SHIPPING ACCIDENTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1163, 15 June 1894, Page 38

SHIPPING ACCIDENTS.

The Nautical Court (Mr J. C. Martin, S.M., and Captains Eraser and Dawson, assessors) gave judgment on May 16th in the cases of the foundering of the Kiwi on the East Coast, and the stranding of the Stormbird on the Waikanae Beach. FOUNDERING OP THE KIWI. The Court in this case decided as follows: —That the master of the Kiwi (Captain Campbell) had to take his vessel inside the surveyed line on the chart. He knew the coast well, was sober, and exercised every care. He followed as neaily as possible a course which for several years he had followed with safety. The vessel was well found, and had been recently surveyed by a competent surveyor, but struck on an unknown submerged rock, and it was not possible to have saved her. No blame is attachable to the master or any member of the crew. That attention be called to the urgent necessity of having a survey made of the station landings on the East Coast of the North Island, similar to the survey that has been made of similar landings on the East Coast of the South Island. The costs of this enquiry, including £2 2s allowed to Captain Campbell for solicitor's fee, are to be paid by the Collector of Customs. STRANDING OP THE STORMBIRD. The decision of the Court in this case was as follows:—That the master of the ■ Stormbird (Captain Chambers) was guilty of a grave defaidt in proceeding to sea and steering the course he did without having checked the error of his compass, when for ten days he had been tendering large iron vessels outside the Wanganui bar, and shortly before sailing had been bumping against the s.s. "Waikato with such violence as to start his bridge. Seeing, however, that no damage was done to the vessel by the casualty, that the master is 58 years of age, and that the costs of the enquiry were exceptionally heavy, it is not necessary to deal with the master's certificate, but the Court orders him to pay the costs of the enquiry, viz., counsel's fees £7 7s, and assessors' «£lO 10s.