WRECK OF THE MAID OF OTAGO AT REVERTON. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1589, 6 May 1882, Page 12

WRECK OF THE MAID OF OTAGO AT REVERTON. TO THE EDITOR.

"Sir,— Ab your paper is one that gives a good doal of shipping news, and one read by thoßO, interested. In aliipping, will you kindly give space to this letter? An account of tho wreck having been given by your Rivcrton correspondent, ifc is not necessary for me to repeat it: It is the decision of the Court of Inquiry which states th*t the accident occurred' 'through the breaking of the lower, anchor-chain, <aDd that 'no blame is attached to master or pilot in charge. As a private individual, and one who has a knowledge of the case, my decision is that the person in charge of her at the time of tho accident is solely to ' blame for not lotting the anchor go before she came ' so near the bridge. Sho was coming up the river on the last quarter flood of a strong spring tide, and when the anchor was let go and the vessel swinging to, it parted before »he was fairly swung. The other anchor was let go immediately, but she came broadside on to the bridge, staving her side and sinking. ' Had the anchor been dropped earlier (as I believe the captain suggested to tho pilot), and the chain parted, the second anchor would have brought her up.- So late was the pilot in giving the order to let go , that, versonß watching her coming in (Baw.( Baw. she must go to tho bridge ere tho anchor could bring her up. The "Western' Star, in referring to the matter, says:— ''The precaution was taken of letting the anchor go earlier than usual.' * This I deny, and if the Riverton Harbour Board would ordor the pilot to Bwecp to she anchor, and measure how far it w from it to the bridge, they will see whether thp "Western Star or I am right, and that little act would prove the pilot wrong-. Mr Editor, can you tell me if it is usual for a pilot to 1 board a vessel alone, or is he supposed to have a crow in his boat ready to run off a kedge-warp or to tow, seeing most vessels have their boats aboard ? Is there any reduction in the pilot duos if the pilot is alone, or are the pilot dues nil if he is alone? The Eiverton Harbour Board, if alive to the interests of the port, will investigate the books and see how many times vessels are piloted in on the lone-hand system, and put a stop to it, and by all means have tho distance measured from the anchor, which is still where it was dropped, to the bridge. There have been a good many letters in the luvereargiJl papers referring to tho uonduet, ability, &c. of Pilots Smith and Thompson, at tho Bluff, which letters have been the means of opening some people's eyes an-1 shutting some people's mouths, and a aeries of letters on the same subject in connection with the Rivcrton pilot and things undor his charge might have a beneficial effect. Somo time ago a complaint was mado to the Board that the light at the alffnal-station was out on a certain night. The Wojtern Star reported that the matter was cleared up satisfactorily by the pilot ex- £ airing that the lignt is an ordinary kerosene lamp placed in a house purposely erected for it, which s liable to get blown out by the place not being winduroof I know the light has been out as often as three StsinaK iS certain dangerous rocks, is it creditable on the part of the person in charge not to have .suggested to the Board the imperative necessity of having the lighthouse made windproof, seeing men's .lives depend upon it? I think 200 or 250 feet of tongued-and-grooved lining would do the job. Had he done so, and that before a complaint was made, he wouldhave been doing something more to the interest of the port than neglecting to light it on the night after the Maid of Otago got wrecked, but I suppose that omission was owing to fatigue, &c, tho main main brace having been spliced so often that day. The harbour-master might call the attention of the Board to the very damr -rous state of the handrail at the jetty stepa. If an accident- fatal or otherwise—occur, some one may find himself hauled over the coals. If he had been on them for tiie last six or eight months, he must have seen the unsafe state the railing is in. The removal of that stamper-box of a quartz-crusher which has lain on the wharf for two and a half years, would show that it cannot lay there without rotting the decking. Would the Bluff or Dunedin Board allow huch 1 The lanyard of the topmast ritfeing o( the flagstaff at the signal-station has been carried away for tho last nine months, endangering the safety of tho topmast; and tho green sea-g> ass which invaiiably marks tho water-line of the pilots boat is not conducive to speed or pre starvation As the above matters are of n public and-in Home cases— serious nature, I hope you will please to excuse the length of this letter.-! am, &c, „,.

Importer. !> s.— Will auy of yowr roarers inform me if ivt the inquiry the million wm tuikea as to h«w »ear^tfte vessel was to the bridge beiore the ancnor was dxoppea.

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