VESTRIS INQUIRY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 52, 24 November 1928, Page 9

VESTRIS INQUIRY

BOAT FULL OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN LOWERED BUT NOT RELEASED DRAGGED DOWN BY SINKING VESSEL iUnlted I’ross Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) New York. November ?? At the inquiry into the Vestris disaster, conducted by the Federal Attorney. Mr. Tuttle, Joseph Boxhill, a stoker, testified that the Vestris lifeboat No. 4, filled mostly with women and children, was lowered to within five feet of the water, but never released from the ship. Boxhill said that he saw the sinking vessel drag the loaded bout down with it. Apart from Boxhill’s testimony, both Mr. Tuttle’s and the inspection service inquiry appeared to have reached a stage of anti-climax during the early sessions, which apparently prompted Mr. Tuttle to expedite his investigation as much as possible, calling numerous witnesses in rapid succession.

Captain Bambra told much the same story as he told before the' other investigation, adding that- while he commanded the Vestris boat drills were held regularly.' The hearings otherwise were occupied with unsupported statements from negro members of the crew and others, such as that the cause of the sinking “might have been lead on the bottom.”