THE TAKAPUNA ENQUIRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7228, 30 April 1884, Page 5

THE TAKAPUNA ENQUIRY.

[Per Press Association.] DUN 10 DIN, April 29. The enquiry re Takapuua was continued to-day. The second mate of the steamer, Henry Ferdinand Sommer, stated: I was second mate of the steamship Takapnnn, from Nov. 17 last up to March 3. On Nov. 22 the ship loft the Manukan harbour, and reached Now Plymouth somewhere about midnight, leaving there about hnlf-qn-hour later. I went on tho bridge about 12.30, and the master shortly left the bridge. Ho directed my attention to a point of land ahead, and told mo to keep the vessel going just as she was. I cannot point out on the chart what point it was, as it was my first trip on that coast. After wo sighted Cape Egmont light, ho told mo to keoi) her a couple of miles off the land, and haul her gradually along until tho light boro north-east, and then to steer her southeast tlu'eo-quartor south when the light boro north-east. The course she was going was south-south-east or south-south-cast three-quarter oast. I am not sure of tho course, because I was not steering by compass, but by the laud. Seeing that this course would not take mo clear of the land, I, a short time after, hauled her round. The master soon afterwards sang out through the speaking trumpet, and asked me how the light bore. I told him north by west. He then asked me if I was steering my course. I said: “No, she won’t lay it,” I went on a little while longer steering the same course, and had just told the man at the wheel to keep her out another half-point when tho manat the lookout reported something. I could not make out what he said, but I shouted to tho man at the wheel, " Hard over,” and gave him a hand over with the wheel. While doing this she touched for the first time. The captain then rushed on deck, and sang out “ Hard aport.” I think I said, “ The wheel is hard aport,” or words to that effect. He then caught hold of my arm and said, “ Man, what are you trying to do ? ” Ido not think I answered him. He then took me on one side, and told me to look after her while he went down below. He said he would see if any of the passengers were moving about. He returned about twenty minutes afterwards, and took me on one side and told me that one of the steerage passengers had been asking if she had been on the reef. He also told me to say nothing about it, and to deny it to everybody. The vessel touched twice, the latter time while the master was standing alongside me. There was not a heavy striking, but more like a vibration. That was my first trip on that part of the coast. Next morning at breakfast one of the passengers named Rich, or Eitchie, asked me what was the meaning of the peculiar jerk during the night. I said I did not know ; that I thought it might be the engines priming, stopping, and then starting again. I told the master of this conversation. My reason for telling the passenger what I did was because the master had told me to say nothing about it. By the Court: I had no orders as to heaving the lead, though we were running along the shore so closely. I took one observation on the way up to Auckland, but I had no opportunity of seeing the chart. The Takapuna grounded twice in the Manukan harbour, as described by the master at the first hearing of the enquiry. I did not anticipate that .any damage was done- to her on these occasions. The second time she lay aground about five hours. I saw rocks ahead of her that time, but when the vessel touched off Cape Egmoiit I did not see any ro:ks, nor did I see or hear surf. The sea was quite smooth, and there was no wind; but I thought we were getting too near the land. I did not heave the lead because I supposed we were in deep water there. I used my own judgment in calculating the distance of the land. I took no bearings to judge the distance, but only used my eyesight. When I found the vessel would not lay her course I hauled her off without calling the master. 1 followed the instructions of the master by not speaking about the affair at all. The engineers on duty gave evidence as to the vessel striking. John Burton, seaman, gave the following evidence : I was quarter-master on the Takapuna on her first trip, and I relieved' the wheel at 2 a.m. The course I received, from the man I relieved was, “ Just as she is going.” She was then heading about south three-quarter east. The second officer was on the bridge and the master down below. The second mate directed me from time to time how to steer. Between 2 and 3 o’clock the ship struck. Just before then the look-out man called out something, but I don’t know what it was except that it was something about rocks. We were a bit off the mainland, but close to a reef. As soon as I felt her bump I put the helm hard over and the second mate came and gave me a hand. The ship seemed to strike three times, bumping each time, and making a sort of spring forward. The first bump was the heaviest, and she-heeled over with it. The master came up on to the bridge at the first bump, and was there when she struck the second and third times. He sang out, “ What the are you doing with the ship now; you’re jmtting her ashore ? ” The second mate said he was only steering the course he got. The master then took the second mate down to the other end of the bridge, and spoke to him there, but I did not hear what he said. He was in his singlet and drawers, and he remained on the bridge about twenty minutes, when he went down and dressed himself. On coming up again he took the second mate down to the other end of the bridge again. After I had been relieved, the master asked me what I had been saying about the' ship striking. I said that I had simply answered a question put to me. The master told me that the next time I was questioned I was to say that she never did strike, or that I knew nothing about it. Next day the third engineer was chaffing me about having put the vessel on the rocks, and for a couple of voyages it was a common topic of conversation among the crew and passengers. To the Court : I ed"ed the vessel off myself twice, without orders from the second mate, before she struck, because I could see she was going too close. He asked mo what I was doing, and told me to keep her course. I had not been on that coast before. Leonid see that tho reef of rocks close alongside was too near for a ship to be, and a point running out in front. This was about ten miles from the mainland, but not a quarter of a mile from the reef. I said nothing to the second mate about the distance from the reef.

The enquiry was then adjourned till tomorrow.