THE TAUPO INQUIRY.

Evening Star, Issue 4898, 12 November 1878, Page 2

THE TAUPO INQUIRY.

This inquiry was resumed to-day. Mr bmelair appeared to watch the proceedings on behalf of Captain Andrew. The following is a digest of the evidence :

George Wm. Booze, A.8., said that he was at the wheei from eisjht to ten o'clock. When the vessel resumed her course after stoppinz off Ea»t tape Island Captain Andrews told him to steady »at S.B.E. When abreast of the island i 6 n S £e cour ? e &■ i *>• nothing to the eastward. Witness kept that course till relieved by SuaTr' 1° Wh ° m re l ,eated **» receiving the Malcolm Turner, A.B , said : I relieved Boozo at the wheel at ten o'clock. He gave me the course 8. *E. 1 hat course was steered for half an hour, when the captain came up and told me to steer S. J E., and that course was steered to the end of my watch, Antonio relieved me at twelve o clock. I gave him the course 8. iE. and then went below. Jose Antonio Perez, the A.B. who relieved last witness at the wheel, said: I was at the helm at the time of the accident. Turner gas e me the course S.IB. I steered that course till about one o'clock, when the second mate ran forward to look out, aud when he came back he said to me 'I, thiuk we are too near the land." I replied 'I thmk we are," and he then told me to alter the course to S. £ E. nothing to the southward. The land appeared to be about a mile off. I have been three months in the launo. On that night we seemed to be nearer the land than usual. I can't say how far we usually kept from the land at that point. I bteered 8. \ E for about half all hour, when the vessel appeared to strike on a rock. The second officer was near me when she struck. He ordered me to starboard the helm, and gave me a hand. Capt Andrews came out of his room and asked what was the matter. The second mate answered tbat we were on a reef. I mentioned to the captain that the ship was answering her helm—that she was coming to the eastward all the time. After making this remark the wheel took charge, the spokes being jerked out of my hands. I believe this was in consequence of her slipping off the reef into deep water. I got hold of the wheel again and put it to starboard. The vessel was then heading 8. by E. \K. The captain ordered me to steady." The carpenter was ordered to sound the pumps, which ho did, reporting no water. The captain then told me to keep away S. by E.. and I kept that course until the end of my trick. The second officer was on deck during aU my watch. I did not see the eaptain on deck during the time I was at the wheel untd the ship struck. The second officer had ieon standing by me for about ten minutes before >he struck. He had not left his position on the bridge during that time. I did not see any breakers before the ship struck, nor did I hear any alarm given. There was a haze over the top of the land, but the lower part was

