MASTER CENSURED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23515, 1 June 1938, Page 9

MASTER CENSURED

STRANDING OF VESSEL OFFICER’S CARELESSNESS SYDNEY, May 31. (Received May 31, at 10.30 p.m.) At the Marine Court inquiry into the stranding of the Port St. John, the third officer of the ship, 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 the southerly current, which in ordinary circumstances should have kept the ship one mile and. three-quarters off the reef, but no allowance had been made for the flood tide,, which happened to be very strong and grew stronger as the ship neared the island. The court found that the cause of stranding was due to the setting of too fine a course without making proper allowance for tidal influences, resulting in the vessel being a mile and a-half off her course when Captain Lynd went to the bridge and accepted the third officer’s position of the ship. The captain’s actions merited censure. The court also found the third officer guilty of careless navigation in not taking sufficient bearings to verify the position. The Port St. John, bound for Gladstone (Queensland) from New Zealand, grounded on a reef at Lady Elliot Island. After nine days the vessel was refloated with the aid of two powerful tugs. Only minor damage was done.