TAINUI DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12761, 3 October 1919, Page 8

TAINUI DISASTER.

THE INQUEST RESUMED,

PROCEEDINGS AT LYTTELTON.

SENSATIONAL EVIDENCE.

The adjourned inquest into the circumstances connected with the Tainui disaster at Gore Bay on September Iff, when eight members of the crew of the ill-fated vessel lost their lives, was- resumed at the Lyttelton Courthouse this morning before Mr S. E. M’Carthy, S.M. The following arc the names of tho victims of tho disasterJ. C. Cowan (master), E. Greenwood .(chief engineer), W. H, Stevens (mate). W. Townsend (fireman), A. Fallen (fireman), G. Williams. D.S.M. (seaman), D. M’Lean (seaman) and J, Howard (seaman). The inquiry concerned the death ot Williams, Greenwood, Fullen, Townsend and Howard, whose bodies had been recovered from the wreck.

Mr S. G. Raymond. K.C., watched the proceedings cn behalf of the Marine Department, Mr G. H. Buchanan appeared for the New Zealand Refrigerating Company. Ltd., the owners of the vessel; Chief-Detective M’llveney conducted tlie inquest on behalf of the police.

Chief-Detective M’llvenev examined the witnesses.

A WATERSIDER’S EVIDENCE. James Knowles Hughes, waterside worker, residing at Lystei.ton, said he was employed by the Railway Department in loading tho s.s. Tainui on September 10. His work was to discharge the contents of the trucks into the ship. The cargo consisted mostly of 'benzine and ploughs. The benzine was in cases. In all his experience as a wharf, lumper he had never seen cargo in such a bad state, as regards its leaking condition. Some of the cases were completely empty. Did you notice any benzine on the wharf where it was put in the slings.' It was fairly wet all around where we were working. Who was in charge of the men wdrking in the hold?—A man named Nolan appeared to be in charge of the men working in the hold. He is now in hospital. He had nothing to do with the placing of the cases in the slings. I was tally clerk for the railway in connection with the loading. Were any of these eases rejected by Nolan?—Yes. and they were sent up on deck.

On which part of the deck were they placed?—On both sides of the deck. They remained on the deck and became part of the deck cargo. Did you notice the condition of those cases i —Some of them were still leaking.

Did you see any of the ship’s officers there i —Both the captain and the mate were there. One or the other Wf rv P resent throughout the day. Did you have a conversation with any officer ?-—Yes, the mate. About what?—-The condition of the cargo. Ihe chief officer gave me instructions that under no conditions wore any leaky cases to be put in the hatches; he particularly stressed the after hatch. The captain had told the mate to tell us this. To the best ot our ability we tried to carry out these instructions.

Witness continued that the ploughs were placed near the forward hatch, the vessel was lying at No. 7 breast’'hen the loading started a red flag was hoisted and a notice hoard put up forbidding smoking or naked lights in or near the ship. Only four were rejected from the arter hatch. The No. 1 hatch was in a bad state right through. He could not give the numbers, but about 16 per cent of the cargo in No. 1 hatch consisted of leaky cares. These cares were rejected and sent on deck. Were any of the cares sent on shore r—No; all were left on the deck and ■went away with the ship. To Mr Buchanan; He could not sav whether any of the cares had been standing m trucks before goine on the lainui, as it was his first work for lourteen days. He had no responsibility to the Railway Department in connection with leaky cares. The trucks from which ho loaded were ah m a line down the wharf. How do you account for the'different between the. state of the cases put m the after hatch and the forward natch r Because the maioritv 'of the cases were picked out for ihe after hatch. Only good cases were nut in the after hatch. The others wont forward afterwards. Ten cares were put in the sling There was an average °* wi U * ° ne * ea^ r every slin^ . y hen you saw a leaky case did von inform anybody of the fact? They could see it themselves. The stuff was running out. You are quite dear that the mate gave all the instructions ho possibly could about the-matter?— -Yes. It was for the stevedores who were stowing to rend the leaky cases np on deck?— Yes.

When this cargo was all on board was a receipt given ''to the Railway Department P-Yes, for each truck, but only for the quantity. No refereD m b made 10 the condition Jo Mr Raymond: The flying of the red flag and the notice board were in accordance with the regulations nrofor ships carrying petroleum? Tn slips 1 ° n the ta yhe made U P the

Thomas Faull, waterside worker, renwS said he was employed by the Radway Department in loading the leinui on September 15 Every sling qf cases sent on board the vessel contained at least one leaking case. Paddy JSolan appeared to be a lendmg hand in the hold, and apnea red to have charge of the hold himself. J j m S s were lowered on the deck and the wet cases picked out, the drv ones being sent down the hold Som» times a leaking case was sent np- from the hold. _ Nolan was in the hold himself stowing the cargo and remained there until the told was loaded. He first noticed the leaky condition of the tins stowed m the railway trucks. The floor of the tracks was not wet when they commenced to shift the cases, but as soon as they were shifted, they commenced v to lean. Judging bv the weight some of the tins were empty and sometimes one tin in a case would be full and the other empty. There was a great deal of benzine oozing , n L, th< ?, tins wt"] 6 they were on the wharf, the wharf being wet all the time.

