TRAWLER DOLPHIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 107, 2 November 1939, Page 9

TRAWLER DOLPHIN

HOW IT WAS SUNK

EVIRPCE AT INQUEST

FIRING OF SHELL

MILITARY WITNESSES

("By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, November 1

The inquest into the death of Mr. F. J. Brasell, owner and master of the ' trawler Dolphin, which was sunk by a port battery at Lyttelton on October 12, was concluded at Lyttelton today before the Coroner, Mr. F; F. Reid. Mr. Brasell received injuries and went down with the vessel.. His companion, Mr. W. H. Willrhan, .was rescued.

The- -Coroner found that Mr. Brasell died at Lyttelton from drowning,, plus shock: He added that a signaLfrom the battery was seen but not understood. A' warning shot was fired, which struck the launch in the engine-room. A piece of metal from the engine struck Mr. Brasell. The Coroner said il was not his duty to comment on the procedure adopted by the examination vessel or on Avhether,! there was , any negligence. Mr. . Will-nan had 7 done everything possibleyfor:;Mr. Brasell.

Captain. James Plowman, harbourmaster at /Lyttelton, giving evidence, said that he was chief examination officer. Two advertisements had been inserted in Christchurch newspapers giving instructions to fishing craft to stop if the examination vessel was not at its station.. The man in charge of a small boat should await its arrival. Instructions had been received that the examination vessel was to come into port each day. No provision had been made for relief when she was off the station. Brasell had called at his office and ha^l been told what was required and was fully aware of the procedure. WITNESS CROSS-EXAMINED. Mr. C. S. Thomas (for Mrs. Brasell): You say that two advertisements were inserted in a newspaper and also that various men-in charge of small craft have come and asked you about signals and the regulations? Witness: Yes. Would you give the name of anyone who . called before this accident and received advice from you about the ; examination of their vessels?—l can't ' for,certain recollect just who'cariae. I ' remember that Brasell did. Yes, I know, that's the point. Did ] ■ any single other person come and receive that advice?—l can't recollect J Vi .■ \ '• i wno did. "5 ' But the man with Brasell knew nothing, of it?— But a report in the I paper said that Willman said he was aware. t But did anyone else come to you?— c There were some, but I can't give their c names. Did you tell. Brasell that, if the \ examination vessel was not on its station, he had to stay outside the ( firing line? —I told him he had to stay outside, the line. • i The firing line is the line from Bat- < tery Point to the West Point of Diamond Harbour?— Yes. ~ And if the examination vessel was X not there, the launch would have to halt on the' east side of that line?— ] Yes. • "'" j And you know where the boat was sunk?— Yes. That was to the east side of the line? , — T think so. ""- 1 ; ' You know perfectly well; why; hedge ~ and spar with me?—l'm not hedging. £ You know the vessel was onr the' east side?—l'm not prepared to' say 5 so. '-.*'■■•' • * Surely you've seen the-, chart,- and * do you then say you don't know?—l don't say I don't know. I say I am not certain. And you ask the Court to believe t that? Very well, then, answer this: If + he was on the east side;of the firing -' line then he was not breaking his y, instructions?—No, not if he had not r reached .the line. ".,'.' +j Mr. Thomas then asked witness:., Did x you tell him that not only had he to keep outside the firing line, but that he had also not to approach the fort? % Captain Plowman: No. 0 Mr.-Thomas: Knowing that you had a discussed this with■ Brasell, .Mr..Mar- <, tin called a meeting of fishermen and v there was not'a'single: one who * would * say you spoke to him. ,f ( Captain Piowriian: I can't be certain: D I know there were others; Fin abso- S lutely certain about" Mr.: Brasell. ... •fi Mr. Thomas; Oh, yes^ ybu' would be. „ To another questioner, Captain Plowman said-that. Brasell? used "to gp S( in and out 6f the. harbour regularly." y~ Mr. Martin asked witness if a list of « instructions had been issued to fisher- •• men before the accident. f< Captain Plowman said there had +i been none issued ■'hem, but there had been since. Mr. Martin:" But wasn't there a small IT typed piece of paper issued? 11 Captain Plowman: Oh, I believe there was, but we could not reach all , of them, so advertisements were put in „J the newspaper. * Leslie Fosbender, gunner in the ~ 23rd Heavy Battery, in his evidence, said' he was .on duty at Battery Point as a signaller. In' accordance with in- sc structionshe signalled the fishing yes- m sel in semaphore to stop, but received m no recognition .of his signals. The boat ■'. was about' on the examination line ?- when he' started signalling. He sent T word-vto stop more than 50 times/ sl! Maurice Henry Quinn, bombardier in the isame battery, stated that he h£ was on duty on October 12 at Battery Point. He was keeping the depression s ran^e-flndef on the bow of the boat. "r He was concentrating; on this and not °r paying; attention to anything else. "^ Wheri the ship came, in she appeared r^ to be making for. Little Port Cooler, de and then appeared to come straight m: for Battery Point. gu ORDER TO FIRE. by Victor Aubrey Smith, second ne lieutenant in the 23rd Battery, who Th was on duty at the time of the tragedy, se( then had his evidence read over to to him.; In this statement he said that, be just after the examination vessel left "T its station to go into port, the hai port watch signalling station tele- of phoned that there was a trawler off ] the heads. He telephoned the Navy vei Office and asked them to inform the tio examination vessel of the trawler's tht approach. i m "When the trawler came inside the wo heads and approached the examination fin area I instructed ,the signallers on gin duty to send fStop,' both with lamp So] and semaphore, and also instructed ma

