THE TAINUI COLLISION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 196, 18 August 1913, Page 6

THE TAINUI COLLISION.

CAUSED BY FAULTY NAVIGATTO-L TAINUI MOST TO BLAME. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 11The collision during a thick fog between the .Shaw-Savill liner Tainui, and ■the' American -hipping Cog Inca, which occurred on May 25 in the Atlantic, some fifty miles from tlhe Spanish coa.t to the north ol" Cape. Villano, was the subject of a cross-Motion for damages in tho Aikiriraliy Division of the High Court of Justice this week. The result was that Mr. Justice Baxgrave Deane, who had the benefit of the expert knowledge and' advice of the Trinity '.Masters, came to the conclusion that botih vessels were to blame- But it was not a caee of "six of one and half-a-do-en of the other," for his lordship held that whilst both vessels were i:i fault tbe Tainui was the greater sinner, and be showed ?io\v miieih of the ."bb.me he

tliong-ht attached to the Shaw Pavill steamer in his apportionment of the respective liabilities—three fourth fi to the T-inui and one fourth to tbe Inca.

In the eounse of liis judgment Mr. Justice Deane said that tho collision occurred about 50 miles oil' Cape Villano, and thai the two vessel.- wore on nearly opposite courses. The Tainui- case was that she heard a wh_tlc ahead, and her captain thought that it was a. little on the port bow. It was answered by a long blast, and the other vi-Stl, w'lo-.c caFe was l-ttt e-lie heard it on the starboird bow. replied to ii. Tile proper thing for the Tainui to have done was ;>t once to etop, but she did not do that. She blew again, heard a not her blast from the Irrr-a. and answered that, ■and after that .stopped her engines. Her captain then blew a signal of Iv.o long blasts, although tiie, Tainui was not stopped in the water. He said he did so because his engines were stopped. His Lo'nteh'ip thought that 1.h":- wan a very deceptive thing 10 do, although it did nor in fact iilfp.". lliir-. collision, hut it -right hive done fi.-). nod it win*, a very serious t.'i'ng to give what in fact was a false signal. Tlie ,-aptain then did a, rnosl iiniafp thing. As no further signal wns heard from tlie vc=t=el ahead of Wm. he took it on -himself to port his helm, out! the result was that lie put himself under the bows of ihe Inca. His Lord*—ip thous-t that ilin-e would hive been no accident at all if the Tainui had not ported, but as it. was the vessels came together at an an_!c of -10 deg. or 50 deg. It was imprs-'ible to avoid commeit'ting on this. When fog signals were heard ahead ver-ccls must slop and proceed with caution, and they could not do that if they did not know where the other vessel was; therefore to alter their course before they did 'now w.is suicidal. The initial caiic-e of the collision was the porting of (he Tainui. She went off some Ihree and a half points, and the Tnca came out of the fog ami si ruck her on the port bow. Turning to the Idea's o-ifc. t-!io hue! just cleared the Ray .if Bisc-ay. and bad been going half speed in what she admitted was thick weather. Site was an s-kn-ot boat n ( 50 revolutions, and the Elder Pr-thrci: .advised h„ Lordship that her half speed at MS revolutions would be fi knots to 7 knots, and at ''slow" ll knots to 4 knots, and when Hie defend-.i-nis said her half speed was 5 and her slow from -2 to ..' it w.ts manifest!v untrue. She was going 0 knols through .1 thick fog .md 1 hough tshe afterwards stopped her engines she could ■nn-t pull up in time. The result was both \.s-.-ei,s -ivere to blame. The T-i'nui w.1.3 undoubtedly .going too fist, php did not isiop. i?he nmnl, and ehe blew an improper signal: the Inca- was also to blame for exrossvve speed -in a fog. His Lord-ship had to apportion the .la ma gr ft under 1110 Maritime Conventions Act. am! n.s in hi-' rpirion and in Hat of the Elder p.rethr"- .'o- greuder blame w.is attaching to the Tainui than to the Inca. she -you'd hove to hear three-quarters -ir! the Tnca on-e qtnrier. Judcni-ier.-: accordincrli-.