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THE TAUPO INQUIRY.

An inquiry was held this afternoon, at the Supreme Court-house,'into the circnmv stances under which the a.e. Tauposustained the damages mentioned in our Northern telegrams some days ago. The Bench was composed of Mr R. H. Leary, J.P. (chairman), Mr Registrar Ward, Captain Thomson (harbor-master), and Captain Leslie (master of the ship Calypso), the two last-named gentlemen Bitting in the capacity of nautical assessors. Mr B. C. Haggitt represented the Crown, and Mr James Smith watched the proceedings in the interest of Captain Andrews. The following is a pricu of the evidence :

Findlav Macarthur, chief officer of the Taupo, rroduced hi« certificate of competency and depot el that the vessel leftTauranga at about eight o'clock on the morning of the Ist November, bound for Qisborno. The distance between the two places was about 200 miles. It was witness's watch from eight to twelve o'clock. Nothing happened du-.ing his watch on deck, excepting that when passing East Cape Island a light was seen on the island, and a boat was lowered to see what the light was. It turned out that some Maoiis were fishing on the island, and the bo.tt returned. The ship wasstjpped (hungthe boat's afcsvnce. When the voyage was resumed the ship was steered a. AK. by the bridge e mpaia uatil ha'f-pnst ten. Wi n r ss could see the ooast line, which appeared to be five or six miles off when he left the deck at twelve o'clock. At ha'f-past ten the ooune was altered to S £ E. That jsourtse was kept during the remainder of witness's watch. Captain Androw grave that course. The alteration of course sent the ship a quartor of a point nearer in shore. The second officer relieved witness at twelve o'clock, and was given the coarse S. JB. The usual Course 6teered was S. SE. along that coast before that night, but it always took the ship too far off shore ; and on this occasion, for the flist t'me, the course tv»b\ altered to S. \B. On the previous trip witness had found.that steering a course 8. \ E. had taken the vessel too much off ■hore, and he had hauled her in a point on hie own responsibility, telling the eajjfain of it before leaving the deck, About an hour and a half after witness Went below he was roused by the vessel striking on a reef or rocks. He went on deck and ordered the boats to be cl a:ed *way, and tho carpenter to Round the pumps. The c»ptain was on the fOTo part < f the bridge, Md the vjijbw Was off the reef by this time. Wvtaeu then went all oyer the vessel and found she not making water. The vessel was immediately after she struok. After ending that the was dry, went ahead again and nothing more happened till she reached Gisbome. There the Collector of Customs came on board, and wittess told him in reply to a question that the vessel had stiu. k. He asked if it might not have been an earthquake that was felt. That was the first witness heard of the earthquake. When the Taupo arrived at Wellington the was put on the slip. Her bottom was dinged in a good deal on the port tide from the after davit to the forepart of the bridge, a . dlstanco of about 80ft. There is a shoe on the sternpost and rudder-post that was put on after she struck on Fish reef some years ago; the forepart of this shoe was started, the corner of the plate turned up on each side, and two holts were out. Excepting for a little paint being scratched off, the starboard side was not damaged so far as witness ww. The vessel was on the slip at "Wellington two months ago, and there was not a mar* on her bottom then. Nothing had octuired between the time of her coming off the slip and the time of striking on the 2nd inst. to cause the damage described. "Witness's ordeis to the secoud mate before going below on the night of the Ist were to call the captain if it came on thick or if he was doubtful about- anything. Witness himoe f called the captain and told him the night was fine and that the land was visible all along, to which the captain replied "all right." I* was 9.30 when we left the Cape. "Witnesa here traced on the chart the different positions of the ship, and said 1 If the coarse given by me to the second mate when I left the deok bad been cor.ectly steeied I believo it would have kept the vessel clear of the land " After further reference to the chart and muoh marking off with colored Smells, witness said: " The rate of speed from ast Cape was ten miles an hour, ana steeling aS. E. course for an hour and a-half from the position in which the vessel was at 12 o'clock the ship would have been off lokamapahoia reef."—By Mr Smith: My fixing the poiition of the vessel at 12 o'clock is more a guess than anything else; and my fixing the position which the vessel should have reached if £roperly steered by the course given at 12 o'clock i also a guess.—By Mr Haggitt: I did not look at tho chart that evening. We did not use a leadline. Wehadapatentlogonboard, but did not use it. The engineer told me the ship was travelling ten knots. The land was not sufficiently visible to recognise any particular point. By Mr Leary: I believe there is a tide on the coast, but I don't know how the flood tide runs or at what rate, not having looked at the chart to see.—By Mr Haggitt: The man at the .wheel steers by the bridge compass.—By Mr Leary : When I gave the second mate the conne he replied "Sow-h quarter east." Bobert Patrick, Becond. officer of the Taupo, handed in his certificate and said: I relieved the first mate at 12.15 on the morning of the Ist inst. He gave me the course S. 4K. I told him I thought we were too near the land, and asked him how far we were off. He answered " Nearly two miles." I said " I dpn't think we are more than one." I asked hhn if he had called the-captain. He said he had called him at 12 o'clock. I asked him again whether 8. \ E, her clear of reefs and everything. Yes,"and then went away and left me. 1 did not see the captain until after I saw a reef on the weather bow, when I called him. The nightwas eUrkandclqudy during the whole of my watch, and I kept a good look-out. I attended particularly to the course, and told the man at the wheel to keep her S. J E., so as to keep her clear of everything. I saw that tho helmsman attended to my instruction. Shortly before-one o'clock I went on the foreoastle-heaa to the man (John Leonard) on the look-out. I felt uneasy, and aiked him if he thought wo were too near, and if he could see anything. He said "No," and I returned to the bridge, and again told the man at the wheel to keep her S. hj E., nothing to the southward. About ten minutes after 1 returned to the bridge I saw breakers close on the starboard bow. I ordered the helm hard up and ran to the captain's door and called him, telling him there were breakers close on the bow. By the time he came out of his cabin she had touched on the reef. She first touched, then gave a roll to starboard, then to port, and then she was all clear. Evurycne turned out, and the captain gave orders to sound the pumps and to get the boats ready: but finding nothing was wrong we kept on our < ourse again. I heard nothing, about an earthquake till we got to Gisborne. The breakers were j quite close when 1 saw them. I wj s the ' first to see them. I was at tho wheel, j helping the man to heave the helm over, when the look-out reported break a a I saw him running aft to report, but did not hear him sing out from the bow. This was my second trip in the Taupo; previous to that I traded on the East Coast for four months in the Wanaka, of which I was second mate. The usual course from East Cape to Gaale Ind Foreland is S. i E. [Witness was Btill under examination at 5 o clock.]

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18781108.2.14

Bibliographic details

Evening Star, Issue 4895, 8 November 1878, Page 3

Word Count
1,450

THE TAUPO INQUIRY. Evening Star, Issue 4895, 8 November 1878, Page 3

THE TAUPO INQUIRY. Evening Star, Issue 4895, 8 November 1878, Page 3