HOW TAHITI SANK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 216, 12 September 1930, Page 9

HOW TAHITI SANK.

ENGINEER'S EVIDENCE. SECOND DAY OF INQUIRY. HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE TO CLOSE DOOR. VESSEL'S SKIN PUNCTURED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association;) WELLINGTON, this day.. The nautical inquiry into'the loss of the Union Company's steamer Tahiti was continued- to-day. Tho Court consists of Mr. E. Page, S.M., with Captain L. C. H. Worrall, nautical assessor, Mr. W. , Parker, engineer assessor, and Mr. G. Huntley, naval architect. Mr. J. Prendeville appears for the Marino Department, Mr. E. K. Kirkcaldie, with" him Mr. E. Parry, for the master, Captain Toten, and the deck officers, Mr. E. P. Hay, for the engineers, and Mr. C. G. White, for the Union Company.' Mr. Archibald ; Thomson, the second engineer, continuing his evidence, said In reply to Mr. Prendeville'that he had no previous experience of a broken shaft. To Mr. Hay he said the chief engineer and not the master took charge in the engine room. The master provided everything that was required while in the tunnel. When he rushed into it he did not contemplate closing the intermediate door. It was humanly impossible to close it owing to the amount of water flowing in. It would have meant exerting his own personal strength agaiust the water. The flow of, water was indicated by the fact that when he got back to the, main'bulkhead it had overtaken him. After the bulkhead door was closed by gear lie gave it a few knocks with a hammer to ensure that it was closed. The door was kept open for the reason that the bearings and shafting in the tunnel had to be inspected every half-hour. The door was tested every Sunday under normal conditions and the Sunday before they arrived at Wellington the door was closed and opened. It appeared to be in perfect working order and there was no indication of any apertures at the 6ides. . . To Mr. White: The engineers and greasers went along the tunnel every half-hour in the ordinary course of their work. ■ Captain Worrall's Questions. To Captain Worrall: The fact that the water when he first saw it was shooting across from the starboard to the port side showed that the vessel's skin was punctured on the starboard side. That was what lie. reported.

Captain Worrall put a- number of questions relating to the quick sinking of. the. ship after it was abandoned, and pressed the witness as to whether the doors were shut. Witness was positive the doors .were shut. ,:Td The; shaftwas.]ast inspected on June 8. The gland had never ruin hot to witness' knowledge. By the time the > bulkhead doOi* was closed lie thought the water was above the plates at the after end of the engine room. "

To Mr. Hawley: If .there was only a rent in the side of the ship at the stern that would not account for the water coming into the ship after the .bulkhead door was closed.* There must have been rents into No. 3 or No. 4 holds. Six months ago he had the bulkhead door chipped and painted, and it was in good order then. To Mr. Kirkcaldie: Witness agreed that the dancing of the broken shaft being sufficient to shake the boilers, might also be sufficient to damage or crack the bulkhead. There was only a shaft clearance through the bulkhead, no gland or bearing. .To-Mr, Page : It wa3 his opinion that the bulkhead was injured by the mishap. As he had said, six months earlier he had had it chipped and painted, and personally had seen it. . It was in good order and condition. 8 Chief Engineer's Story, The vliief engineer, -Mr. McPlierson, said he had been on the Tahiti about two years. When leaving Wellington, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Witness said he was asleep when the accident happened, but he was awakened !by vibration. When he got to the engine room the tunnel door was shut and the engine had stopped. Water was coming from around the door very much more than would be the case ordinarily. It ■was squirting through. The door normally was pretty close, being wedgeshaped to fit. The way in which water was entering .indicated a fracture in the bulkhead or a bulge In the door itself. Witness got the pumps going and reported to the master straight away. He asked for the. carpenter and for shoring to -be sent down for the bulkhead door.

Witness went on to detail the steps taken to accomplish this. The water gained all the time till about six o'clock, when its was about 3ft Gin deep at the bulkhead port.. The engine was kept going slowly throughout. He could see the bubbling of water below, suggesting a fracture. He made an inspection, anc there appeared to be a fracture f 1 ®" 1 the door to the starboard shaft. He could not tell the length nor the widJi of the opening owing to the pressuie of water. This later extended, and as far as he could see, reached to the port shaft. When he left the ship witness left the pumps running, with the door to the stokehold closed.

Not a New Shaft? Witness said the tail end of the shaft was put in last July. It appeared not to he a new shaft and appeared been used before. There weretwo.small radial cracks in the flange of board stern bush, but even had y g right through they would no affected the propeller or shaft bus . Witness remarked that this was > seven feet long. ■ ~ tl Witness considered -that when shaft broke the engine end try in P overtake the broken part ca ~ ~j whip round and fracture the side of the ship, also the top bearing JgYJ been .pushed through the very I slowlyj and might easily ham beg the result even of a strained gland. If they had struck a inmd mo 1 P the after end of the ship thought, have known of it. • t] „ To Mr. Kirkcaldie, yntog inrush of water into tile tuiu ? dr £ u ii e or ing the air would have a by an(l hammer effect on the tu " n . 1 t ] lo bulkthe bulkhead. The ] eno -th all head seemed to increase - o the time they were fighting to keep 5 , ship afloat.

