NEGLIGENT NAVIGATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 192, 8 May 1908, Page 4

NEGLIGENT NAVIGATION.

> . . - —9- • . i THE TAVIUNI: : CERTIFICATE OF THE: - - CAPTAIN SUSPENDED/, ! ' • 181 ;TEI,EGRAPn'.— rEEBS. ASSOCIATION.) . i Westport, May; 7. i 'Tho Nautical Court,;,in'giving judgment in 1 the Taviuni stranding . case'', this morning,'/ s ■said' it had come .to the conclusion'that tho ) causo of tho casualty was the ..negligent, L navigation of .the 'master,, ; The reasons for the'finding were''that the ' .vessel, well found ,and.'manned,: seeking an - anchorage, iyith. the 'signals against. her,\.was ' practically,;tOiput it .bluntly, driven, ashorfe 1 at full-spfeed'(because the Court'preferred ;to i ; rely on, the. evidence of the second engineer.as. • to the timo when rhe -i'eijprded the orders) a I fe)v hundred yards.'from.. a wellj-lighted port > with ;.unkriprn>dangers, on a niglit. which, on I tlio captain's own admission, was not dirty,but >i merely dark and squally, with .mists hang-. { ing : over the 1 land. l This ,in itself., seemed : .negligence v of some kind, and when the cirS, cumstanccS were further' inquired iritoj ■ it r was found that the. captain, knowing tho " Signals were against him, knowing that tho 1 night was not clear,'and that, a mist was hangiug along ;the shore, ran on with'his r yessel with the intention of doing .'so until ' lie could pick up the red light on the: end of tho tip head, which could only, bo, seen jj- a comparatively short distance off in misty • weather; without taking the simple, and, J as tho Court held, proper and necessary pre- ' cautions of taking cross .bearings by Cape •' Foulwind and the Harbour lights, or using ' the lead.' Other masters ' might ..not. take • those precautions, but the Court .considered ' it to 1)0 wrong, eyen indirectly, to counten- ; ance any lowering of the standardwhere lifo J and property were concerned. The captain's Certificate would be suspended for three months, and he would be ordered'to pay the , cost of the inquiry, £35 lis. > . The Court found that, after the accident, | proper steps were taken to protect and prer servo the passengers, crew, mails, and cargo; | that the life-saving appliances and tho sigL hailing apparatus on the ship wero in firstclass, order; that the re'd sector on the Capo > Foulwind:light.was a good ono, but was not t absolutely, necessary. , ...! . ] , No blame was attached to other officers.