Working of Stricken Steamer Criticised

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 542, 20 December 1928, Page 13

Working of Stricken Steamer Criticised

LOST VESTRIS STRICTER INSPECTION (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. NEW YORK. Wed. Commissioner O’Neill has published the official report of his investigation of the Vestris sinking last month, when over 100 lives were lost. He said the hearing had show T n no basis for prosecuting anyone for the disaster in the United States, but he criticised the management of the vessel, and urged stricter inspection of ships of foreign registry in the American trade. He said such vessels should be given the same inspection as American vessels unless they held certificates of inspection from the country of their registry. The Vestris was a British vessel of the Lamport-Holt line. She was bound from New York to Buenos Ayres and Rio de Janiero. Either because of a leak or because her cargo shifted, she canted over more and more steeply, and was Anally abandoned. She had 337 persons on board, and over 100 were lost. Captain Carey, who went down with the vessel, has been criticised since for not sending an S.O.S. earlier. The survivors told a terrible story of their experiences in shark-infested seas.