NAUTICAL ENQUIRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 11592, 30 October 1901, Page 3

NAUTICAL ENQUIRY.

THE STRIKING OF THE POHERUA.

Per Press. Association.

WELLINGTON, October 29. An enquiry into the striking of the steamer Poherua between Tower rocks and ] Cape Stevens, on the 15th inst., was held I to-day before Mr Haselden, S.M., and Captains Kidley and Smith, assessors. Charles Adams, captain of the Poherua, j gave evidence that lie left Lyttelton for Westport on the 14th. After passing Cape Campbell he steered a course to clear Jag rock. The weather* became hazy, and he decided to take a passage between Cape Stevens and Stevens Island. He failed to gick up the Tower rock, but could see the ape. He ordered the engineesr to stand by, then to go slow ahead. Next he saw thq rock, and went full speed ahead with the helm hard a-port. The ship answered her helm slowly, and touched slightly along the port bilge. She floated off in three hours, and he came on to Wellington. He attributed the accident to a strong ebb tide. This passage was usually taken by the Union boats bound for the West Coast. He had been 38 years at sea, 27 years as master, and had never had an accident before. Confirmatory evidence was given by the second officer. The Court decided that Captain Adams pursued the usual course for vessels of the class of the Poherua. There was an extra hazard in taking the channel inside Stevens Island on a foggy afternoon, but the Court said that they did not find him guilty of negligence, as under the circumstances the set of the tide and fog combined to bring about a situation in which the master took the only possible course to retrieve. He was justified in taking the passage, and the fog came on when he was in a position in which it would have been more hazardous )to alter the course than to pursue it. No order was made as to costs, and the master's certificate was returned.