THE GROUNDING OF THE JASPER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5948, 4 March 1881, Page 3

THE GROUNDING OF THE JASPER.

HARBOUR BOARD INQUIRY.

The inquiry into the circumstances connected with the grounding of the Jasper was resumed at the Harbour Board's offices yesterday. The members of the Board present ware:—Messrs Keith Ramsay (chairman), H. Guthrie, John Mill, W. Bridgman, It. Paterson, A. H. Ross, and Captain Logan.

Captain Thomson and Pilot Moore were in attendance, and

The Chairman intimated that their evidence was all that would now be necessary to be taken. Captain Logan said he had to move—"That the evidence already heard be deemed sufficient, and that the matter be remitted to Captain Thomson, harbourmaster, to deal with." A great deal more had been made of this matter than it deserved. Ho knew tho circumstances of this affair pretty well, and knew how easily such things occurred. Every ship with which he had been connected coming into this port had grounded at some time or other. The Ja?per had sustained no damage, and what had occurred to Piiot Moore might occur to anybody. It was only a few years ago that every singlo Bhip which left the Clyde took the ground. A lot of Useless fuss had been made over this matter, and £. lot of time uselessly wasted.

Mr Ross would second the motion. They had quite sufficient evidence before them to judge of Pilot Moore's offence, and all they could hear now would only tend to exculpate him. The censure recommended by the Harbourmaster should be passed on Pilot Moore, and there the matter should stop. Mr Mill only regretted Captain Logan had not seen his way to bring the motion forward at a prior stage. It was a well-known fact that vessels frequently touched ground in the harbour. The Tirnaru, for instance, m the Provincial Government times, with a full cargo from Home, had got aground and remained so for three days. Then there was the Bengal, which had sat on her own anchors and sank; and the Christian M'Ausland had lost her anchors and gone ashoro in Deborah Bay, and not a word said about it. The report from the head of the department on this matter had been thoroughly satisfactory. He said it had been an error of judgment on the part of Pilot Moore, which was many a good man's case. Mr Paterson would agree to the suggestion that the taking of evidence should cease, but not that the case be then remitted to Captain Thomson. Tho Board should deal with it. He deprecated these public reports about vessels touching tho ground in our harbour. They never heard of such things at Lj^telton yet the steamers frequently stuck in the mud for an hour there.—(Mr Mill: "Yes, six hours.") If necessary the Harbourmaster might bring such things under the notice o( the Chairman, but these public reports were a great mistake. Mr Guthrie thought the Board should deal with the matter, but agreed that no more evidence should be heard. As for the vessel touching, it was a very trifling affair. He knew that steamers and vessels went on the banks in the harbour every now and again.

Captain Logan said he was quite willing that tho Board . should deal with it at once. But such matters as these should be left to tho head of the department, and should not be dealt with by the Board at all.

(Mr Fish here entered the room.) The motion having been read over, Mr Fish asked if Captain Thomson and Pilot Hoore admitted the correctness of everything stated by the captain and mate in evidence.

Mr Paterson: Tho Harbourmaster's reportadmits it. After some remarks, it was agreed that the Chairman should ask Pilot Moore if he objected to anything in the previous evidence.

The Chairman : Have you heard the evidence of the captain and mate of the Jasper? Pilot Moore: Yes. The Chairman : Do you agree as to the correctness of it?

Pilot Moore: Oh, yes; what the captain said was correct. It was simply an error of judgment on my part.

Captain Logan's resolution was then put and carried, and the Harbourmaster and Pilot left the room.

Mr Ross then moved —" That the Harbourmaster having reported that Pilot Moore in the recent grounding of the Jasper committed an error of judgment, and that he CDnsequently has laid himself open to censure, this Board U of opinion that the case will be met by Pilot Moore being called in and censured accordingly at the hands of the Chairman." ..:..>■■:,... . "'■'.' :.

Mr Hill seconded the motion. He hoped the censure would bo light, as Pilot Moore had been 19 years in the service, having first entered it as a pulling hand in one of the boats at the Heads, and had been a very trustworthy servant ever since. As regarded the statement of the mate of the Jasper that 4000 bags of sugar had to be taken out of her before she got off, he pointed out that this quantity of cargo had to be taken out at any rate to enable her to go' as she intended, to Dunedin. ■

