see how her head is, or for how long. All that troubles them is, they cannot get to their port; and there ia a tendency to exaggerate difficulties on such occasions. I have seldom heard of one of these currents being in favor of the becalmed vessel.

Steamers of course pass through the supposed current or tide quickly, and are not so long under its influence, but they do it so frequently that the masters ought to be just as well able to detect a current as he of the sailing vessel.—X am, &c., A.B.