LOOK-OUT NOT KEPT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 149, 25 June 1936, Page 17

LOOK-OUT NOT KEPT.

YACHT SUNK BY LAUNCH

£141 DAMAGES AWARDED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) BLENHEIM, Wednesday. Reserved decision was given by Mr. T. E. Maunsell, S.M., this morning in the case heard at Picton toward the enct of ilay, in which J. C. Maddever, clerk, of Wellington, owner of the yacht Nanette, claimed £17(i from Orchard Bros., launch proprietors, Keneperu Sound, following a collision on December :iO, when the Nanette was struck by the launch Wharcata, owned by thq defendants, and sank within a few minutes.

The magistrate said the issue hinged upon the question whether plaintiff's yacht was equipped with the regulation lights. He held tlie yacht had port and starboard lights and that the collision was due to defendants' not keeping a proper look-out.

Judgment was given accordingly for £141 damages. Defendants were nonsuited oil a counter-claim for £-12.

The collision occurred in the Marlborough Sounds. Badiy holed by the impact the Nanette sank a few minutes after the party aboard her had scrambled to safety on the launch. Both vessels, were bound for Te Maliia, a holiday resort. The Nanette was subsequently raised and repaired. At the hearing plaintiff contended that defendants had been negligent, firstly in failing to keep or cause t<> be kept a sufficient look-out;, secondly, in failing to observe the Nanette and alter course to avoid a collision; and, thirdly, in failing to keep their vessel under proper control, having regard to the likely presence of other craft in the vicinity. The allegations wore denied by defendants, who counterclaimcd for £42 for work done, allegedly at the request of plaintiff.