Mr Guthrio said he happened to be down at the Port before the vessel got off, and she o.me off two or three hours before high water. She had to discharge the 4000 bags of sugar to get up to Duucdin. Mr Fish said the motion did not, in his opiuion go far enough, as he thought the punishment proposed was by no means sufficient to meet the ease. The matter of the grounding of this ship might not by itself be of much consequence if they had a bar over which vessels could at all times come with safety, a port at which no one could cavil, and a harbour regarding which detractors could say nothing ; but the accident assumed a much more serious character than it would if it stood alone.—(Captain Logan : "A perfect trifle.") No doubt it was presumption in him to question any opinion held by a gentleman of so much nautical experience as Captain Logan, but he had often noticed how astonishingly seafaring men stood as brother to brother, as sailor to sailor, in their path through life. —Captain Logan: "Shouther to shoather," and laughter.) But if the news of this accident, went abroad without explanatfon or contradiction, the effect would be disastrous to this port; and he held that in such a port as ours the pilots ought to be much more particular to guard against accident than might be necessary anywhere else. What were the facts ? With a calm sea, with no wind, and within two lengths of the jetty, a man having 19 years' experience in the port got so far out of his reckoning a3 to put a ship drawing only 13 feet G inches ashore.—(Captain Logan• "An error of judgment only.") The wreck of the Koyal Charter might be put down to an error of judgment only, but ho should be inclinedto call it a great crime. If in this ease some damage had been done to the vessel, and the underwriters had had to pay £400 or £500, would the port not have been seriously damaged?

Captain Logan: Don't you know for a fact that there is scarcely a vessel that comes into the port but touches the ground .?•

Mr lush was sorry to hear it; he did not know it before. He went on to say that from the mate's evidence, which now had been admitted as correct by Captain Thomson and Pilot Moore, he was prepared to prove that Captain Thomson's report to the Board on the matter contained a positive untruth. Captain Thomson said Pilot Moore " did not make due allowance for the ebb tide, which was then running strong setting the vessel into Deborah Bay, and on discovering the hold the tide had on her the helm was put to starboard, but having very little way on it did not act before the forefoot caught the ground. The mate, on the contrary, said : " I consider it was a still tide when the vessel went ashore. She did not drift but was towed on by the tug." Capt. Thomson, itmust bo remembered, wag not there at the time at all. Again the mate said: "I am certain that the tide did not put the ship ashore," and " I think there was not the slightest reason for this accident occurring." He felt strongly that verbal censure was not sufficient, and that the evidence disclosed a piece of gross carelessness. He had a personal matter now to refer to. He had said, and had been blamed for saving at the last meeting that he treated Captain Thomson's report with contempt. Well, he was there today after most careful consideration, to reilerate that statement. Every successive ease showed that their Harbourmaster ..was a man wanting in decision irresolute and indecisive whero he should be firm' and that whenever he came to be placed in a position of great peril, the mercantile and shipping interests would suffer from his action. The report he had made about this matter showed the glibness and ease with which he could assume as a fact that which investigation showed could not be upheld. Ho would not shut his mouth when he thought circumstances required an expression of his opinion to please any person m the community, and some day he prophesied the Board would rue the confidence it now placed in a certain individual.

The Chairman, before putting the resolution, said he veryheartliy agreed with ft. A groat deal too much had been made of this matter, and he was inclined to think it wag wrong on the part of the Board to hold an inquiry at all. But a good deal of strong

j feeling had been shown, and one of the newspapers had strongly urged an inquiry, and they were all liable to be led by such circumstances. No doubt Pilot Moore had been guilty of an error of judgment, but he had confessed it, and it was a thing any man might do.—{Mr Fish: "No.") He was an officer of whom the Harbourmaster had a very high opinion, as had those who came in contact with him officially. Captain Logan an d Mr Mill,'members of the Board living a the Port, thought well of him. A mere verbal censure was all the case deserved. With reference to the remarks by Mr Fish about Captain Thomson, although he would not reply to them, still he thought it his duty to publicly state that he, as Chairman, had every con dence in Captain Thomson, and that the majority of the Board held the same opinion, as well as the public who caiie in contact with him. Mr Ross said he had intended to reply to what Mr Fish had said, but the Chairman had so exactly expressed his opinion that he would not trouble to do so. Tho motion was then put and carried, Mr Fish alone voting against it. Pilot Moore was then called in, and The Chairman said: Pilot Moore, in reference to this matter of the grounding of the Jasper, which was in your charge as pilot, you have heard the evidence of the captain and mate of the ship, and you have admitted its correctness. You have also admitted that you were guilty of an error of judgment. Now it is absolutely necessary that you should exercise the utmost care in the discharge of your duties as pilot, and the Board is of opinion that you have not exercised in this case that care which ini"ht have been expected of you. It has therefore remitted it to me to censure you, and I now do so, urging you at the same time to be more careful in the future, and to see that such a thing as this does not again occur, and otherwise to be most careful in the discharge of your duties as a pilot in this port. This concluded the business.