REPORT ON OPEN ROADSTEADS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 162, 16 July 1879, Page 3

REPORT ON OPEN ROADSTEADS.

The following report on the insufficiency of ordinary anchors and chains for open roadsteads has been handed to the •' Otago Times ' by the Secretary of the Underwriters' Association, and is important:— My attention has been called officially to the statement of Mr Mills, harbourmaster at Timaru, given in evidence at the inquiry into the circumstances connected with the'jwreck of the brigantine Akbar, at that place, on the night of the 3rd instant. Mr Mills is reported to have said that he informed Captain "Watt and officers of the ill-fated vessel, on her arrival in the bay, that the chains were too light for open roadsteads. Now from my recollection, having seen the chains when the vessel was here a ehort time ago, and on reference to Lloyds' Register, in which the anchors and chains are described as " proved," I have no doubt whatever but that they •were of the proper size and weight (with test certificates) according to the rules and the register tonnage of the vessel, and she being comparatively new, the chains would not be much worn. I, however, fully agree with Mr Mills as to the unfitness of the chains, that they were in fact too light, and being (I believe) of the same relative proportions as those with which all classed British vessels are furnished, it therefore follows that according to our opinion no vessel should be allowed to trade to our open roadsteads unless specially supplied with ground tackle of extra size and weight, exposed as they are to the extraordinary heavy swells which frequently rolls in without any apparent cause, and sometimes when there is no wind to enable the crew to attempt escaping from destruction.

In my opinion the roadstead of Timaru is very far from being a safe anchorage, and quite unfit to be considered as a place suitable for the loading or discharging of other than such small crafts as would be thrown high and dry on the beach in case of wreck or stranding. It is the opinion of all nautical men with whom I have conversed on the subject, that, if large vessels are to continue trading to the pi ices referred to, it is merely a matter of time when some great calamity will happen. An iron ship of the present clay is different from a wooden one : the former, having no buoyancy when filled with water, will remain where she first

settles clown and speedily break up ; while the latter, if a good vessel, will hold together much longer, and be impelled by the waves closer in-shore when there would be a much greater chance of those on hoard being saved. My opinion is that any large iron ship stranding at cither Oumaru or Timaru would settle clown at such a great distance from the shore that all on bor.rd would inevitably perish. At Oamaru, of course, there is the chance (and every foot the present works are extended it is the greater) of a vessel, especially if there is no wind, being driven on the breakwater ; and if ever such a catastrophe does occur, those who witness it will not forget the spectacle in a hurry. I would rather be a mile up in the air hanging on to the fragments of a burst balloon than on the board of a vessel so situated. I think in the former case my life would be a better risk for insurance. By legal authority vessels in unseaworthy condition are prevented proceeding to sea, because the lives of the crew may be thereby endangered : on the same principal such places as Timaru should be closed by law to unsuitable vessels, until such time as the projected protective works have been completed and declared safe, to life at least. I trust the subject may be considered of sufficient importance to justify my having entered upon it at such length. —I am, &c, James U. Russelt,,Surveyor to Association. The Secretary, New Zealand Underwriters' Association, Christchurch. Dunedin, 7th July, 1879.