BAFFLING DISASTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 428, 9 August 1928, Page 11

BAFFLING DISASTER

ISABELLA DE FRAINE WRECK COURT FAILS TO FIND CAUSE “There was sufficient water and the bar at this time was apparently quite safe for a vessel of this description to cross. The wind was moderate and the sea was not such as should make the crossing unsafe. The evidence is not available to enable the court to find the cause of her loss.” This was the finding of the nautical inquiry yesterday into the loss of the auxiliary schooner Isabella de Fraine which capsized on the Hokianga bar on July 14, the crew of eight being drowned. Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., presided over the inquiry, and had with him as assessors Captain E. F. Gibson and Captain W. C. Watt. Evidence of the harbourmaster at Hokianga Heads, Captain J. K. Mitchell, and of his assistant, William Mayne Byrers, stated that the vessel seemed to be out of control when she went broadside on to the sea on the bar and then turned over. Harry McGregor, engineer, said that he had inspected the new rudder of the ship on June 6 and 7 and found it in order. The ship had a wheel and tiller and no quadrant. With either method there was a possibility of the chain jamming, but there was more possibility with the tiller than with the quadrant. Captain Robert H. Gibbons, harbourmaster at Onehunga, said that the Isabella de Fraine was carrying 2£ tons of deck cargo and she was licensed to carry 45 tons. In cross-examination, witness said that Captain Berridge and his mate, who also held a master’s certificate, were both well known and careful navigators.

“So far as we are concerned, nothing seems to have been brought forward which requires an answer,” said Mr. Cutten. After a retirement of a quarter of an hour Mr. Cutten found that: “The vessel was well manned and found, and the deck cargo was not such as to affect the safety of the vessel and she was apparently quite seaworthy. She arrived off the Hokianga Harbour on July 14, 1928, and on receiving a signal that the bar was safe for entry endeavoured to enter the harbour. Just as she was about to cross the bar she was struck by a sea which carried her over the bar, but then appeared to be out of control, turned broadside on to the sea and capsized.”