WRECK OF THE S.S. TARANAKI.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 975, 5 September 1868, Page 3

WRECK OF THE S.S. TARANAKI.

OFFICIAL ENQUIRY.

(From the "Evening Post," A.ugu9fc 28.) Mb. Robert Hart appeared on behalf of the Grown, j Mr. 'Allan 'for Capt. Francis ; and Mr. Borlase watched the proceedings for the N.2J.S.N. Co. Mr. John Allen, Collector of Customs atPioton, stated that, according to the Act, he had held a preliminary investigation into the circumstances of the wreck of the vessel. Henry B. Francis, examined by Mr. Hart, recapitulated the evidence he had given at Picton on a previous occasion, and which we published. When the Taranaki, of which he was master, entered Tory Channel on the 19th inst., he was on the bridge ; the tide was then third flood. When well in the mouth of the entrance the steamer suddenly swerved to port at a considerable angle from her course ; an officer and a seaman were at the helm ; he sung out to them to port the wheel hard, but it appeared to have had no : effect ; the vessel was running at a speed of about 10 knots, and the flood tide had an additional velocity of 5 knots ; about two minutes after she swerved from her course she struck ; the engines were reversed as soon as he found she would not answer her helm ; the Taranaki was 170 feet long ; she struck broadside on the rock, bumping several times until the tide carried her over, it ; the propeller was smashed away when she was clearing the rock ; the course he had taken when entering the channel was the usual one ; he attributed the swerving of the vessel to a" powerful eddy tide on the port side, which he had never seen there before ; it was an unusual eddy tide. In answer to Mr. Gordon Allan, Captain Francis said he had entered the channel "one third" from the South Head, as he had always understood that there were rocks near the North Head ; he had been through the passage about 100 times, and had alway.B followed the course usually taken, which he thought was a safe one. The Chief Engineer of the vessel stated, that when the order to stop the engines was given it was immediately obeyed ; after the vessel had gone astern for some time, the next order was to stop her ; she then listed over upon the rock on the port side; the L order was then given "full speed," when the propeller broke upon the rock ; the water was then making one inch a minute in the engine room and in the aft compartment; he thought that some plates must have been torn in both compartments. The Chief Officer of the vessel corroborated Captain Francis' evidence as to the course usually taken in entering Tory Channel, viz., steering one-third from the South Head ; he stated having seen the captain give the order of "porting" the helm ; the steamer would not answer it, but swerved nearly. at a right angle in a curve,. and struck the rock; there is an eddy at flood tide on the port side of the entrance, and at the time of the occurrence the flood had a velocity of some five or six knots ; on the order being given to put the helm hard a-port, this witness stated he had seen the two men at the wheel" shove the wheel up" according to the order ; the steamer's own speed was at the time about ten knots, her usual full speed; he' thought that if the steamer had not swerved she would have passed about 600 feet from the Boat-harbour Hock, or about three ships' length. • : The Second Officer deposed to holding a. master's certificate, and to having frequently been through Tory Channel; when the Taranaki struck he was assisting at the helm, on, the port side ;he had taken a similar course in a sailing vessel before, and knew that the other side of the channel was dangerous ; the steamer, when she began to swerve, was entering the channel fairly ; Captain Francis had ordered to port the helm an instant before ; the helm was hard a-port when she declined answering it. In answer to the Nautical Assessor, the witness said he had never been charged with having put the helm the wrong way when ordered to port it. Mr. George Allen, one of the Directors of the N.Z.S.N. Company, who was a passenger, on board the Taranaki when the accident occurred, repeated the former statement he had made in Picton. He gave evidence to the attention, coolness, and energy displayed by Captain Francis, and corroborated previous evidence. A seaman named Murray, who was steering with the second officer when the steamer entered the Sound, stated that when the vessel began to swerve from her course she was at about two or three hundred yards, from the South Head, when the captain ordered the helm to be ported; the vessel's head was directed well up channel, and. nearer the North Head than the South 1 Head ; he said that no one had accused him of putting the helm the wrong way. He corroborated previous evidence in. all particulars. This concluded the evidence, the Bench not considering it necessary that witnesses be called to show that Capt. Francis had followed the usual course, as no doubt had arisen on that point. '.'{ Mr. Gordon Allan then addressed the Bench, to the general effect that no blame could be attached to the commander of the vessel ; and that, had a different course been taken by him, he would have been liable to censure. The tides were unusually strong; on the day in question ; some tidal disturbances had taken place at about that time, and the vessel had succumbed- to what the ingenuity of man could. not overcome. The Bench were of opinion that the officers and men were exonerated from Blame, and that the loss of the vessel was attributable to an, unusually strong eddy having forced her towards the South Head of the entrance of Toiy Channel.