Did you see Mr Newfield, the sea-men-s delegate that day? Yes, during the loading operations. Did- he make any remarks? Yes a leaking sling was going np while ’he was present and ho passed a remark about the leaking condition of the tins. Did the mate give you any instruct turns? He asked us to pick out the dry cases for the after hatch Could you say if any wet cases were allowed to remain in No. 1 hatch? I could not . say, as I was not down the

Where were the leaky cases placed? On the forward deck.

The whole of them? Yes, they were stacked as deck cargo. To Mr Buchanan: He did not know u the cases had been in the trucks for any length of time before beino- ppt on board the Tainui. He had had previous experience of handling petrol in leaking cases. The cargo was very bad compared with what he had handled before.

r^ le _ eoroner; Is it usual or unusual leaking tins in benzine cargoes’ s Witness: We find a few leaking tins in good cargo always. How did this cargo compare with other benzine cargo you have loaded? Very bad

To Mr Buchanan: He did not assist in loading any other cargo from the Caroline as far as he knew To Chief-Detective M’Uveney: The ploughs were placed on top of No. 1 hatch. He could not say if they were lashed or not.

Charles Ask we 51 Benson, waterside worker, one of the men employed in loading the Tainui on September 10, stated that he was working in No 1 hatch for most of the time. Some of tne tins which came down in the hold leaking were sent back to the deck. From the slings, the cases wore pjit on the deck and the leaking ones taken out and rest put down the hold.- It was difficult to tell whether a case was leaking or not unless the lid was taken off. There were no indications that the cases left in the hold were leaking, but about half of them were wet with benzine. This might have been caused by leakage from others. The reason lor tins leaking was mainly because the nails of the lids were not driven straight into the wood. The Tainui's cargo was no worse or no better than any other cargo. He had had considerable experience in loading benzine, and had sailed on ships carrying it. The mate and _ the captain were present all the time. He did not hear j any of the crew complain about the I state of the benzine tins. Howard landed three of the ploughs on to the cases in the hold. They were landed lightly. The benzine cases were not damaged by the landing of the I ploughs. The last plough that went in was a swamp plough and ifjammed up against the others, and witness put some benzine cases around the ploughs so that they would not shift No one in his presence anticipated danger. To Mr Raymond; The forward hatch .ooked all right, hut there was not sufficient ventilation, seeing that benzine was being carried. Before the boat sailed the hatches were battened down. On boats carrying benzine, oh which he had worked, there was always more ventilation provided so as to let the fumes escape, and in fine weather i the hatches were opened* As far as ! he could A’memher thevo were five i ploughs. The mate superintended all j the loading and showed witness where to pnt the ploughs, j TV) Mr Buchanan: Practically all of the slings were dripping, hut this did not necessarily mean that a leakv case was in the sling. He did not" know where the cargo came from before going on the Tninni. The ploughs were so placed as to avoid damaging the cases or the petrol tins inside. To Chief-Detective M’Tlvonev; The vessels on which he had worked while cnrmng benzine were the Breeze and the Storm. He was employed as a seaman on these boats. The Breeze made about seven trips between Lyttelton and Timaru, carrying benzine only. The cases on these boats appeared to bp in a drier condition than those placed on the Tainui. The more handling the cases get the wetter they become. It was due to constant handling that there were sb many leaky cases. The ploughs would not make any difference as regards the danger. The that the cargo was placed in No. 1 and not No. 2 hold would make no difference in a rough sea. TV fiuld yon have signed on for the Tainni if thev had been a man short that night?— Yes, if I had wanted a job.

To Mr Buchanan: The more handling the cases had the more leaks occurred, owing to the nails sticking into the tins.

The Coroner; .Supnosing there had been a leakage, was- there anv chance' or the benzine running to another part of the shin? -

Witness: As far as I could see it would run under the stokehold. The Coroner; The reason why T ask the question is been use the fireman on watch at the time the boat'caught nro was only one of the five bodies recovered whose face was singed.

IN No. 1 HOLD.

Theodore Neilson, another of the waterside workers employed in loading the xamui on September 15, said that he was working inside the No. 1 hold. He noticed that a few of the cares were leaking and sent them up on deck again He could not say if any leaking tins were allowed to remain in the hold; Some of them were wet, hnt they may not have been leaking. V lien No. - hatch was loaded ho went to the after hatch. Nolan gave them strict instructions not ; t»> take any cares in that hold if tohey were leaklfire had been a rumour that the cargo of benzine had to be taken from the hold on a previous occasion, laiadmg operations were finished about six o’clock. Witness had been a seaman for abont_ thirty years. He thought the Tainui was in a safe condition when lending was completed, and would have gone on the vessel himself if he had wanted to. To Mr Biichanan: He had helped to iload some benzine from the Caroline mto the Tainni on a previous occasion, there was no difference in his opinion between the condition of the two cargoes. They were just ordinary cargoes of benzine—no better and no worse. To Chief-Detective M'’Uveney: He had helped to load the Tainui with benzine from the Caroline on a previous occasion when she font to Timam. It was on the trip to Timaru immediately hefore > the disaster that Captain Wilcox, assistant marine superintendent at Lyttelton, ordered the after hatch to he kept clear of benzine, and the vessel went down to Timom with that hold empty. The Tainui had made_ four trips with benzine from tbe Caroline—three to Timaru and the one when the disaster occurred. (Proceeding.)