THE WRECK OF THE PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 119, 22 May 1931, Page 10

THE WRECK OF THE PROGRESS

XUG ITOIA'S CAPTAIN IN THE BOX

DIFFICULTIES OF RESCUE OPERATIONS

' '■"'•■■' "Looking at her, I considered that it would have been a most dan- V gerous manoeuvre that would havo imperillod my own ship and the lives 'on board to have attempted to pass to the leeward of the Progress.... My 1 crew, I knew, wero getting quite exhausted, and as getting a tow-line ;1,; aboard, her I knew to be impossible, T.roturned.to port." In these words V.-V.\ Captain W. H. Campbell, the' master of'the tug Toia, gave his reason at ' the Progress wreck inquiry yesterday afternoon for returning to port at daybreak on the morning the Progress was wrecked.

Mr. E. Page, S.M., is presiding at tho inquiry. Captain L. C. 11. Worrall and Captain E. Cartner are assessors, with Mr. F. W. Granger as cnginoer assessor. The Crown Solicitor, Mr. J. Prtindeville, appears for the Marino Department; Mr. E. K. Kirkcaldio for Captain Copland; Mr. G. G. G. Watson for tho owners of the Progress, Messrs. Holm . . and Company; Mr. S. J. Castle and Mr. H. J. V. James for the Wellington Harbour Board; Mr. C. A. 1. Treadwell for the master of tho tug Toia, Captain W. H. Campbell; Mr. 0. C. Mazcngarb for tho Marino Engineers' Institute, and for tho widow of the chief engineer of the Progress, Mrs. T. M. Simpson; Mr. E. P. Hay, instructed by the Seamen s Union, for the seamen and firemen of the vessel, and for the rolativcs of the deceased seamen; and Mr. F. P. WaJsn (general president) for the Seamen 9 Union. Captain Campbell said that tho tug Toia was fully equipped with hawsers, both Manila and steel. Ho first heard of the Progross at 9.10 o'clock on tho Thursday night, when he received a telcphono message from Captain Petersen telling him to get steam raised on ' the tug. Witness detailed the steps ho took to get his crew and said that .he himself arrived at the tug at about 10.30 p.m. They left the wharf at 10.43 p.m. Thero were one engineer, ' two firemen, and threo A.B.s aboard ' besides witness and Captain Mess. All tho necessary gear and provisions wero aboard. Pencarrow was abeam at 11.40 p.m. There was a rough sea. >As soon as they cleared the Outer Eock ho ' thought he could see the Progress to the southward, but he found he was mistaken. Ho then got in touch with Beacon Hill and was told to hurry. He ' saw tho Progress burning a blue light and ho headed right for him. The tug got thero about 1 a.m. Mr. Page: "What do you say the position of the Progress was at that • timo?"—"I took him to bo about a mile S.S.E. of Sinclair Head, but that ■was only a rough guess." ' ""Was there any difference in the weather from the time you got out of tho Heads till you got to the Pro- ' gress?" —-"Yes. Tho wind had increased." PICKING UP THE PROGRESS. "When we approached the Progress," the witness said, "he had no navigation light, but he switched them on. I asked, 'What ship?' .by tho Morse lamp. Ho replied: 'Progress.' "We then went across his bows to tho windward of him and rounded up on the port helm. I brought tho tug along his weather side parallel to him, and as in the weather then prevailing I hardly thought it possible to throw a heaving line, I rounded up into the wind.'' Mr. Page: "How far off him?"