CAPTAIN PAINTS AND SHIP RUNS ASHORE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 40, 15 August 1918, Page 3

CAPTAIN PAINTS AND SHIP RUNS ASHORE

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

. SYDNEY, 7th August. • A very unusual story of the stranding of the steamer Makambo on Lard Howe Island on 14th June last, while on the voyage from the New Hebrides to Sydney, was told at the Marine Enquiry into the accident.

The steamer reached Lord Howe Island about noon, and ' at 2 p.m. the master, Captain Wetherall, went ashore. He had not been in good health, and had been suffering from severe paroxysms of coughing. While he • was ashore he had one drink of whisky and water. When he came aboard again, in the early evening, the ship resumed her voyage, with Captain Wetherall, in charge, on the bridge. About a quarter of an hour after she started, the ..vessel should have been swung to port, so as to avoid a reef. The steersman did not receive the order, however, and the steamer struck the rock. Fortunately she was going slowly, and she was not wrecked. It was a fine night, with a smooth sea.

The second officer rushed up on to the bridge, and found the captain lying there unconscious. While the vessel "was rolling on tho reef, the lifeboat was lowered, and the crew began to assist the passengers into her. One female passenger somehow missed her footing, fell into the water, 'and was drowned.

It. then became, apparent ■ that the vesesl was not very seriously damaged, and, a little, later,, when the tide rose, she floated off. She was taken back to the anchorage, but as she was making water rapidly she was beached. Temporary repairs were effected, and she left for Sydney under her own steam on 24th June. The master, in the meantime, recovered and took charge of operations. The Court did not interfere with the master's certificate. It, however, considered that the master should be censured for not. taking precautions for the safety of the ship, as ho must have known, from previous experience, that he was liable to such attacks, and he should have had an officer with him on the bridge until clear of all danger.