Marine Inquiry Opens

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 864, 7 January 1930, Page 11

Marine Inquiry Opens

LOSS OF MANUKA Captain’s Story of Wreck Press Association DUNEDIN, Today. SWIFT action in tlie few tense moments between the sighting of breakers and the actual grounding of the S.S. Manuka on the rocks off Long Point, during the night of December 16, was described by the master, Captain Ross Clark, at the marine inquiry which opened this morning.

The nautical inquiry into the wreck of the Manuka opened this morning before Mr. H. W. Bundle, S.M., and Captains B. Worrall and J. S. Stringer, assessors. The Crown Solicitor, Mr. F. Adams, represented the Marine Department; Mr. Haggitt, the Union Steam Ship Company; Mr. A. C. Hanlon, Captain Ross Clark and Cecil Rivers Carlyon, third officer of the Manuka. Questions for decision were: Firstly, whether the striking and subsequent loss of the vessel were due to the negligence of Captain Ross Clark; secondly, whether Cecil Rivers Carlyon, officer in charge of the ship at the time of striking, was negligent or contributed to the casualty; thirdly, the cause of the casualty; fourthly, whether proper steps were taken after the casualty for the safety of the lives of passengers and crew. A statement of the case showed that the Manuka left Bluff shortly after 5 o’clock on December 16 for Dunedin. The usual courses were steered, a fixed position being obtained off Waipapa Point. Later, land was observed in the vicinity of Slope Point, visibility then being about four miles, and later decreasing somewhat, but at no time did it appear to be less than a mile. At 10.53 the ship struck the rocks off Long Point. Orders were immediately given for the boats to be got out and for the embarkation of passengers and crew. This was suscessfully accomplished about one o’clock in the morning of December 17. At daylight all members of the ship’s company and passengers were safely landed. Captain Ross Clark, in evidence, said he had been master of the Manuka for three months in 1928, and seven months in 1929. He left Melbourne on December 11, and reached Bluff on December 15. He left Bluff on the following day. The vessel was then equipped with all instruments and appliances for navigation of the vessel. The compass was in thorough working order, and he found no reason to suppose there was any inaccuracy in the instrument. The vessel steered moderately well and he had never found any deviation in her course due to steering. The vessel was equipped with a patent sounding machine. IN SHOWERY WEATHER The tide was at half ebb when lie left the Bluff. He passed about a mile and a-half off Dig Island. He set the courses and at 7.33 p.m. Waipapa Point lighthouse was bearing north, one degree east. The weather was showery and the lighthouse was sometimes obscured, but he managed to get a bearing. The loom of land had been seen most of the way between Bluff and Waipapa. He stood on the same course for a mile, then, at 7.38 p.m., set the course north, 71 degrees east magnetic. As the bridge book was mutilated it was impossible to say if any entry was made at the time, but presumably it would be. At 8 o’clock, another bearing was taken, the lighthouse being then north, 56 west magnitude. The weather was still showery, but there was neither mist nor fog. That course was held until 9.18 p.m., when the course was altered to north, 51 east magnitude, and continued on that course until 10.30.

At 10.15 p.m. the log was read by a seaman, and registered 51. The third officer was then on watch. Between 9.18 and 10.30 he had no view of land whatever. At 10.30 the course was north, 36 east magnetic. The position shown on the chart before the court would put the ship about two miles ahead of the beam bearing off Long Point that corresponded with the markings he had on the chart on the ship. CAPTAIN DOWN BELOW He was on the bridge untiL about 10.49 p.m., when he went down to his room. The chief engineer was there. He asked witness if the speed was all right, and witness remarked something about soon being abeam of Nuggets Point. He then walked out of the .room. He had reached the foot of the ladder leading to the bridge when he heard the wheel going over hard. He did not remember hearing any voice, but may have, for he jumped to the top of the ladder. He saw the third officer with one hand on the engine-room telegraph, with the lever down to the “astern” position. Witness asked what was wrong and was told they were right on the land. Witness said it was difficult to say now in what order events occurred as it all happened in a flash, but he thought he rushed to the dodger, looked over and then gave an order to stop the port engine. When he looked over the side he saw the loom of land and breakers close at hand. While giving an order to stop the engine, he asked if the helm was hard aport and was informed by the third officer that it was. He then w r alked to the port side of the bridge. The ship was swinging inward in less than a minute, and then she struck the rocks. He had last seen the loom of land at Slope Point, not afterwards. Captain Clark said that at 10.30 p.m. lie considered the visibility to ,be about a mile in all directions. A light rain was falling. The same conditions appeared to exist till the time of striking, as afterward. He saw there was a heavy mist hanging down over the land at Long Point. The moon, which was practically full, was obscured by clouds, but was giving a little light STRONG CURRENT BLAMED He attributed the wreck to an abnormal set from east to west experienced between Waipapa and the time she struck, which he had never experienced, and had never heard of anyone else experiencing.

He had been over the same ground fully a hundred times, probably 60 or 70 times as master, and had never experienced such a set toward the land. Frequently he found himself outside his set position, as if the current had beeh setting as previously in his experience. At the time of the wreck he should have been nine miles ahead and at least six miles out from the scene. According to the chart before the court, he should have passed Long Point about five miles out to sea. He expected from experience to pass about a mile to .two miles from the position shown on the chart. When marking the chart he made no allowance for the current as he had had plenty of sea-room for currents, but the tide was felt between Bluff and Waipapa. According to the book, “The New Zealand Pilot,” there is a current between Cape Saunders and Nugget Point of about one knot, running North. From a statement in “The Pilot” he would expect to find a current south of the Nuggets and previously had observed the effect of a current as far south as Chasland’s. Mistake. Ocean currents varied and where a current flowed one way on one day, one might find it flowing another way next day. It was not his experience that the same thing applied along this coast. The wind had been south-east with not. much sea on the night of the wreck. At 8 o’clock there was a fresh south-east breeze which decreased to moderate, then to light. He would not expect it to have had any appreciable effect on his course. He did not count on the current at all, and when the current was setting the ship out of danger, any master would give it the benefit of the doubt, and have that much in hand. Actual bearings showed he was seven miles back, and four and a-half to five miles inshore from his set course. That was a serious deviation. The abnormal westerly set would be at least twice the strength of the northerly and easterly set he had previously experienced. It did not occur to him that there might be a set inshore that night, but he calculated to be five miles off the shore. Witness said it seemed almost impossible that the ship could expect such a set in such a short distance of about 32 miles. He expected that the tide might have put him a mile back, and perhaps a quarter of a mile to the north of his set course. He considered visibility not so low that it was necessary to take soundings. The wreck might possibly or would probably have been avoided had frequent soundings been taken and speed reduced.