— •'We wero pretty close to him—anywhere within fifty feet." Captain Campbell said that before he could get the Toia down, the wind caught her bow and pushed her broadside oh. He tried backing the Toia down with her head up into tho wind, but each time the wind caught tho bow.. "I tried then," Captain Campbell went on, "holding her head into the wind, and I tried to float a line down on a buoy,- but this was unsuccessful as the Toia was drifting as fast ns tho buoy was. I told the crow then 'ton deck to get the line-throwing gun out, but at this stage I saw the Progress had 'floated a messenger down. When I saw this lighted buoy, I told tho crow to stand by, and wo would drift down and pick his line. up. We did this. . . During tfcese operations the wind and sea wero increasing all the time. After picking up their messenger I steamed slowly out and parallel to the Progress until our port quarter'was 'parallel' with-'their starboard bow. The two ships were then ranging together and at times I am sure yvc must have been within fifty feet of each other. Wo had hoaviiifc liaes sirotched the whole, length of tho ship on the port sido bo thai wherever we picked up their messenger, wo could jbend one on. Wo bent on two. full lengths of heaving lino to their messenger and on to the 'end of the lines a 2?i'm Manila rope. The crew on the [deck saw that the messenger was on . ,the Progress and they then bent the eteel towing wire on, and when I .thought they had time enough to heavo the wiro in on the Progress I signalled asking1 if they liad it fast. I got a .reply saying, 'Not yet.' Tho next .thing I knew was that I got a message, from the Progress that tho wiro had) broken. During these operations wo/ - heard a voico from tho Progress shouting out that his anchors were. down. "ONLY ONE THING TO DO." _ "When I got tho signal that the line was broken," continued Captain .Campbell, "there was only ono thing , for me to do, and that was to steam •'' away and keep going ahead until I got this wire in. My impression is that \ it was about 2 p'clock when tho wire broke, and before we got the towing wire in-board it was 2.50 a.m. During this timo tho ..decks were continually awash. I went down on the dock and gave them a hand with tho wires. By this, time the wind had got up, and there wero very, very heavy squalls. ■' At 3 a.m., it was reported to me that the starboard .engine-room skylight . door had carried away, and that she ' was taking a considerable amount of . water down below. I had seen that tho_ weather was so bad that it would be impossible to get a tow-rope on tho 'Progress, and I called up Beacon Hill ._ and told him to report to' Captain Spence that the weather was too bad ■■ to get a tow-rope on, and that tho Progress was anchored with both anchors. As soon as I sent that I received a 'message from the Progress that she was dragging, so I reported this to Beacon Ilill. After a few minutes Beacon Hill asked if we had tried the gun, and I rcpliod, 'Yes.' I then received a signal from Beacon Hill that Captain Spence was coming around by road, and jusi before daybreak another message that the ■ Terawhiti was leaving in half an hour." Mr. Page: "During, that interval ■ ■■■'■ where were you lying?" . Witness: "Well, we steamed into the ':: Beas to get' the wire in, and We- got about four or five miles out, where we '.' : stayed." . "-. ■ ':'u ' "MOST DANGEROUS "; ■-'.• MANOEUVRE." "At daybreak the wind had gone teround more to the southward, and the wind and sea, if anything, had increas- '-■■' ed," said Captain Campbell. "Wo shaped'a course down to tho Progross, and v.; 'looking at her, I considered that it would have been a most dangerous • manoeuvre that would have imperilled '■ii.,. my own ship and the lives on board i* iWT« it&smteil to pass.to the lee-

