WRECK OF SCOW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19042, 16 June 1936, Page 13

WRECK OF SCOW

OPENING OF INQUIRY

MASTER TELLS STORY

DISCOVERY OF LEAK

(For Press -Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. An inquiry :into the sinking of the 65ion auxiliary scow, Kaiaia, near .Mercury bay on March 215 was opened this mornnig before Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., With whom were.associated, as assessors, UiptaiuD.'lieU; Captain E. W. Norton and Mr. E. tE. iloane. The Crown was represented bv Mr. V. N. Hubble, who said that the Minister of'Marine; desired to know the cause of the foundering. Captain H. S. Aspdcu, the master ol the vessel, said in evidence tluit it was owned bv the Aspden Shipping Company. Tne vessel left Auckland at 11.4 a a.m. on March 24 with about 20 tons ot general cargo and 85 drums of beimne, Zi which & 1 were on the deck. Cape Colville was rounded at. 6 p.m. The wind was .fair and the vessel was under sail with the engines running. The master said he went below at midnight and was called at 2.30.a.m. by the engineer as the wind was blowing hard from the .south-east and . the sea was lining. At 4.40, the vessel was found to he. leaking. Two deck pumps were manned and the vessel made tor Mercury Bay. An hour later the ship was sinking and .unmanageable, and ho gave ,r(lers to abandon the ship. With the engineer and one of (lie crew lie lowered the lifeboat, the other two members.of the crew having been washed overboard, but were picked up by the boat. The scow soon after sank by the head in'3s fathoms of water, about a mile and a half south of Castle Rock. The witness was a shareholder in the company and knew the vessel was not insured. ,11 By an oversight on his part, the deck cargo had pot lieen inspected, but he had no trouble with-it. Replying] to Mr. Could, who appeared for the owners, the witness said he knew (hat following a severe storm in February there were a lot of logs floating in the Bay of Plenty. He thought the vessel had struck a log without the shock being noticed owing to the pounding sens.'" The ship was well found and was fully manned. He estimated the loss (o tnc'compnny at £ISOO.