them to send 'Stop' very slowly," wit-1 ; ness said. • "The-trawler did, not make | any indications that she had seen the ' signals arid continued oyer, the ex-1 animation area towards Lyttelton. "I telephoned Major MitcV ell *at the . camp and received an instruction, from \ him, to carry on., I telephoned- the Nayy^ Office.', Commander Ro^vsell got in touch with Captain Plowman, and the question was asked of me what we were going to do: I replied, that we j were signalling aiid would," have to stop the trawler; - The - trawler • was then approaching off Battery -Point,.] and I gave the alarm signal-arid; carried on with the normal "procedure. "Orders were, 'Target, trawler, 7 moving right,~plugged shelli right deflection two-owe*, (20) minutes.' This order was corrected at the command'post by the sergeant-major, who gave 'Right deflection, two degrees.' I did not think it necessary to cancel my last order, as I heard the sergeant-major give the order. • "I then sent the order, 'Fire.' The ■ ranges were sent over head and breast . phones, and I observed the shell strike the vessel. I communicated with the 1 Navy Office, and the examination yes- '■ sel, after several'minutes, came into , the harbour. " 'Two degrees' is the standing order, k and I expected the reading on the ' sights to be two degrees, in accordance with my orders, and, if it did not, there would be an error in the sighting. "My first order for the setting of the sights I did not correct, because I heard the correct order given by the ser-geant-major. My first order did not get to the sight-setter." TOLD TO CARRY ON. Witness said that the sights were tested at 4 o'clock on the afternoon before. He had no idea how the shot , hit the fishing vessel, when the deflection was two degrees right. He had confidence in the layers, but he did not know much about the setter. Under normal calculations the shell should have gone* 20 yards ahead of the boat. Witness's statement at this point went back over, incidents before the sinking of the' vessel. He said: "I rang Major Mitchell and explained the position,to him. Major Mitchell then sdid, 'Carry on.' He said the matter was. in.my hands arid to carry on. He gave me to understand to open fire. As a matter of fact, he said, 'It's a good opportunity.' I took it from Major Mitchell that.his instructions were to fire. I rang Major Mitchell to notify him of the circumstances, in case he wanted to come round and take over." To Mr. Thomas, witness said that he was in charge on that day. He intended the shot to be fired across the bows of the boat, but not to hit it, and he gave proper orders for that to be done. If these proper orders had been carried out, the shot would not have hit the vessel. . Mr. Thomas: The shot did hit the vessel; therefore, in some way, your orders were not correctly carried out? Smith: Yes, that's right; there was an error somewhere in carrying out the orders. . Someone must have slipped somewhere?— Yes, possibly someone or something. I suppose your plant was in good order?— Yes, the sights were tested. You really have no doubt about.it? It, was not the plant that was wrong, it was some human error? —I would not be prepared to say that. Well, can you tell us of any possible mechanical error? —No, I can't say I know of any error. Again I put it to you, in your own mind.you are satisfied that this unfortunate incident!" was due to a human ■jrror? The Coroner said he did not think Mr. Thomas could ask that question. Mr. Thomas: Very well, I withdraw Jie question. Is it a fair thing then to lsk where the error occurred? The Coroner, to witness: You can jffer no explanation as an alternative ,o wrong deflection having been put on ihe sights? .