FERRY DISASTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 256, 29 October 1929, Page 7

FERRY DISASTER.

INTERACTION THEORY.

Experts Differ, Leaving Judge

With Open Mind

GREY CLIFFE £30,000 CLAIM.

(United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. Expert evidence on the theory of interaction is now being given before Mr. Justice Halse Rogers, in the Admiralty Court, which is hearing the £30,000 claim of the Sydney Ferries, Ltd., against the Union Steam Ship Company, arising from the disaster caused by the collision between the Tahiti and the ferry steamer Grevcliffe in November, 1927.

The judge announced that he had read a large portion of the technical evidence given by Sir John Biles on interaction, and there was a complete divergence of opinion among the highly qualified gentlemen on either side.

One of these said that there were certain wave influences from an overtaking vessel and that the Grey cliff e was never in the sphere of any influence which would turn her, while the other set of witnesses held that the raising of the water at the head of a ship would cause a pressure of water which would have the effect of turning the vessel. The defendants, moreover, claimed that it was impossible to make any experiments of anv value.

The judge added: "In the circumstances I am still in a state of openmindedness."

Mr. Manning, K.C., counsel for Sydney Ferries, Ltd., said that plaintiffs had obtained the consent of the Court to four representatives of the ferry company going aboard the Tahiti on the outward voyage on Thursday in order that they might make certain observations from the bridge and engine room while the vessel was steaming down the harbour, on condition that the Tahiti should be handled under instructions from the pilot.

The judge pointed out that it would be difficult, at the same time, to provide a vessel of the Greycliffe's size for this demonstration owing to the danger of a "hitch" occurring.

The Tahiti, outward bound for Wellington, ran into the ferry Greycliffe, near Bradley's Head, opposite Double Bay, in Sydney Harbour, soon after 4 p.m. on Thursday, November 3, 1927. The ferry boat sank in three minutes. There were about 125 passengers aboard when she left for Watson's Bay, including many school children and men from the Garden Island naval depot. Beside the 34 passengers killed there were many persons injured in the disaster. There were several instances of heroism in the work of rescue. The sharp bow of the Tahiti cut the smaller ship into halves.