ward of tho Progress. As far as I could see, the only assistance that could come to tho Progress was from the shore;"- r Mr. Page: "How near did you go to the Progress?" Witness: "I suppose I wont down to about a quarter of a mile away. My crew, I knew, were getting quite exhausted, .and as getting a tow-lina aboard her I knew to be impossible, 1 | returned to port." Continuing his evidenco to-day, Captain Campbell said that when he passed tho Progress at 6 a.m. on Ist May he imagined that the Progress had draggedi on account of tho signal he i had got from her during the' night. Ho passed - tho Terawhiti in the harbour. The Toia went out at 9.30 a.m. with ' Captain .Sponce and- witness aboard. Thero were five extra men on deck. They reached the Progress about 11.30 a.m. He considered that the closest they got was within.a mile of the shore. It was. tho ship surging about which put the strain on -the messenger, causing it to part. Mr. Prendcville: "Actually you did not use the gun to- attempt to put a line aboard?"—"We never actually flrefl tho gun." "In the conditions, would it have been dangerous for you to have bumped the Progress?'?—"Oh, yes." The position of the Progress was such that to manoeuvre close to her was dangerous. In the first placo tho Progress was tide-ridden. The tide was driving the Toia one way, and the wind ' and sea were driving her in another. Oaptain Ness was aboard representing the Holm Company. "Any argument with him?"— "Kone whatever." SECOND LINE NOT SEEN. "Did you see tho second lino floated out by tho Progress?"—"No, none whatever, because it was an absolute impossibility to pick up tEo rope." The weather had increased, and witness considered it too dangerous to go astern of tho Progress to pick the lino up. "If the captain of the Matangi says that when he went past in the morning ho could have gone inside the Progress, what do you say?"—"l should say he knows his own ship better than I do. His is a twin-screw ship, and if he saw a ship in that position why didn't ho ao it?" In answer to Mr. Treadwcll, the witness said ho was at sea at 16 years of age when the war broke out. He had been five years captain of tho Toia, and he was well acquainted with her capacity and behaviour in all classes of weather. In heavy weather and a high wind sho was most difficult to handle. "Was sho ever intended for that class of work?"—"ln my opinion, no." Tho wind and sea, acting oil 'fho Toia's bow, slowed her round, and if he had not taken great precautions ho would have gone right on top of tho Progress. The decks were continually awash. "Where , you were, wero you sufficiently closo to see the rocks?sl'— "When I go s t astern of the Progress I could see the rocics." "Was it safe for you to stop there?" —"No, I wanted to get out of there as quick as I ; could." They had to take things very easily in getting the wire towing hawser in. UNDUE RISKS. "Had it been reasonably possible for you to go back to that boat and do any good, would you have done it?"— "I certainly should have." ~ "When you went back at daybreak would you have been running an undue risk in going astern, of the Progress and trying to pick up a line?"—"I am sure I would have." "As n seaman would you have been justified-in taking that risk?"—" Well I consider I wasn't." .The risk was that he might havo got into a corner and found ho could not get himself out again before he wjis on the rocks. If thero had been sufficient "seaway he would' havo fried. In answer to Mr. Kirkealdie, Captain Campbell said that both vessels had floodlights burning. Ho could not soe tho anchors of tho Progress out, but he thought that in tho weather conditions tho Progress would have all her cables out or olse sho would be ashore. The- Toia kept well clear of the cables. "Would you be surprised to know (hat they- didn't put out their port anchor until after you arrived?" —"I wouldn't be surprised:" In further replies witness said that even in daylight he would not have liked to steam around tho Progress, and the only possible manoeuvre was to keep on the windward side. He would not havo gone astern and on the leeward side. « Mr.'Kirkcaldie: "Not on a vessel,, a milo off shore?"—" Not on that point." "You had been down there half an hour without taking any effectivo steps to get a line from your vessel to the Progress?"—" Well, I wouldn't say half an hour. We had been there somp time.'' "Long enough for the Progress to think that you' were not doing anything and that they had bettor get busy and do something themselves?"—" Yes." Captain Campbell said he thought that the wire towing hawser actually touched the Progress and the messenger then broke. Mr. Kirkcaldic: "I put it to you, it was either your vessel steaming away or the weight of the rope in between the two vessels that caused tho messenger to break?" —"I don't think so. It was 'due to the crew of the Progress in their anxiety to get it aboard heaving on the, winch; as soon as the- eye of tho hawser got to the lead it carried away." MANNING OF THE TUG. Mr. Page: "Looking back on it now, do you think you were adequately manned with deck hands?" —"Yes, I; do." • i "You have spoken of your crew be-1 ing exhausted; how many men of your: <:rew went back the second time?"— "Mysolf, the engineer, two firemen, and one deck hand." "Do you suggest that your vessel was not effective as a salvage tvg < because there was not sufficient weight aboard?" —"She was up^to a certain point; if she had been deeper she would have been better." "After you had coiled your wire, don't you think it would have been worth while to have had a look at that second lighted buoy?"—l'No, the seas had increased and it would have been too dangerous." Mr. Page: "The danger you apprehended was in picking up the line?"— "Jn picking up tho lino I would havo had to go on a lee shore, and I mightn't have been able to get out of it." "You don't think it would .have had a bad moral effect on the crew of the Progress your going away at day-

