Nearby Ship Not Called To Assist

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30452, 28 May 1964, Page 6

Nearby Ship Not Called To Assist

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, May 27.

A Merchant navy captain told the Voyager Royal Commission yesterday that he received no distress calls when H.M.A.S. Melbourne and H.M.A.S. Voyager collided on the night of Febraary 10, even though his ship was only nine miles away.

Eric Valentine Whittleton, master of the Australian National Line ship Baralga, said if he had received a call for assistance it would have taken his ship about one hour to reach the scene.

Life-boats and other lifesaving equipment would have been prepared for use had any distress calls been received, he said. Earlier today, the commission was told that the Melbourne, in a special test yesterday, reproduced the turns it made before the collision. The commission was told the experiment was undertaken after a naval architect, Robert John Herd, gave evidence on Friday of the Melbourne’s estimated time and loss of speed in the turns. Mr D. Hicks, Q.C., told the commission that if it would be of any assistance, Captain R. J. Robertson, of the Melbourne, was prepared to work with Mr Herd to try and work out a final course of the two ships.

After considerable discussion by counsel, Mr Justice Spicer said he did not propose to direct this to be done, but if any of the parties wished it, he would not disagree.

The Melbourne’s deputy electrical officer and radio maintenance officer, Lieutenant - Commander William James Crossley, told of a conversation he had had with Commander Tapp, of the Voyager, about the destroyer’s radar on the day before the collision. He said Commander Tapp, Captain Stevens and other Voyager officers had been on the Melbourne for lunch in Jervis Bay on February 9. Commander Tapp had told him that he was having trouble with the destroyer’s radar and had mentioned a piece of the apparatus called a “flexible wave guide.” Commander Tapp had asked him if he could supply a replacement for this from the carrier, but he had been unable to do so. Lieutenant - Commander Crossley said the wear in the flexible wave guide could or could not have had some effect; but for anybody to have taken it from the aerial while the ship was in Jervis Bay they must have been suspicious of it. He said the guide was replaced in the Melbourne last September, but it was not as bad as the one he had been shown from the Voyager. Mr Justice Spicer: If you had a wave guide like that on the Melbourne what would you have done with it?—We

would have thrown it away and got a new one.

Mr Herd today told the commission that technical information he gave in evidence on Friday was unsatisfactory. He had indicated that he had made his figures high to put them on the “safer side,” he said.

Last Friday, Mr Herd said a chart made by Captain Robertson would be nullified because he did not allow for loss of speed in turns. The Melbourne. yesterday conducted special tests on turning circles and loss of speed on turns, repeating the turns made just before the collision on February 10. Mr Herd agreed that the Melbourne could have done exactly what Captain Robertson claimed she had done, while giving his evidence.