CAPSIZE OF DREDGE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28794, 15 January 1959, Page 6

CAPSIZE OF DREDGE

Court Of Inquiry Reports

<New Zealand Press Assoctatton) AUCKLAND, January 14. The system of watch-keeping whenever the dredge Hapai is moored outside the shelter of Auckland Harbour should be revised to provide a continuous alerted watch and the watchman should have an efficient means of communicating with the shore. This comment is made in the re--1 ort of the Marine Department inquiry into the capsize of the dredge while it was moored in Rangitoto channel early in the morning of June 24, 1957. The inquiry court comprised Mr L. G. H. Sinclair, S.M., with Captain W. J. Keane and Mr G. E. Breeze as assessors. It does not place the blame for the mishap on any officer of the Auckland Harbour Board but considers that the board’s officers were lulled into a false sense of security because of lack of previous incident to the vessel. The harbour board was ordered to pay £l5O toward the cost of the investigation. The report says that although it was not established that the mooring of barges alongside the dredge during the week-end before the capsize caused or contributed to the capsize, the court thought that the practice was unwise when the dredge was moored in an exposed position with the possibility of sudden adverse weather changes.