LOSS OF SCOW

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20445, 16 June 1936, Page 10

LOSS OF SCOW

INQUIRY INTO CAUSE

BELIEVED TO HAVE STRUCK A LOG

By Telegraph—Press Association

AUCKLAND, June 15.

An inquiry into the sinking of the 35 ton auxiliary scow Kaiaia near Mercury Bay on March 25 was opened this morning before Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., with whom was associated as assessors Captain D. Bell, Captain E. W. Norton and Mr E. R. Lane. The Crown was represented by Mr V. N. Hubble, who said the Minister of Marine desired to know the cause of the foundering.

Master’s Evidence.

Captain H. S. Aspden, the master, said the vessel was owned by the Aspden Shipping Company. It left Auckland at 11.45 a.m. on March 24 with about 20 tons of general cargo and 85 drums of benzine, of which 30 were on deck. Cape Colville was rounded at 6 p.m., the wind being fair and the vessel under sail with the engines running. He went below at midnight but was called at 2.30 by the engineer as the wind was blowing hard from the south-east and the sea was rising. At 4.30 the vessel was discovered to be leaking. The two deck pumps were manned and witness made for Mercury Bay. An hour later the ship was sinking and unmanageable and he gave orders to abandon the ship. With the engineer and one of the crew he lowered the lifeboat. The other two members of the crew had been washed overboard but they were picked up by the boat. The scow soon after sang by the head in 35 fathoms of water about a mite and a half south of Castle Rock. Witness said he was a shareholder in the com - pany and knew that the vessel was not insured. By an oversight on his part the deck cargo had not been inspected, but they had no trouble with it. Replying to Mr Gould, for the owners, witness said he knew that after the 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 of the seas. The ship was well found and fully manned. The estimated loss to the company was £l5OO. Capacity of Pumps. Douglas Bowie Stubbing, engineer of the Kaiaia, said the engine- pump would normally cope with 1000 gallons of water an hour and the two hand pumps, together, about 1500. The scow was fitted with two engines. This machinery was all in working order. The other three members of the crew corroborated the evidence given by the master and the engineer. Various shipwrights and surveyors who worked on and examined the Kaiaia in December testified to the soundness of her hull and to her full equipment of life-saving appliances. Questioning Leonard Robertson, master mariner and marine surveyor, Mr Walsh asked whether he considered the Kaiaia was suitable for a total engine power of 54 horse-power and for cruising on all coasts of the Dominion which her classification as a home-trade vessel enabled her to do. “The engines were quite suitable,” said witness.

The matter of the vessel’s classification was ruled as beyond the scope of the inquiry.

“The classification of this type of craft,” said Mr Walsh, in reviewing the evidence, “as a home-trade vessel is no more than the licensing of coffin ships. If nothing is done to protect the men sailing in these scows there will be come terrible disasters.” Mr Wilson said the finding of the Court would be submitted to the Minister of Marine.