break?"—"No; by tho morse messages they knew that Captain Spence had gone around by the shore with the rocket apparatus. I considered that at that stago the only help that could come to them was from the shore." They must have known that he, as inastor of tho tug, had realised that ho could do nothing more. "Since you havo been in charge of the Toia how long have you been able to go out without a pilot?"—"I have been out on two other occasions." . "Havo you ever been in charge of other tugs?"—" Yes; I have been iv charge of the tug in Wanganui." "For how long?"—" Just a matter of weeks, I think. I was relieving." Referring to the tugs in Sydney. which had had their bows cut down. Captain Campbell- said that that had been dono as they were inconvenient for harbour work. Mr. Watson: "Do you, or do you not, attribute your inability to bring the Progress in to any inefficiency in the boat?"—"lf she had been deeper laden tho prospects would have been better." "Is there any other reason?"—" Her actions in a seaway." It was difficult to stand on the decks at times. "So that, subject to those two qualifications, there was no other 'feature in 'j'io boat that contributed to your inrriity to bring" the Progress in?"— "No." He would have taken tho Terawhiti on tho night he went out if lie had had the opportunity. "Which boat would you have takenthe following morning?" —"I should have taken tho Toia, because she is a seagoing tug." . TERAWHITI A BETTER VESSEL. Captain Campbell said he thought the Terawhiti would havo been a better vessel to handle in the endeavour to holp the Progress. -, "Weren't you just as heavily loaded that night as ever you are?"—"No — she's more heavily loaded now." "You were at least up to your average loading that night?"—" Yes, we were up to our average loading." "How long were you manoeuvring in the vicinity of the Progress?"—" About an hour, and another hour was spent in getting tho hawser in." "You knew that the lives _of the crewj and, of- course, in a minor degree the vessel, depended on your efforts that night?" —"No." "If you had had another effective hawser aboard, would there have been anything to prevent' you slipping. that wire hawser and so saved an hour's precious time?" —"No, there was nothing to prevent'me slipping it, but it would have been a most uuseamanlike thing to do." •'",.'■,'.■■ ; "Which do you think was the most creditable to your seamanship—to slip that hawser; or make another attempt to save tho Progress ?" —"If I had slipped that wire, which was hanging over, my quarter, it might have fouled my propeller." * ' "Do you not concede that the manner in' which that wire waa allowed to go out contributed to the breaking of the messenger?"—"No, I do not." Ho thought that some sort of a stop should have been used, however. ' ; "What do you say was the maximum distance you were off the Progress when they were getting your heaving line aboard?" —"I should say about orfa hundred feet." "When you lost the line to the Progress, and after you had picked _up your steel hawser, was there anything to prevent you coming back and trying the gun?" —"Yes, tho weather conditions and tho danger to tho people on the Progress." "Do you mean by that that you would never use a rocket gun again on account of the danger to the people?"— "No, I don't think so, after my last experience of it. Not on the tug Toia at any rate." c"lf you had gone to leeward of her there would havo been no chance of drifting down on to the Progress?"— "Not on to tho Progress, but on -to the rocks." "Was it only the possible fear of rocks that prevented you from goingto leeward of her?"—" What prevented me going to leeward was that sho was tide-ridden. If I had taken my ship astern of her, what was on the other sido of her?" CAPTAIN OF MATANGI. In order to suit tho convenience of the Court, Robert John Hay, the master of tho Matangi, was called this afternoon. Ho said he saw the Progress on the morning of Ist May when coming to Wellington. The Progress was about a mile offshore. There were no distress signals up. ' Mr. Prcnde ville: "If distress signals had been'up could you have dono anything for tho Progress?"—"No, wo couldn't have done anything. We had nothing to do anything with." "Could you have gone inside astern of tho Progress?"—"Oh, yes; we could have gone inside. It is quite clear half a mile from the shore along there." To Mr. Treadwoli, .Captain Hay said that his ship having twin screws would be more easy to handle in confined spaces than a ship with a single- screw. In answer to Captain Worrall, Captain Hay gave figures which showed that his ship was of a lighter draught than the Toia. Resuming his evidence, Captain Campbell, in answer to Mr. Watson, said that it was his apprehension that there may not havo been sufficient manoeuvring space to tho leeward of tho Progress, and this made him decide not to go in. "If that is so, why didn't you go back at daylight and have a look at what was there?"—"l could have got in all right, but I didn't-know whether I could -get'out.", He said he had a look with his glasses. / "And you still considered that there was not sufficient room to manoeuvre between the Progress and the beach'?" —"Not in the Toia." ' "Bidn't Captain Ness suggest that manoeuvre (to go astern and to the leeward of the■ Progress),- and didn't you say; you didn't like it?"—"No, I didn't think it was safe." ' "Didn't you ■ think it worth while after day broke to try to pick up any line which may. have been floated to you by the Progress?"—"No, the line would have gone astern of the Progress and I wouldn't attempt to put my ship in there."-: "Now, you got word that the Terawhiti was coming out?"—" Yes." "Did; that fact influence in any way your judgment to return to port?"— "None whatever.": "Will you tell me precisely ; what was your reason for coming to the decision to return to port?" —"The position of the Progress was such that in attempting, any manoeuvre that was possible in'the ship I had command of was extremely dangerous to the ship and to the lives on board, and in my opinion the only assistance that could come to the Progress was from the shore.", "Do you consider that in ...returning to port yoU were letting the men in tho Progress know that you were abandoning them to their fate?"—" As.far as the Toia was concerned." (Proceeding.)