BALCLUTHA RIVER EXPLOSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3438, 3 February 1920, Page 6

BALCLUTHA RIVER EXPLOSION.

INQUEST ON DAVID REDDIE RESUMED. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE. CORONER'S FORMAL VERDICT. The adjourned inquest concerning the explosion which took place on the Clutha River Board's steamer Clutha on November 11, when three of the crew were badly scalded, David Reddie fatally, was resumed in the City Police Court on the 29th before the Coroner (Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.). Sub-inspector Mathieson represented the police, and conducted the inquiry. Mr C. J. L. White appeared for the Standard Insurance Company, Mr R. R. Grigor for the ■wife of the deceased, Mr W. G. Hay for the Clutha River Board, and Mr Crawford for tho Inspection of Machinery Department. William Anderson, Inspector of Machinery and Surveyor pf Ships under the Government, gave evidence to the effect that he inspected tho steamer Clutha on April 30 iast, and granted a certificate for 12 months for the running of the steamer. Everything was all right, and tho ship in good order. Cross-examined. by Mr Hay, witness said he was an expert in mechanical engineering. It was usual to have at least nine inches of water above the furnace box. To Mr Grigor witness stated that the machinery would be perfectly safe so long as fchere was water in the gauge. William John Crawford, Government Sur-

veyor of Ships, said he inspected the boiler on November 13, after he had received a report of the accident. He made his examination in company with the captain of the ship and the chief engineer He found the crown badly down and all the stay nuts blown. He could see the mark below the crown., showing: that the water had been eight inches below the crown. He took all the gauge glasses, test cocks, safety valves, and check valves off and found that everything was in good order except the bottom guage glass, which he produced. The automatic valve was taken off the bottom gauge glass cock, through which he had put a wire, the object bcin™ to ascertain if there was any opening in the bottom gaugeglass washer. Tho result was that some pieces fell out of the washer. If the washer was under the gauge-glass the tendency was to show fake water, and accounted for the accident. Tho water was pumped into the boiler from the main engine. When there was sufficient water in the boiler, the "byepass" was opened and the water went over the side. This condition of affairs should have been reported by the fireman to the engineer. Mr Grigor: You say that the washer getting under the .glass was quite an accident. Assuming that it was put on this morning correctly, would it be tested till to-morrow ?—lt should be tested regularly, as the washer might work up the glass. You Eay that this might occur any time at all alter-the gauge is first set.—lt might occur within an hour. Mr Hay: The prime cause of the accident was that there was too little water in tho boiler ?—.Yes, it was somewhere in the vicinitv of 14in below normal. With the result that the crown of the furnace box w-as bare of water, and became overheated, thus causing the stay nuts to tear ofT ?—Yes, and the crown to collapse and the steam to get through tho holes into the fire-box. When the water first disappeared from

the gauge the limit of safety was then passed ?—Witness: Yes, even then there should bo 3|in to 4in of water over the crown. How did you find the steamer when you inspected her ?—Everything except this washer was absolutely normal. There was no water in tho gauge at the time I first saw it. Had there been no water in the igange it must have leaked or run up through the opening, through which you put a wire ? Yes; the washer getting into the gauge had a tendency to show false water. I could not say whether there was false water or not. "What should be done in the case of the gauge showing false water ? —The first thing would) be to inspect the boiler to see if there was any water in it. In this case I do not think it was done. It would only bo tested when the fireman could see whether there was any water in the glass?—Yes; that would show that there was below 4in of water in the boiler. What, in your opinion, caused the explosion ?—The gauge showing "false water." In reply to Sub-inspector Mathieson, witness said the washer showed that it had not been in its position for some time._ To Mr White: It might be said that it was usual in the case of river boats to have the engine-room at one end and the boiler at the other. William Henry Dowse, labourer, stated that for the past nine months he had been employed by tho Clutha River Board on the steamer Clyde. On Tuesday, November 11, he left Balokitha on the steamer Clutha, as one of the crew, for Clydevale and Tuapeka Mouth. His duties on board were to receive and discharge cargo. He was not supposed to assist in firing, but he did so., The deceased (David Reddie) was the fireman. About four miles up the river he was in the stokehold with the de-

