KIM'S GROUNDING

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 97, 27 April 1931, Page 7

KIM'S GROUNDING

ERROR OF JUDGMENT

COURSE HELD TOO LONG IN FOG

COURT'S OPINION

An opinion that the captain had committed an error of, judgment in holding the ship's course so long, was expressed in the Magistrate^ Court on Friday afternoon, when the* report to be forwarded to the Minister of Marine concerning the mishap to the Union Company's cargo steamer Kini was read. ' ' ■ . The vessel was damaged by striking a submerged object near Bare Island on 10th April, when on a voyage from "Wellington to Napier. . '■■;■■ Mr. E. Page, S.M., conducted the inquiry, and the nautical assessors were Captain L. C. H. Worrall and Mr. F. W. Barroh. The Crown Solicitor, Mr. J. Prendeville, appeared for the Marine Department, and Mr. E. K. Kirkcaldie for the master of the Kini, Captain Cr. D. Fraser. - ' In traversing the evidence, Mr. Page said that shortly after passing Black Head on the day of. the accident, the second officer' saw that fog was setting in, and coming down the coast. .At 3.20 p.m. he called the master, who verified the mate's bearings, and from them verified the distancei^off Black Head as being three miles. At 3.30 p.m. the fog was setting in thick, and at 3.31 p.m. the second mate got his last glimpse of land. From then on until 5 p.m." thesamo 'course was maintained, the visibility being' patchy. At times lanes would open up in the fog, and a distance of two'to three miles could be seen; then these lanes would close in again. The whistle was sound-; ed as a fog;signal, but speed was not reduced. At 5 p.m., in consequence of the fog, the master altered the. course of the ship to north two degrees east; standard. The master then left the bridge, and at 5.10 p.m. the second mate got a glimpse of what he believed to be land. s He called the master, but by the time he arrived fog had blocked out the ,view again. At 5.30 p.m. the visibility temporarily improved, but the fog was still intermittent. No soundings were taken. At 5.51 p.m. the chief officer saw through the fog land (either the mainland or an island) on the port beam, and at once drew the master's attention to it. The latter called, "Hard aport/Vbut three minutes later, while the vessel was swinging round, it struck with some force, and then appeared to ground in shallow water. \The bump and the grounding! brought it practically to a stop. The master could feel, however, that the vessel was dragging over the ground, and he kept the engines going at full speed, and she dragged clear. The land that the chief officer saw was ! risible for a minute to two minutes. DANGEROUSLY CLOSE IN. "Though the evidence given at the hearing raises some doubt as to the identity of the point of land that for a minute or two came into view, 'the action of tho master .at the time made' it clear that he realised that his course' had brought him dangerously close in," said Mr. Pagu. "From then until 6.10 p.m. the vessel was headed out to sea, and was brought round to a course north 10 degrees east. All proper steps were thereafter taken to sound tho holtls and bilges, and tho vessel proceeded on hei> way to Napier, ; Subsequent examination shows that substantial damago had been dono to the port side of the ship, and that the water' was entering No. 2 bilge port through a fracture of the plates. Tho four blades of the propeller wore all broken off at varying distances from tho bass. SAFE IF NO FOG. "Had the visibility remained good the course set by the master, for a daylight run, would, in our opinion, have been a safe and proper one. According to the master's own estimate that course, if made, would have brought him within two and a half miles of Bare Island, which itself lies within one ; and a half miles of the mainland. The chart shows that there is a rock' lying ; to^the south-east; of Bare Island, and thus nearer to tho ship's course than Baro Island would be. "Having regard to those distances and the fact that thick fog came on, com- ■ .pletely obscuring the land, and that the vessel was new and her compass therefore subject to greater deviation ' than in an older vessel, and that the north-easterly swell might have sonic 'tendency to set him in, we think that the master committed an error of judg; ment in holding that course so long. When at 5 p.m. he mado an alteration of four degrees in the course, he was too near, the danger zone, and the amount of alteration that he made was too small to offect its object. He had complete safety a little further but to sea, and in our opinion he should have taken it." An order was made that the master shall pay 15 guineas towards tho cost of the inquiry.