CAPTAIN CENSURED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23052, 1 June 1938, Page 13

CAPTAIN CENSURED

THE POET SAINT JOHN STRANDING OF VESSEL THIRD OFFICER CARELESS QUEENSLAND COAST MISHAP By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received May 31, 0.50 p.m.) SYDNEY. May 81 A Marine Court of Inquiry was held to-day into the stranding of the Port Line motor-ship Port Saint John at Lady Elliot Island, off the Queensland coast. She was refloated on May 22. The third officer, Robert Nicholl, who was at the wheel at the time of the stranding, gave evidence that Captain William Lynd had allowed a three degrees set against the vessel for a southerly current, which in ordinary circumstances should have kept tho ship one mile and three-quarters off the reef, but no allowance had been made for the flood tide, which happened to bo very strong and crew stronger as tho ship neared the island. The Court found that the stranding was due to the setting of too fine a course without making proper allowance for tidal influences, resulting in the vessel's being one mile and a-half off her course when Captain Lynd went on the bridge and accepted the third officer's estimate of the position of the ship. Tho captain's action merited censure. Tho Court also found that the third officer was guilty of careless navigation in not taking sufficient bearings to verify tho ship's position. Captain W. L. Lynd, master of the Port Saint John on her maiden voyage, is in his first permanent command. He was formerly relieving captain of the Port Denison and later chief officer of the motor-ehip Port Townsville.