ceased and a man named John Roberts. They were sitting down having a smoke. Deceased asked witness if he would fire while he had a cup of tea. He said: "Be careful and watch that the water is on." He then loft the stokehold- The water in the glass then was about two inches from the top. As it' was witness's third trip on the Clutha he did not understand the book very well. About five minutes after Reddie left witness went to the saloon and asked the deceased how to turn the water off. He told him to turn tho tap straight down. The bye-pass pump was half on and half off. "Witness returned and turned it straight down. Deceased returned in about three or four minutes and resumed his duties as fireman. He looked at tho glass, which was about a-quarter of an inch from the top. _ Five minutes later witness drew his attention to the fact that tho water was not coming down. He blew the water out of the glass and when he turned it on again it rose to over half the length of the glass. Reddie said: "It will be all right, it went like that once before this morning,"_ which showed that he had had trouble with it earlier in the morning. The steam gauge showed about 1201 b pressure at the time. We were using Waronui coal, and he did not consider the steam pressure unusual. Deceased said he would not turn the water on until he got the steam up a bit. About two or three minutes later an explosion took place. This resulted in deceased, Robertson, and witness being severely scalded. They all made for the deck-, witness getting there first, followed by deceased, and Robertson got out at the other side. Their injuries were attended to by Dr Stenhouse and later they were removed to tho Dunedin Hospital. After Reddie came back from the saloon the engineer oame along and asked what was wrong, as the steam was down. Deceased jokingly replied. "I have lost my shovel." The engineer made no examina-

tion, but went buck to the engine room.This was about a couple of minutes prior to the explosion. There was no drink on board. He had known deceased for 10 months and his eyesight seemed good. After the accident deceased and he were in the saloon, and he (deceased) said, "I don't know how the accident happened, as there was plenty of water in the boiler, as I had just blown the glass out." He could not give any explanation of the explosion, and blamed no one.

John Robertson, labourer, in the employ of the Clutha River Board on the steamers Clutha and Clyde, said "he was on the firstmentioned vessel when the explosion took place aboard. He corroborated the evidence given by the witness Dowse. Cross-examined by Inspector Crawford, he said he was certain that he saw the water come up the gauge. Captain Tsakigawa. in his evidence, stated that he knew very little about the accident. At Manuka Island he saw an unusual puff of smoke from the chimney, and immediately -afterwards the explosion occurred.

To Mr Gn'gor, he said the fireman's duties were to keep the fire going and the steam up. If anything went wrong it was his duty to report it to the engineer. The deceased Recklio was a very reliable man, and had been engaged on the river boats at Clutha for 15 years. He was a very good worker.

Robert John Davidson, engineer on the steamer Clutha, stated that he tested the gauge glasses every morning. The glass and the washer were renewed some three days prev'ousy to the accident. The perished condition of the washer could have taken place in three days. He considered that while the engines were running the fireman was entirely responsible. He had known deceased for six or seven years. He was a reliable man, and had all his .faculties about him.

Examined bv Mr Gr'sror: He said that' when an engineer went into an dttgine-room one of his first duties was to look at the gauge glass. He turned off the cocks and blow through the water gauge on the morning of the accident, and tested all the other cocks. The water gauge worked quite clearly and quite satisfactorily at 6.15 a.m. It was again tested at 8 o'clock, but he could not explain or give any reason for the explosion. Pressed for a probable theory, he said that he could not account for it. unless somebody altered the mountings on the boiler between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., when the test showed there was sufficient water in the boiler. The only possible explanation was that the gauge showed "false water." A dirty boiler, a weak boiler, scaly plates, and overheated plates or weak pl-ites might have caused such an explosion.

To Inspector Crawford: He belrevcd now that the glass showed "false water."

Cross-examined by Mr Hay: He had not examined the boiler since the accident. He thought it was a physical impossibility for 1 the water to rise in the glass 2i minutes) before the accident as described. If the water did rise immediately in the glass he would say the gauge was working, but that would be an impossibility if the water in the boiler was as low as stated-. Mr Kay said there was no doubt that the accident was caused because there was not enough water in the boiler, and that was due either to the gauge failing to act or because Reddie had forgotten to turn on the water. Witness agreed to this, and added it was the fireman's duty to see that the water was right in the boiler. To Mr White: He would have noticed if there had been any obstruction in the morning.

