CHANNEL DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15307, 21 May 1913, Page 7

CHANNEL DISASTER.

SINKING OF A STEAMER. BY H. M. S. CENTURION. CAPTAIN COURT-MARTIALLED. : By Telegraph.—Press ' Association .—Copyright. ' London, May 19. -. The court-martial of .Captain Guy Gaunt, who was in command ;of the ; battleship Centurion -when she col- ' lided with and sank * the steamship Derna in the Channel on December 10, has been commenced. - The prosecution alleges that the high speed of the Centurion caused the disaster. , It is further alleged that the Centurion's speed was not properly considered, and that \ the course should have been altered before and after ' the collision and that further search for the Derna should have been made. -*•*• •• " During her steam : trials - in the ■ English Channel on-the night of December 10 last, the Centurion, a) battleship of 13,600 tons,' ran : into and : sank" the • Italian • steamer Derna (a vessel of 2210 tons), "which" was bound to Cardiff for . coal, with a crew of 40. One man landed in a half-dead condition in the Isle of Wight, but there was no- trace of the others. The'bows of the battleship were badly damaged, 'v ' In : his evidence at the inquest on the | body found, Captain Gaunt stated that the | Centurion's speed at the time of the disas- | ter was about 18.7 knots. Captain Gaunt is a son of the late Judge Gaunt, of Victoria. He was : on ;■ the ; Australasian station some years ago as a* lieutenant on H.M.S. Tauranga.. ' ' '" ' "