HARBOUR COLLISION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 75, 31 March 1910, Page 7

HARBOUR COLLISION.

COBAR AND DUCHESS. EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE. The ferry steamer Cobar, damaged in tho collision with the steamer Duchess under circumstances reported in another column, was examined on the beach at Thorndon to-day. It was found that two or three boards, had opened out, causing the inrush of water that induced Captain Williams, her master, to beacu her. Tho repairs are expected to take from three to four days to effect, at the end of which time tho Cobar should be ready to resume running between Wellington and Day's Bay. As she lies now, the Cobar is half fuD of water, but she is resting^ in a. safe Dosition. .THE CAPTAINS OF .THE VESSEL. I Captain Jones, of the Duchess, and : Captain Williams, of the Cobar, when i eeen by a Post reporter to-day, declined to say anything in connection with the collision. Both captains stated that they had furnished the Collector of Customs ,(Mr. Nixon) with the reports' of the incident as required by law. ' It is* probable that the collision will form the subject of a magisterial enquiry. In these circumstances the reticence of Captains William* and Jones is understandable. • SERVICE AS USUAL. Mr. Zohrab, manager of the Wellington Harbour Ferries, Ltd., owners of both vessels, informed a reporter that the ferry service would be maintained I as usual, the Admiral taking the place of the Cobar. The damage to both ves1 sels was not extensive, and he expected I to have the Cobar repaired and running I early next week. When he found that the Cobar nad I not arrived at the Bay at her usual time last evening, Mr. Zohrab became anxious and rang up Wellington for the reason of her delay. On hearing that there had beeo a collision he drove in from Day's Bay to the railway, and came on to Wellington. He found the vessel on the beach and the crew standing by. The passengers had then gone. Mr. R. Fletcher (chairman of the Harbour Board) and Mr. Redman, when they heard of the Cobar being ashore, went down to the beach, xind found the crew taking shelter under a shed, wet and shivering. The captain had gone to make arrangements for taking the pas sengers over to Day's Bay, but he had 1 instructed the crew to stand by tho j vessel antil further orders. This they .did, and in the meanwhile Mr. Fletcher and his friend provided them refreshments. | Captain Jones had been over thirty ■ years trading in Wellington Harbour, ] and Captain Williams, who is a younger i man, has been some five years in the 1 company's service. A PASSENGER'S NARRATIVE. Mr. F. E. Petherick, Fojicitor, who was a passenger by the Cobar, gave to a Post reporter an interesting story of the collision. In his opinion it was unavoidable, and was due to fierce winds from the hills at Oriental Bay and out of Evans Bay. "Had the night been fine," he added, "I feel sure the collision would not have- occurred. "Had anything really serious happened to the Cobar," Mr. Petherick went on, "I don't think a soul would have been saved, that is, had we relied upon the lifebelts.. Not that the lifebelts were inefficient, but the sea was such I that nobody could have lived in it* bad he gone overboard. "When the whistle on the Cobar blew — and the Duchess was then close at hand — a passenger exclaimed : 'Hullo, there's going to be a collision !' and he ' prepared to swim* for it. He had got | some of his clothing off and lm boots partly undone when the ships met." • Mr. Petherick was talking with Mr. j Coogan when the impact came. Then i the captain sent someone to the forej peak to ascertain what water was there. I Not much appeared to be comintr in, so j the ship kept on her course. She had gone about two miles before turning t back. "Then Mr. Coogan and I went down," said Mr. Petherick, "and the water was coming in very freely. Someone called this fact out to the captain, who was on the bridge. He had already inspected the injuries to the Cobar, which, so far as could be seen over the side, was the wrenching away of the copper sheathing. "Another inspection of the forepeak was made, and then the water was found to be coming in very moch faster. The c»|>ta.iTi line! olreacly a*ai<3 he "wonld return, and he hoped to reach the wharf, but, finding he could not keep hernfloat long enough, I suppose, he beached her." The na^engrers were delayed in crossins to f bp Bay until a quarter to 10, Captain Williams havine to lmnt out the captain of the s.s. Admiral, who lives out of town. Otherwise, Mr. Petherirk said, there was no inconvenience to tfc»m, nor were they ovpr alarmed or exrit»-'l wT>ile on board the vessel at and after the collision.