CAPSIZE OF SCOW

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 13, 13 December 1932, Page 8

CAPSIZE OF SCOW

MARINE INQUIRY. CAPTAIN’S EXPLANATION. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON. Dec. 12. A heavy rain squall which came on just as he was crossing the ha.rbour entrance and which obscured all the inside harbour lights leaving him without any sure idea of his position was the explanation given at the Magisterial inquiry to-day by Captain W. 0. Jarman, master of the auxiliary scow (Echo, for the casualtv which happened [to his ship on the night of November 126 last. Captain Jarman said that if [he had been able to get a glimpse of ione of the harbour lights at that crit- ' ical moment there would have been no 'need for any inquiry. I Mr E. Page, S.M., was president of the Court, and he had with him as assessors Captain G. Wilkinson and F. Dewhurst. Mr J. Prendeville appeared ’for the Marine Department; Mr N. A. Foden for Captain Jarman; Mr S. J. Castle for Eckford and Co., Ltd., the owners of the Echo; and Mr J. F. B. Stevenson and Mr C. E. Purchase for the Wellington Harbour Board. In giving evidence, the master of the Echo, Captain Jarman, described the vessel as a wooden-built, schooner-rig-ged ship with an auxiliary engine, ol 126 tons gross. The ship carried a crew of 10. He had left Blenheim at 1 p.m. on November 26, with about 60 tons deadweight of general cargo aboard. At the time there was a light southerly wind with a smooth sea.. About 7.15 p.m. the wind increased and light rain commenced to fall. Witness described the courses he had set. He altered his course at 8.30 p.m., and continued the course until just on striking at 9.35 p.m. During that time the weather was increasing all the time and the squalls were getting longer. Witness took the precaution of going forward himself and ho also put the mate and a look-out on the port side to watch for the lights inside the harbour. Just before striking witness, estimating that he was a quarter of a mile from the shore below the Pencarrow light, altered his course to north to make the harbour. “But I was just a few yards short and we struck, he ahe heavy rain, witness said, had shut out all the lights and had blurred the Pencarrow light. . In answer to Mr Foden, Captain Jarman said that the squall which obscured his vision blotted out everything. There were altogether five men in the ship looking out for the harbour lights and no one had seen them. Frank Edward Puddick, who was on duty at the signal station at Beacon Hill when the Echo v was making the harbour entrance, said that when he first saw the Echo she was about a mile outside. There was then a strong breeze to a moderate gale blowing with heavy rain squalls. A\ itness cubed up the vessel but got no reply and it was not until 10.30 p.m.. when lie got a message that the vessel was sinking, that he learned it was the Echo. He considered that the Echo struck on Pillar Rock. Previous to this the vessel had not seemed to him to 1 e in difficulties except that he couid not understand why he had no ropi.v to his message. After the hearing of further evidence, Mr Prendeville submitted the two following questions to the Court; —(a) What was the cause of the accident? (b) AVas any blame attachable to the master? , , Air Foden, addressing the Court, said that the explanation of the accident was the nature of the weather and the fact that the squall had come just at the moment it had. It was clear that a particularly good look-out had been kept and the very fact that not one of the men had been able to estimate the ship’s position suggested that there was ample explanation that if any one of the inner or outer lights had been picked up, the master could have altered his course suitably. In making sure that he would clear Barrett s reef the master had kept rather long on his course, which had taken him to the other side of the entrance. If the light could have been seen all would have been well. His error, Mr Foden suggested, had been one of over-caution He submitted that the incident might reasonably be put down as a misadventure. From the evidence there was nothing which showed the master in a bad light. , , . . The President said that the decision of the Court would be given to-morrow.

MASTER EXONERATED

FINDING OF THE COURT,

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Dec. 13. The Marine Court finding in Die scow Echo case is as follows: l ln our opinion this casualty was due to a combination of circumstances for which the master cannot be held to blame. The casualty was, we think, due to misadventure and was not contributed to bv any act or default on the part of the master and the crew.” The judgment adds that as the vessel was nearing the point at which the leading lights of the harbour should have become visible a particularly heavy rain squall obliterated the surroundings and made it difficult to estimate the distance the vessel was from Pencarrow Light. No sign could be seen of any light inside Wellington Harbour.

“In a normalb’-powered steamer a prudent master would, under such circumstances, have headed out to sea until the visibility improved, “the judgment goes on,” but this vessel being a scow and having low-powered engines, and there being a moderate gale blowing and a heavy sea running, such a manoeuvre was impossible. Tho master was compelled to make the entrance. The fact that the vessel was of such a type as to be unable in the weather prvailing to turn and make to windward and was thus compelled to carry on, and the fact that at the critical time the whole of the harbour lights were obscured by a squall of blinding rain combined to make the master’s position one of extreme difficulty. It was necessary for him to carry on sufficiently far to clear Barretts Reef, and the absence of any lights other than Pencarrow made it difficult for him to estimate exactly when he had done this. When he finally gave tho order for a change of course the vessel was nearing the shore on the Pencarrow side and the difficulty in the wind and weather existing in bringing her round to this course was the final circumstances which led to her striking.”