- . * Witness: Yes, normally with the arders given the shot should have passed 20 to 25 yards from the vessel. The Coroner, entering his notes ol the cross-examination, then asked witness whether, and witness agreed, his statement on this point could be correctly set down thus: "Offer no explanation than that the mistake was made in execution of orders given, though I cannot say what the mistake was." Mr. Brown, examining the witness, asked: The order passed on from you 5y the sergeant-major was a reasonable and order? Witness: Yes, it was definitely. The irder I gave down was an error, but I snow the sergeant-major passed on ;he correct one. SERGEANT-MAJOR'S EVIDENCE. James Patrick O'Connor, sergeantnajor of the Royal New1 Zealand Artillery, who was on duty at the batery, said that he arranged the manling of the battery. He placed Bom>ardier Mclvor as No. 1, Gunner Jrundy as layer for line, Gunner Coton as layer for elevation, and Gunner lolton as setter. These were people whom he considered had most experience in these posiioris. He then went to the position if sight-setter and personally set the leflection at "right, two degrees," and nstructed the setter not to move it inder any consideration. He then !av'e the command, "Cartridge only; oad," and returned to the command iost to act as section commander: and eceiye fire orders. He then gave the ire orders, which were "Target, launch aovirig right—right-two degrees." ..••■ He then ordered No. 1 to; check; the etting of the. deflection scale. and to love' in"the rear of the gun and checktie gun for line. He then ordered No. detachment to clear. The reason or doing this was that they were in ie line of fire. He then ordered fire. He looked ahead for the splash. A loment or two later he observed that ie Dolphin had been hit. He advised ie officer to call a tug. His first examination after the accient was that of the scale, which read, left, 10 minutes." He questioned-the ;tter if that was where he had set it. he setter replied "No." Witness then turned ythe deflection iale to "Right, two degrees." He iade the remainder of the detachment tove clear. •Lieutenant Symons and Major Mitiell;arrived on the gun platform, and i-tness requested them to test the ghts for line. The setter, on examination, said he id .altered the setting, but gave no cplariation for his act. When witness cammed it he had expected to find light, twb degrees." There was an •der from the battery commander as ?wo owe'minutes." This was incorct. and "witness gave the order "Two »grees." The order "Two owe mutes" was not, passed on to the m. „ -.*.•-•;-. The actual check for line was made r No. lin the rear of the gun. Wit:ss first inspected the deflection scale. K| ie time would not be more than three H conds from the time of the checking X] the time of firing. It would not H possible for the layer to take off H| wo degrees/right." The shell should ffi ye passed at least twenty yards ahead H the ship at that range. H [n witness's opinion, the cause of the H| ssel being hit was that the deflec- BE n scale was not set correctly or that H 2 layer was at fault. It was quite BH possible that the deflection dial m 5 >uld,have moved when the gun was ma 2d. The gun crew did not leave the H| n. after firing. They were amazed. meone must have got bustled and |H ide a -mistake. • "^