Vibration Caused Fracture. In reply to various questions, witness said there were certain pipes into the' tunnel, but these were closed. In regard to the old closed ventilator which the second engineer had mentioned, witness did not think this would have any connection with the water getting into the holds. To Mr. Hay: The initial fatal damage was what happened to the bulkhead door. To Captain Worrall: He thought/ that vibration was the primary cause of the fracture of the bulkhead door. By the way the door lay on the seat he had the impression that the door frame itself was fractured. (Proceeding.) YESTERDAY'S EVIDENCE. Ship's List Adjusted. Norman Siepen, chief officer, said he ,vas aroused from his sleep, by the second officer. He went to the engineroom and found the conditions as described by Captain Toten. He gave orders for spars and spare hatches to be sent below, for pumps to be rigged and for the ship to be sounded. After seeing this carried out he went to inspect the lower hold. That would be half an hour after the start of the trouble. Witness said he found from 2ft to 4ft of water in No. 4 hold. No. 3 hold, but not No. 4 hold, contained cargo, which was afloat. Crosswise, the holds ran right to the sides of the ship. He could not see •where the water was coming in. ' Mr. Prendevillc: Can you give any estimate of the quantity of water you baled? Witness: I estimated that we were 1 baling at the rate of 150 gallons a minute. Mr. Page: Including pumps?"' Witness: No. Just baling operations. Witness said it seemed that No. 4 hold was being held, but not No. 3. There was about an equal number of men on the two holds. The pumping and baling was continued until after the passengers had left the ship. "Did Not Strike Anything." > Mr. Prendeville: Do you think the vessel struck anything? Witness: No. Mr. Prendevillc: Have you any idea whether the ship's side was smashed or whether the water was coming from the stern tube? Witness: No. I cannot say at all. Mr. Prendeville: Except that the water was coming in somewhere between the engineroom and the peak deck? Witness: Yes. The use of a collision mat was impracticable. To Mr. Huntley witness said he had ordered as much timber as possible to be taken to the engineroom in order to bo 011 the safe side, not because the bulkhead was showing immediate signs of giving way. •

Second Engineer's Experience. The second engineer, Archibald Thomson, said he had been 011 the vessel for three years and nine months, and had previously served on her, He had known of no irregularity with the propeller shaft. : 1 ■ t-, -P*® - alarming noise' made him thihkr the'whole of the starboard engine was - lifting. To locate the noise was very difficult, as it seemed to be .both in the shaft and the engine. The noise was like a series of sharp • explosions. It-could-be. distinguished above the noise of the ordinary running of the engines. The engine then started to race very violently. The racing followed a few seconds after "the noise. He shut the steam off the,;starboard engine,, and stopped it immediately. He then ran down to. investigate the damage. "Solid Mass of Water." He entered the. tunnel and went two or three feet aft of the centre bulkhead, passing through the centre door. The tunnel was about 100 feet long and eight or ten feet high. When he.got along through the tunnel the well was full and water was coming from the starboard side aft of the bulkhead. It was coming right across to the other side. Counsel: Coming in a solid mass to the bulkhead?

Witness: In a solid wall. Mr. Page: What light had you? Witness: The lights were on in the deck head. I could see quite plainly. Mr. Prendeville: You saw this volume of water and ran out? Witness: I ran out. Mr. Prendeville: Did you- have, a chance to close the centre door? Witness: No. There was too much water in the tunnel. Mr. Prendeville: The water caught up to you? • ... .

Witness: Yes. There was no possibility of closing the centre door. There was also the possibility of an engineer coming down into the engineroom, seeing the water, and, as he should have done, shutting the door in the engineroom bulkhead, leaving me inside. Pouring Into Engineroom. All the time the door was shut the water was pouring into the engineroom. It came into the engineroom before the door was shut. One man was swept away and so were some dishes on a bench 3ft high. After the bulkhead was closed witness sent advice to the captain. Going into the stokehold witness said to a stoker: "Did you feel anything?" The other replied:; "Feel it! The "boilers were meeting." The captain then came down and took over, and witness went to the pumps. The door was not the danger, but the water which was gushing up from under the engineroom. Witness did not know the capacity of the pumps. Tjy 6 o'clock witness was up to his neck in water. The vessel bad a list to port. The plates were all up, making pitfalls, and work was very difficult. Sometimes witness was sitting in the water. The chief efforts of ithe°men were toward getting the water out of the engineroom. At one time they were making headway and at another time they were losing ground. The dynamo was flooded and the fans had stopped. At 10 o'clock that night there was a decided bulge in the bulkhead. The dynamo was kept in reserve for the wireless, and only a few lights were used. "I think that the propeller broke on the scarf," said witness, when asked his opinion as to what had happened. Hie propeller tended to remain stationary and the engine end to continue revolving and so. the ship's side -was carried away. The propeller and the shaft must hive been pulled out. These were my first words: <Th§. ship's side is gone. The ship's side is punctured.' That is what I reported t,o the chief engineer. "The break must have been between the last coupling and the peak . head o-lands,", said witness. "The whipping shaft would need to describe a circle of only 4in or sin to knock the side out of a ship, owing to the shape of the stern. Like a huge flail it would punch out the side of the ship at the finst shock. ■ The boilers had danced in the stokehold." ■ 1