LOSS AT SEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21562, 5 August 1933, Page 11

LOSS AT SEA

FATE OF COLLIER CAUSE A MYSTERY MARINE COURT INQUIRY NO BLAME ATTACHABLE VESSEL FOUND SEAWORTHY By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received August 4. 8.55 p.m.) SYDNEY. Aug. 4 The Marino Court which inquired into the loss of the collier Christina Frasor on the night of June 23 delivered its finding to-day. It was not able to say what caused the vessel to founder. Tho Court found that no blame was attachable to the owners or to their servants. Also it found that tho vessel was seaworthy, properly equipped with lifeboats, not overloaded and not improperly loaded. The insurances on the collier totalled £23,000.

The Court expressed tho opinion that all sea-going vessels on the Australian coast- should be fitted with wireless apparatus. It was quite possible, it thought, that had tho Christina Fraser and the Koranui, which was close when tho former was in trouble, been so equipped, a signal for assistance could have been sent. The Christina Fraser left Sydney on Juno 22, and after loading a full cargo of coal at Bulli during the afternoon, sailed at 8 p.m. for Geelong. It was estimated that by the next evening she would bo between Gabo Island and Wilson's Promontory. A cyclone which lashed tho Victorian coast and howled through Bass Strait was beginning to gather its full force by then. On July 5 it was reported that a piece of a ship's hatch cover, which it was thought might have been part of the missing collier, had been discovered on tho beach at Wingan Inlet. Heavy planks' had been broken from above, which suggested that tho cover had been stove-in, probably by a heavy sea overwhelming the ship and crashing on to the deck. At tho Marine Court's inquiry on August 1 meteorological reports described the weather on the night of June 23 in the vicinity of Gabo, where tho vessel is believed to have foundered, as quite moderate. Yet, according to the master of the Koranui, it was very violent when he last saw the Christina Fraser in that locality. The Seamen's Union called two former members of the crow of the collier. Both snid she was a " cranky" ship, quite unsuitable for the coal between Newcastle and Melbournc._ They declared they were always " windy " and finally left her. At the time of the vessel's disappearance the crew consisted of the master and 16 men, all residents of Sydney.