VESSELS COLLIDE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8734, 16 May 1914, Page 8

VESSELS COLLIDE

ATLANTA-PILOT CASE EVIDENCE AT THE MAGISTERIAL INQUIRY. ■ An inquiry into the collision, between the small steamer Pilot and the yacht Atalanta in the harbour on 13th ult., was held before Mr V.. G. Riddell, S.M., yesterday morning. Captain Lambert acted as nautical assessor. Mr Watson appeared for the owner of the Pilot, .Ur Zoiirab 3 Mr McGrath for Captain Jones, of the Pilot; Mr Blair lor the owners of tho Atalanta; and Air E. T. IV. Maclaurin. Collector of Customs, for the Marine Department. THE YACHTSMEN’S VERSION.

Ralph Cowing Aslin said that he was part-owner of the Atalanta-, and .was Jit charge of the yacht at the time of the collision, a-bout half-past 12 o’clock

in April 13ih. The collision occurred between Somes Island and Lowry Bay. There was a. strong northerly breeze at the time, and witness was steering for Lowry Bay. Suddenly the Pilot appeared, and though the helm was put down, the yacht refused to answer and the collision occurred. To Mr Blair: Tho sail obscured the view of the Pilot. Since the collision tho Atalanta had been leaky. Too bowsprit and stern of the yacht had been broken by the contact. To Mr McGrath: Four of the present crew of . the Atalanta had been in two previous- accidents, but witness had not. It was the duty of tho yacht to keep on its course, and it was tho duty of the Pilot to avoid the yacht. There was no liquor on board the Atalanta that day. To the court : When the Pilot was seen, everything possible was done to avoid the collision. Albert Emmett Dee, a member of the crew of tho Atalanta, said thaa he heard no signal of any kind from the Pilot.

To Mr McGrath: A man standing hy tho mast would have a view of all that the man at the tiller could not see.

To the court: The Pilot was going directly across the Atalanta’s bow'.

PILOT’S CAPTAIN GIVES EVIDENCE.

Captain Jones, master of the Pilot, said he was in charge of . the vessel on the day of the collision. He saw thd Malania about ten minutes after he left Day’s Bay. She was threequarters of a mile away and steering for Lowry Bay. She was steering about all over the place, but witness had no idea that she was coming any- ■ whore,-near him. Sometimes yacht* came right alongside and put about. The Atalanta struck the Pilot amidships. About £lO worth of damage was don© to the Atalanta —there was practically no damage done to the Pilot.

To Mr McGrath: The Atalanta was not steering a straight course. "When the yacht was thirty or forty feet away there was no danger at all. Witness could do nothing at that point. Witness know that sailing vessels were supposed to keep out of the way of steamers in the fairway. To. Mr Blair: The yacht could Aavo gone either astern or ahead, but witness could not do anything to stop the accident. To the court: Witness did not sen anyone on the deck of the yaont before the collision. If the yacht had given way two points when she was forty feet away, there would have been no accident.

Harry Shaw, engineer on the Pilot, ©aid that he was below in tho stokehole at .the time of the collision. 'When he went below, although the Atalanta was near, there did not appear to be any danger of an accident. Ho did not receive any orders from the bridge to stand by. Wilfred Gower, the deck hand or the Pilot, said that when he first saw the Atalanta, about 300 yards away, she was swaying about terribly. The Pilot kept straight on her course; if the yacht had not altered her course she would have passed astern. E. G. F. Zohrab, owner of the Pilot, said that the vessel was insured against fire only, for £IOOO. RULE OF THE ROAD. Oscar Freiberg said that he had had boats of his own for twenty-two years and had sailed all round the New Zealand coast. The proper way to keep a lookout, if the view from the cockpit was obscured, was to station a man at the lee side of the mainmast. A proper lookout was not kept on tliis occasion. It was not safe to sail in a harbour for ten or twelve minutes with no look-out. Witness had often seen small sailing vessels touch the side of a small steamer and cut across the bows, almost touching them. The captain of the Pilot did what was to be expected of him when ho kept his course and speed. It was not the proper thing for tho captain to sound his whistle under tho circumstances. To Mr Blair: Pleasure craft should give way to business boats. Mr Blair-asked for permission to call other members of the yacht’s crew. Mr Mnclaurin questioned whether tbe&e me.n could place any fresh facts before the court. Mr Blair stated that ho desired to show that the yacht had been steering a straight course. David Porter, one of the yacht’s crew, swore that the boat had not altered her course. He could tell from below whether tho course bad been altered a couple of points. To Mr McGrath; Witness did not know much about sailing. Percy Holland, the owner of a motor launch, said that at the time of the accident he was about .a quarter of a mile astern of the yacht in his launch. As far as witness could see the Atalanta. was steering a perfectly straight course; he had been watching the boat for some time. To Mr McGrath: Witness could not have told whether the yacht had varied her course a few points to one side or the other.

To the court; He had not noticed the Pilot until after the accident. SHOULD STEAMERS GIYE WAY? Fredorick Cook, , yachting export, said that under tho circumstances luffing into tho wind was the best way for the yacht to avoid the collision. Witness considered a sailing vessel should only give way to a steamei near a wharf; in other places the ordinary rule of the- road applies—that was, steamers should give way to the sailing vessels. This concluded the evidence. Air McGrath quoted an Order-in-Council of 1909 which stated that it was the duty of small vessels, yachts, sail-beats, row-boats, and launches to keep out of tho way of larger vessels in the fairway. He submitted that

the course from Day’s Bay to Petone was a fairway. This Order-in-Counci), he contended, overrode the genera rule of the sea on which Air Biair relied. Air AlcGrath pointed out that on the evidence of the yacht’s helmsman no look-out was kept while the yacht travelled more than a mile. Air "Watson also addressed the court, contending the captain did quite right in not whistling, and charging the Atalania with negligence. The decision of the court will be given at 10.30 this morning.