THE IRON MONARCH

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18593, 2 January 1935, Page 3

THE IRON MONARCH

RECENT GROUNDING : ' j_iC r .. STEERING GEAR FAILS SYDNEY, Dec. 22. The finding that the master took prompt and proper action, and that no blame or fault could be attached to anybody, was returned by the ,of Marine Inquiry to-dav when it completed its inquiry into the capse.of the stranding of the. steamer Iroii /Monarch at the entrance to Newcastle Harbor on November 24. The court further found that the stranding was due to the unexplainable failure of the steering gear while the vessel was entering port.

Morrison Mackenzie, marine superintendent of Inter-State Steamships, Limited, gave-evidence that it was possible for tlic steering gear of any type of ship' of the same type as the Iron Monarch to jam. It was sheer bad luck that it happened when it was vital. His earliest recollection of any report on the vessel’s steering gear was towards the end of 1932, when the master reported that the steering gear had jammed in the Adelaide River. The ship had been given a thorough overhaul after that. .Captain Wilson, master of the Iron Monarch, referring to a collision with the Port Hardy at Newcastle on March 9, 1 1933, said that- on that occasion the vessel would not answer the helm. She was touching the bottom, and there was no-question of the steering ,gear jamming. A{ similar incident" had occurred at I ort Augusta. The steering gear was always examined before the vessel left port. .Captain 0. D. Williams said a Court of Marine Inquiry had dealt' with the grounding of the Iron Monarch at Cape Three Points on October 23, when she went ashore in a fog. The documentary evidence before the court indicated that those incidents could not be attributed to the failing of .the steering gear. The previous inajor accidents Tin cl been reported by the. master „(» accordance with thy jaw.