THE MARINE ENQUIRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7728, 23 February 1909, Page 3

THE MARINE ENQUIRY.

THE CAPTAIN'S EVIDENCE

Per Press Association

WELLINGTON, February 22. The witness added that it would not be possible to follow the regulations implicitly. A master might bo on the bridge from the time lie left Wellington till he returned, a matter or' fortyeight hours. Mr Myers: Have yon to run to a time-table? Witness: No; you must consider tho safety of tho ship. Nothing is said if you are late; that is tho company's rule. Captain Naylor stated that the lifeboats on the Penguin were five years old. Oil was supplied to the boats m a copper drum. He could not say whether any was used or not. No. 5 boat had a rudder and a steer oar. The other four boats had only a rudder. In a heavy sea there was no doubt a steer oar was the thing to guide a boat. Personally, ho thought il would be well to liavo all lifeboats fitted with a steer oar ns well as a rudder. There \vr,-\ a man named Henderson on the ship's crew. Ho did not know. ::? counsel suggested, that he was the only man m one of the boats. As far as ho knew or could learn, Henderson went over the side of the ship, and was pulled aboard again. In the first boat that got away there were five or six members of the crew. No. 5 boat had seven or eight men mit to manage it. The deck hands of the vessel numbered eight—six A.B.s, a bosun, and an ordinary seaman. Dr McArthur: Did .you at any time between Tory Channel and Tor'awhiti put your supposed position on the chart? Witness: No; after I left Tory Channel I ruled off a course. Did you put your position down ?— No. Was there any means of communicating from the bridge with the engineroom? I ask this question because you say you sent a message down to the engine-room by a man.—Not on the Penguin. When the vessel struck, where did you think yon were? Did yoii form your idea after she struck? —About a quarter of an hour after she struck I knew. I must have struck between Sinclair Head and Ivarori Rock. Before you turned out, had you formed any idea of where you were? —Yea. - Where did you think you were ? — I reckoned that I was past Sinclair Head, and about three or four miles off it, and about seven miles off Pencarrow light. That was the idea you had before slie struck ?—Yes. Then after she struck, what idea did you form? —I came to the conclusion that she must have struck Tom's Rock. Dr McArthur pointed out that steaming from ten minutes to eight to two minutes past ten at 12J knots would have carried the ship 27 miles. The distance from Tory Channel to Tom's Rock was 17^ miles. Did these figures not suggest 'that there was something wrong? Witness said he allowed for two knots against the ship (current), and reckoned that the ship had really done 21 or 22 miles " good." After further evidence, tho Court rose until next day.