SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12872, 6 January 1906, Page 5

SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

j IN TREACHEROUS CURBENTS.;, \ ..Per Press Association.' ! " . •'■'' • AUCKLAND. Jahuary 5. j The nautical enquiry touching the circumstances sorroundinir the wreck of the barque Thistle, near North-Ens* • Isles, off Palmerston* reef, in the South.'Pacific Ocean on November Btli. 19-5. was concluded loci a v. Captain Champion, of the Government schooner Countess «f Ranfnrlv. who has Ij:i<l 50 esj»eiieiire of island navigation said he considered that Captain England took ample precautions. Witness would have taken the same course himself in similar circumstances. The Sargossa, which wm wrecked in the Cook croup, was put out of her course by the difference :n the prevailing enrrent. The csrrcnls

were very unreliable and were affected by wind.

Mr C. C. Kettle, in giving judgment. said (bat tbo Court were of opinion i'i.;i the master was over-confident as Jo his true position. At midnight on the 7th he suspected tbnt the current might be running in a southerly direction, and in their opinion be was guilty of an error of judgment in altering the vessel's course at midnight so as to bring her nearer to the islands. Looking at the conditions as they existed, he should have continued on the coun=e set at 6 p.m. c-n the 7th. at any rale until daylight. The Court were also of opinion that, knowing bis vessel was getting abreast of the islands, and in a dangerous xone. he should have remained on deck from 1 a.m. until daylight. Having regard to the whole of the circumstances the Court did not think that the certificates of tie m.n-lcr and officers should be dealt with, and they were accordingly returned unendorsed. The costs of the Court. £6 6s were ordered to be borne by the master. The evidence showed that the currents at and about these islands are very treacherous and uncertain.

THE FOUXDERIXG OF THE OBAX. WELLiXGTOX. January 5. Martin, one of the seamen who was supposed to have perished when the Oban foundered while being towed into Wellington beads during a role last Sunday night, reported himself to the port shipping mister to-day. , Though be had signed on the reticles t,f i'- Oban when she was previously in pon t .e did not join the craft. It, is now believed that a sen of Captain Macdonald, harbourmaster at the Bluff, was shipped on the 03»an in place of Martin and that he went down with her. A double photograph found by a diver in the Oban's cabin bast been identified as that of Captain Macdonald and his eon. Tie diver to-day discovered that the Oban's anchor and chains were missing and it is believed by seafaring men that this supplies a clue to the cause of the vessel coming to grief, particularly as the ring stopper had carried awav. It is believed that when the anchor gripped the bottom, it dragged the ship's bows down and as the strain on the tow-rope increased she was gradually forced under until the chain was dragged away. An axe, Iving on the deck forward, is thought to indicate that the crew had made a futile effort to cut away the tow-line before being washed overboard.