John M'Gregor, of the firm of M'Gregor and Company, said he was the builder of the boat Clutha. lie visited BaJclutha the day after the accident, and examined the bojlev. Ho agreed with Mr Crawford's evidence that the cause of the accident was shortage of water. He first of all went into the firebox, and found the crown of the firebox down about 18in, and indications that the plate had been at a high beat quite lOin below the level of the crown. That also showed that the waterf. bad been much below this iOin. When the plates reached a certain temperature pretty near a white heat, the nuts of the firebox were weakened to such an extent by the temperature that they drew, and f the pressure forced the plates down in the form of a tray. He asked the engineer to remove the door of the manhole to see the internal condition of the boiler. He found it fairly clean, and not a drop of water visible in the barrel of the boiler. He was. quite satisfied as to the cause of tlie. accident. The washer produced would not by itself interfere with the pressure in the gauge glass. He agreed that if the 1 washer completely closed the bottom of the glass the water in it would remain at the same level, and instead of decreasing might even increase. He could not say whether the water was turned off when he visited the boiler. If the water was not turned on that would account for the lowering of water in the boiler. Ho suggested that not a drop of water had gone/ into the boiler after the steamer started from the wharf an hour before the accident. He assumed there would be water visible in_ the glass when they started. The engineer informed him that the pressure ori the gauge would be 120ib up to some little time before _ the accident. At that pressure the engines would be giving off about 190 h.p. That would use about 661 bof water per minute. When the water ceased to show in the glass the crown of the firebox had 3iin of water above it. Using that amount of steam it would take 5.1 minutes to evaporate lin deep, making 17.85 minutes for the 3iin. The water had been quite 12in below the crown, but to be within the mark he would say 9in. That gave 15801 bof water. Twenty-seven feet of the most effective heating surface waa lost when the crown was dried, and when the water was down 9in 193 square feet of heating surface was lost. That equalled a fourth of the whole, and when that heating surface was lost the output of steam was reduced to 651 b per minute. He calculated that it would take 45 minutes from the time the water disappeared from the gauge to go~dowh to 9in below the crown of the firebox. The water was not going into the boiler, but over the side. It must have been shut off from the boiler. It was clearly the engineer's duty to see that was in order before starting. He said it was a physical impossibility for the water to return in the glass as th© witnesses asserted.

To Mr Grigor: It was indisputable "that shortness of water was the cause of the accident. The boiler had got no water foil nearly an hour, and there were no signs of "priming" about the engine. The water roust have been going down the by-pass. Jf

the water was going down the pressure woxild not necessarily rise. Ho accounted for the fact that the pressure was going down while the water was also decreasing by suggesting poor quality of coal. He also pointed out that when the water got below the crown of the firebox a valuable heating surfaoe was lost. To Mr Hay: Any fireman would be doing wrong in letting a boiler go for 45 minutes without getting water. An experienced fireman must have known that the danger limit had been reached, apart altogether from what the glass showed. It was possible that that washer had closed the tube, but he did not consider it probable. Sub-inspector Mathieson said that was the case as far as he could carry it. The Coroner said the proximate cause of this fatality was the bursting of the boiler through the failure of the supply of water The fireman in charge was an experienced fireman with lengthy service on the river boat- When it came to an explanation of how the water in the boiler failed and was reduced so low they were met with an extraordinary conflict between the evidence of the dock hands Dowse and Robertson and the expert opinion as to'what was poseible in fact. With regard to some details of their evidence it was quite likely—m fact, it was probable—that Messrs Dowse and Robertsoa were mistaken. The severe and trying experience through which they passed was calculated in some measure to have affected their recollection of what happened. But when it came" to the body of their evidence, the details of which they had given and the sequence of matters, whether their evidence was truthful or not, it could not be explained on the ground of a mistake. The sequence of events of which they spoke either happened or did not happen. They cculd not have been mistaken in regard to that. Then thev were met with the expert evidence that vhe main points deposed to by Messrs Dowse and Robertson could not have happened as stated . by_ them. < That was not "a matter on which it was incumbent for him to * express an opinion, and really it would not bo proper for him to give a definite finding on those issues. They were matter* to which, if anything, civil liability would attach, and they were not distinctlv pertinent to the coroner's inquiry. Hi 3 formal verdict was that the deceased died at Dunedin on December 12 from injuries received through the bursting of the boiler of the river boat Clutha on the Clutha River on November 11.