QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10283, 19 May 1919, Page 6

QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

INQUIRY HELD

WBBE MAGNETOS RESPONSIBLE

FOR WRECK?

At the courthouse on Saturday, before Mr D. G. A. Cooper. S.M. (chairman), and Captains W. Manning and C. McArthur (assessors'), an inquiry was held as n; to the 'cause "of the stranding of the t.ST O.neen-ofthe South, 136 tons burden, off Campbell Point on the morning of Mav 10 th. Mr J. Prendcville appeared for the Marino Department; Mr M. Myers for iho owners, tho Queen Shipping Company. Ltd.; Mr B. K. Kirkcaldie for the captain; and Mr P. J. O’Rcgan for certain members of the crew. THE CAPTAIN CABLED. 4

John Rhys Owens, captain of the p.n-en of the South, stated that he had <icen in command two months and a half. Tho vessel left tho Queen’s wharf, 'Wellington, at 11 o'clock on tho night of tho 9th of January, in hazy weather They turned Pencrarrow Point about midnight, and he set her course south-west bv half west. He remained on deck till about 4.15 a.m.. and could then see about three or four miles. Tho weather was still hazy. Tho vessel was going at sis knots an hour. At 5.15 ho heard tho ship strike something and went on deck, ordered tho engines to go full speed astern and the boats to be swung out. It was then very hazy, but calm. Tho engineer reported that she was making water rapidly, and he ordered the boats ■to be lowered. It was a heavy fog and they could see nothing for about an hour. About 7 o'clock-they-landed bn tho beach near Cane Campbell lighthouse. About 10 o'clock they went on board again, and ho found that the water was within two feet of the deck. Thev found that they could do nothing with tho vessel, and after abont t an hour tho crew collected their belongings and ho decided to abandon the ship. On the Sunday he came on to Wellington by the Wakatu. The compasses were last adjusted twelve months ago, when there was a deviation of two degrees east In setting his course on May 10th he did not allow for the two degrees deviation. as he had found, by tho steamer having made good runs on the course before, that there was no deviation on the course as shown by the card. He judged there was no deviation, not bv observation, but. bv the runs made. The effect of the flood tide in the straits would be to set him to the west, but he allowed for the ebb to take him out tb the extent that the flood took him in, To Mr Kirkcaldie: There was no sea at all, just a light south-east swell. He did not think that there was anything in the weather or the tide to hinder the vessel making the course set. As master and mate he had had three and a half months''* experience of the steering of" the Queen of the South and on this particular course she always seemed to make the course set. in spit© of the slight deviation shown on the card. He,’ therefore, did not think it necessary to allow for the deviation on tho course. The course set should have .carried the ship between nine and ten miles off Cape Campbell. It was about 33 miles from Pencarrow to where the* skip struck. Ho did not oxpect to see Cape Campbell, nor want to see it. Ho bad & direct course for Lyttelton. TWO CASES OF MAGNETOS ABOARD. He smrerested that the ship did doJ make the course *©t, because, a* ae found out two days later, there were two cases of magnetos on board. These electrically charged instruments, probably placed on top of the cargo anu possibly only ten feet from the binnacle, might have affected the compass. He had made experiments and found that a .single magneto would affect the compass at eight to ten feet away. The depth of the hold was 7ft Sin. Captain Mclndoe, of the Merchant Service Guild, demonstrated on the floor of the court how a single magneto would affect a compass. In reply to Mr Kirkcaldie, Captain Owens stated that when they struck he could not see the Cape Campbell light hOr any breakers. H© did not see the light "till- the break of day, about an

hour later. By Mr Myers: The rock the vessel / struck on was about a mile to seaward of Cape Campbell, bo that he was some miles off his course. Till he heard about the magnetos, and saw demonstrated the effect they had on the compass he could not account for being so far *i» -off‘his. course. .Previously, had he known that there were magnetos on board, it would not have occurred to 'him that they would affect the compass. Other master mariners present at the demonstration also expressed surprise at the result. NO LOOK-OUT MAN. To Mr O'Regan: There were twelve men In the crew, and five A.B.'s including the boatswain. Pour men, one an A. 8., would be on watch. At the time of the accident there was one man on watch, at the wheel. They had no look-out man. A lookout man could have seen no more than the officer on the bridge. Ho believed that if there had been a man on the lookout the accident would have happened just the same. If he had been on the bridge himself it would have happened just the same, as he thought he was eight or nine miles off Capo Campbell, and it was foggy. The lookout man would have been in no better position to see than the officer on the bridge. It was not the custom on small boats to have a man on the look, out —not even whan off a dangerous coast ; not even in a fog. After working eight hours a seaman was entitled ■to overtime. Witness had been at sea twentyone years, and twelve years on the New Zealand coast. He did not have two men and two watches because he considered one man enough. He held that that was in accordance with the terms of an agreement made with the seamen about twelve months ago. Mr OTtegan suggested that it was dons With a view to saving as much overtime as possible. The witness supposed it was. It was Ho part of the instruction frdm his owners to curtail overtime as much as possible, nor to have only one man on the watch. He did that on his own - initiative.

