THE OHAU ENQUIRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11929, 28 June 1899, Page 3

THE OHAU ENQUIRY.

iPer Press Association.! WELLINGTON, June 27, At the inquiry min the loss of the s.s. Ohau, a number of witnesses testified that the vessel was strong, well found and safe. A. M'Vicar -said he remembered the. bunker lid once coming off and quantity of water entering. D Rcott, lighthouse overseer at Gape Campbell, said he saw water dashing over the funnel from the time they sighted the steamer at 5 p.m. on May 14 until darkness immediately after which her lights disappeared. He did not, however, attach aaiy significance to this. He merely thought she had passed on. She was five miles off land at the time. The weather afterwards became more severe. Robert Duncan, principal surveyor in the Marine Department, deposed that he last' inspected' the Ohau just before the wreck. A number of repairs and alterations were effected. The load-line could have been raised 2ih to 2rin, but was not.

Captain Strang, assistant marine superintendent of: the Union Steamship Company, said that he had heard remarks detrimental to the Oban’s condition, but the complaints were not justified by facts. The load-line of the Ohau had not been altered to his knowledge. The company had complained to the Customs that, whilst more freeboard had been allowed on several of their boats, the boats had not been allowed to increase their cargo. He could not say whether such complaint had been made in regard to the Ohau. Neither that boat nor the Pukaki had of late years been carrying as much cargo as it used to carry by as much as twenty tons. It was a'usual thing for the company’s boats to carry timber on the deck so long as they were not burdened below the load-line. He had not had any complaint from the seamen as to the unseaworthiness of any of the company’s vessels. The hatches on the Ohau and other ’ colliers were safer and better than they were some years ago. Masters had absolute discretion as to the amount of their cargo. -He had neverknown a captain “hauled over the coals” for carrying, less than, what was considered a good cargo. He had known masters trading out of Greyrnouth take less than their usual quantity - of cargo; when they had a long trip and bad weather to face. He

thought that there was ample evidence to prove that the vessel did not go down oc (Jape Campbell. He thought that she was broken up off Palliser Point. She might be lying on the rocks there now, and it might take years for her to break up. , Captain Biguoll said that he did not agree with this theory. Captain Marciel said that he .thought many theories could be built up on the subject. The peculiar feature of the wreckage was that all the fragments so far found came from the after part of the Ohau. William Thomas Young, representing the Stamen’s Union of Yew Zealand in Wellington, deposed that he w'as an A.B. on the Taupe in 1895. The Taupo and Ohau were practically one, as far as build was concerned. In his experience, the class of .vessels to which .they belonged were very bad sea vessels, in fact, he might say that when such vessels were in any heavy sea whatever, the seas would continually sweep over them. He related an experience he had on the Taupo, on a voyage from Russell to ■ Suva, in April, 1895. ' The vessel ran into a gale, and at one time the crew thought she was going to founder. In reference to the: build of the ships, witness said that from what he could sec these ships were well built, both of them, and he believed there was very good material in them, and they were also well found, but to go to sea in one would, in his experience,

be like a man getting on what he mi "hit call _ a water-logged log. There was no life in the ships whatever in a sea-way, and in us opinion, they had not sufficient freeThe , , Kt P rm he experienced • I w! ld on all fours with the one m which the Ohau .disappeared. It was be® Sect Tr^ iQ WUch any vessel U , to , dan S er > 'more o r less Htbe of *■£ ■** da ®* that both vessels were dangerous 116 oTZ the time you left the wharf 10 ™ loaded, if there was any at ah W'T oFtbe T° n fOr . S T US that the load-I ne of the Taupo and Ohau should have bS W was because those boats -had “JS Mr Northcrofb remarked r< t ■ Tnd ■ neav Y sea running, and neither seamen nor passengers found any necessity for oilskins. d Captain Marciel: Do you set up your unseated experience as against that of authorities m England, who drew up the Board of Trade regulations in regard to this matter of load-line? gara t 0 Witness: I am . simply g i v j n „ penence of the vessels. 7 X Captain Marciel; What is your experisels? tIC marklng of the se a-hoard of*vesei P erience is founded on the fact that I have served a certain period m the vessels, and as tie result of that experience I say there is not sufficient freeboard. ‘ Captain Marciel: And as a result of 7 i° U^ oUr and a months’ experience on the Taupo you challenge the Board of Trade in the matter of load-lines? Witness : I know what my experience has been. Captain Marciel: Have you ever seen the Board of Trade regulations? .. Witness : I can’t say I have, I am speaking from my. experience. Captain Marciel: You have had no experience as far as marking tables are concerned? ' Witness: No. I have never had afiy reason to'study them. Mr Northcroft asked witness if he would contradict tie Bench if they said that their experience had been that'they had encountered -heavy weather in the Taupo, and had nob got wet. Witness replied that the sea must have been as smooth as a mill-pond. Captain ■ Marciel : You say that, and; you were not there?

Witness: Yes. Mr Northcroft: That will do. A communication was received from Mr Jones, Secretary of the Seamen’s Union, stating that certain jnen who had been on the Taupo would volunteer information if they could give it secretly. The Bench refused to entertain the proposal, and adjourned till Friday, to enable further evidence to be called.