John Leonard, A.8., said : I was on the lookout forward between the davits when the accident happened. I went on the look-out at twelve o clock; it wag about half-past one when she struck. I sa w nothing before the vessel struck; I heard a noise like a whale blowing, and. immediately went aft to the badge to report it to the mate, but before reaching the bridge the vessel struck. 1 ran away to tell the engineer to stop the engines, and then went to olear away the lifeboat. On looking over the lee s'.do I saw the bottom plainly. The vessel then gave two or three rolls and got clear. After this I pointed out to the captain breakers a quarter of a mile astern, and he told me the engines were going half-speed ahead. I stopped the engines on my own responsibility b/calling down the engine-room skylight "stop her!" Ihavebem only five weeks in the Tuupo, ai d never was on that coast before. I could tee the land distinctly, and reported it to the second officer twice before she struck. The land appeared to be about a mile off at the time she struck. David Rintoul, third engineer of the Taupo said : I hold no certificate. It was my watch at the time of the accident. We were tteammg fully ten knots when I went on, and the same rata of speed was kept up till the time of the accident. My first intimation of the occurrence was feeling the shock. I immediately went to the starting gear, B o as to be ready to ohey any °, rd ?. rs - ? ho fl ™J or der I got was down the skylight; it was ««Stop her!" That is not the usual way of giving orders. The telegraph was working. I acted on the order I received down the skvlight and stopped the engines. I sounded the telegraph from below to draw attention to it on the bridge. I got no order for about two minutes, and then was ordered to go "Slow ahead." The next order was "Full speed ahead," reoeived two minutes later. I got no more orders; but remained below. Captain Andrew Btated: I have been master of the Tnupo for the last eight months, and produce certificate of competency No. 22, ?59 from Board of Trade. I have been on the East Coast trade of New, Zealand for the last eleven years off and on. On tins'trip we left Tauranga about 8 a.m. on the Ist November', bound for Gisborne, Poverty Bay. J produoe deviation card of bridge compass, issued at Wellington on 28th August, 1877. That is. the last one issued. On the evening : of the Ist we were off East Cape Island. Seeing a light ashore I tent a boat away with the chief officer. The steamer was stopped meanwhile, and turned stern on to the island. After stopping I went astern a bit and then ahead again. When the boat came off we were from a mile to a mile and a half to the northward if the island. I judged the distance partly by the landmarks I could distinguish and partly by the time the boat was coming off. The boat was away an hour and a half. "When the boat returned I turned the ship round, keeping about the same distance off as neaily as possible. I calculated that by the time we were abreast of the island we were at least a mile and a half off. There was a good sea running, and the reef could be seen at a distance of at least two miles, as there was a heavy break on it. When abreast of the island I steered by the land. I steered S. £ B. till 10.80. The mate sa'd to me that we seemed to be going off, and by the time we got to Motara Island we should be a long way off as we had been on previous voyages. I told him to keep her S. J E. At that time I could ju«t discern the mainland abreast of us, and judged that we were about eight miles off. About half an hour after that I left the deck, telling the mate to keep a good look-out. At the end of the mate's watch (twelve o'clock) he ca'led me. I asked him if he could see the laud, aud what the weather was like. He told me he could see the Hue of the coast right along, and the weather was fine. I asked him if he was well clear of the land. He ta'.d he was. I heard nothing more until I was awakened by the concussion. I jumped out of bed, on which I was lying with my cl-.'thes on, and asked the second innte what the devil he was doing in there—what he had been about. He said he had ste Ted the course at first, but had hauled her out afterwards. I asked him why he dd not call me when he had found himself so olose into the land. When I came out lie was lending a hand to heave the helm over. The helm was hardly up before the man let go the wheel, and ran amidships calling cut " My God 1 ■ My God! " Just then for the first time I saw a break on the starboard quarter, I suppose half a ship's length off. As Boon as that got light astern I steadied the helm. The carpenter in the meantime had reported that there was no water in her. I then went " Easy ahead "and '' Full speed ahead," steeling by the land. When I fi.st came out I could see Motara Island and right down iuto Tologa Bay, so that the weather was by no means thick. I think the vessel must have struck on the shore side of Tokamapohia reef. I have shown by a pencil line on the chart the course of my vessel from the time the boat came off at East Cape Island up to the time when wo should have been abreast of Tokamapohia reef. There is no deviation of the biidge comj a?s on the course S. hj E. The card shows a deviation of a, small quarter of a point at 8. | E, but nothing - to speak of at S. $ E.— there would be a slight deviation, but not an eighth "of a point. I have drawn another line nearer the coast showing the difference the deviation would make in the distance run. There it a tide tetting along the coast. The flood sets to the northward and the ebb to the southward On this night it wai high water at eleven o'clock. Up to half-past ten the tide would have no elect if an} thing it would have ktpt her off shore. From half-past ten to eleven the effect would have been, if anything, to take her in shore. After eleven the vessel v-as going with the tide, which would have no effect at all. The course that Bhould have been steered, allowing for the deviation aoco ding to the card, would have kept the vessel three miles outside of the reef. I oan't account in any way for her having got inside the reef as ahedid. I had perfect confidence in both my officers. When a new man oomes into my vessel I think it necessary to watch him for a while to see whether I can have confidence in him.; but when I myself have been appointed

have no voice in < m» if I any otthem I have ho4oubt nf would be attended to. Befoie I*rent to?b3 I took means to ascertain that the course I had given was steered. If a course had boen steered half a point to the westward of the course I supposed was being steered, the effect would be to put the sh p on the reef. If I was mistaken in supposing that I was the distance from the island that I thought I was, the only effect would be to put me at the same distance nearer the reef that 1 was to the island. The utmost mistake that I could have made at the island could not exceed half a mile • thereto, e, if the course had been followed, I must have been two and a half miles outside the reef. The tide would not have affected us any more as we got nearer to the land. The course steered on former voyages along the whole coast from Bust Gape to Motara Island was S. JE. The reason for altering the course on this occasion was that we had always found the vessel further off the coast by the time we reached Mitara Island than theie was the slightest occasion for. The quarter-point would only make two miles difference in the wbole disl ance—that is would bring us two miles nearer the land. We generally pßßsed about seven miles outside the reef. My compass has not been tested for fourteen months. That is not an unusually long period. If the compass had been half a point wrong the alteration I ma-ie in the course of a quartor of a point would have just had the effect of puttine her on tbe reef; but the fact was that we found the deviation of the compas tended rather in the other direction. 1 gave Uw course S. J B. to the man at the whoe myself, and wrote it down on the black Si A'Y vme * struck tu * second officer did not call me-it was the shock ,that aroused me. The deck telegraph had evidently "FulfL^H 3 v*° S*2 p stood it lull speed ahead." I altered it to "Slow ahead as the ship came off the reef.—By Caota,n Thomson : I have never noticed any Un. lanties m the tides on this coast; but prevailLr P">bably We the effect of settir.g the tide inshore. I have no reason to believe that the rock, on which I r a ? 7 °? M * than Tokamapohia reef. n 'SLil e "flownwd until two o ciocK to-moirow.