To Mr Myers: The officer on the bridge was the lookout on the small boats, lie had as complete-a surrey as the "lookout man would have. The bridge was only thirty-five feet awav from where the lookout man would be if they had one. A lookout man, therefore, was not necessary. The bridge and the forecastle head were about the same height. To Mr Kirkealdle s ..He, ivas- only fold lowing the practice of his predecessor, who had been in charge of the vessel thirty years. When the ship struck he could not see where they had struck, nor the land. In fact they lowered the boat on to the reef where they struck. Tn such a fog a lookout man could not have seen anything. They lowered a boat and rowed round the ship, but could see nothing till daybreak. TIM MATE CORROBORATES.

Frank Lawton, mate of the Queen of the South, gave corroborative evidence. H had been two months and a half on the vessel, and had also found by the hun that oho made a true course on the course set. When ho took over at 4,15 a.m. Captain Owens loft orders that he should be called if any change in the weather occurred. There was no change in the conditions till three or four minutes past five, when the fog began to get thicker. On a clear night, the Capo Campbell light could be soon abont sixteen miles off. On the coarse set they should have been off Cape Campbell at the time. He thought thev were nine nr ten miles off the light. He was keeping a proper lookout. It would have

been no help if there had been a lookout on the forecastle head. To Mr O'Regan: Tie agreed with tho captain that stationing a man on tho lookout would have made no difference. At tho time of the accident he and the other man at tho wheel were the only men on deck. They were going six knots an hour. Tho usual speed was eight knots, but they had plenty of time to get to Lyttelton. Speed was not considered because of the fog. Nobody was more surprised than himself when they struck something hard in tho water. Ho had been on the boat ten years ago. In tho interval ho hud been, nine years ashore. Tho practice as to watches had been changed in tho meantime. He had been eleven years at sea in oil.

Mr O’Regan : Ten years ago would you hare gone careering through a fog with only.two men on deck? Witness: Wo would have had to keep a better lookout. On a small vessel, however, the man on the lookout would have no advantage over tho man on the bridge. Sometimes in a fog a man lower down could see better than the man on the bridge.

Bv My Myers: During the nine years' interval ho had been harbourmaster and pilot at Poston. A lookout on a small vessel could see no better than tho man on the bridge. Mr Prendevillo; As von did not see Cape Campbell light, did you not make use of the lead? Witness: No.

Mr Kirkcaldie pointed out from the chart that if the vessel had kept tho course set tho use of th© lead would have been no good. Bv the court: I was just going to call tho captain when she struck. AN A.B.’s EVIDENCE,

Joseph Ashurst. A.B. on the Queen ot the South, who was at the wheel at the time of the accident, stated that he kept the course set. Tho vessel was steering very well, probably . swinging it quarter of a' point each side of the ’-course. By Mr O’Regan: Ho thought that there ought to have been a lookout even on a small vessel, and before the present industrial agreement came into force there was a lookout man on vessels like the Queen of the South. Bv Mr Kirkcaldie: Even if they had had a lookout man .he did not think it would have prevented tho accident.

EXPERT, EVIDENCE.

Captain -Arthur Gifford, teacher of navigation and adjuster of compasses, said that he had seen the experiments made with the magneto and the compasses. A dynamo should bo as far as possible—at least 50 feet—from a compass. He thought it reasonable to suppose that the magnetos might havo affected tho compass on the ship. By Mr Prendcville: If tho magnetos wore 'set alternately in tho case they would neutralise one another. Bv Mr O’Regan: He could not say who would be responsible for seeing that such things as magnetos were not stowed too near the compass. Mr O’Regan pointed out that if magnetos affected the compass in that way they might be responsible for a disaster to a passenger vessel. Somebody should be responsible for their stowing. Captain Mclndoe said that ho had seen a case of twenty-four magnetos opened and thev were all stowed the same way, not alternately, so as to neutralise each other.,

Mr Kirkcaldie corroborated as to the way th© magnetos were packed. Mr Myers said that the cases on the Queen of the South would hold about eight magnetos each. They were original packages, and nobody in New Zealand could say how thev were packed. The mate, recalled, said that lie supervised the stowing of the cargo, but did no tallying. He did not_ know there were magnetos aboard, and if he had he would not have specially stowed them as he did not know that they would affect the compass. ’

The court adiourned at 1.10 p.m. Mr Cooper announced that they would give their decision at 10 o’clock this morning.