NAUTICAL INQUIRY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9660, 15 June 1882, Page 3

NAUTICAL INQUIRY.

Inquiries, have been held before Mr D. Lundonj -.Collector' of Customs, into the I--' casualties, which recently took place at L the Heads, affecting the schooner E. and SR- U. Cameron and the b.s. Clyde. The ra^~ proceedings terminated yesterday, and " '- Mr" litindon, in terms of the Shipping and Seamen's A ct, .forwarded to the de- ■- = partment his summary of the evidence 1 > taken.;- , The following is the evidence as '-. to the -stranding of the E. and U. Came- ' ron:— John.^ußkis, Aschman deposed: I am master'of the schooner E. and TJ. Cameron.' I hold a New Zealand certifioate of service, No. 2276. I left Heathcote River on the 2nd of June, in ballast, bound for Wanganui, and had, as crew, two men, Peter Millet and Henry Blackmore. ..On Sunday, the 4th instant, I brought up under Kapiti, the wind blowing very, heavy from the south-east. I left Kapiti on Monday evening, the sth r instant, . and ' arrived off the Wanganui •_■;' bar at 8 ; :&- m > on Tuesday, 6th instant. ;,;.'•. Being too early for the tide I hauled the C". ' vessel on the wind, to stand off and on \i waiting, for the tide ; hauled the outer a jib down and double-reefed the mainsai', W and put a single reef in the foresail. <r^ About ten o'clock the signal went up at !': the flagstaff for flood-tide. About balfS past eleven, the signal, " Take the bar," ■ : being ujv ;i squared away for the bar, having 'Shakeii. the reef out of the foresail. The wind outside was E.8.E., '', blowing very,, strong. I came over the _.' : bar all 'right until we came under the bluff. The wind then broke off, the head ;. '-■"' sails began" to shake, and the vessel V began to loose headway. The pilot sang '■'■' out to me to fill on her. The vessel fell ; off a bit,, but not sufficient to get headway for to stay her. The pilot ordered I me to stay the vessel, but she missed stays, and I was then ordered to let go i the anchor. I gave her about ten '{'--, fathoms of chain. It was then within K an hour' hi high water. By the time we ¥- got our; 'anils' down the vessel swung if- broadside on the cliff, and her bilgo took H the groiin'd."'Tl\e pilot told us then to §£*' run a hedge out, which we did at first §• from tho starboard quarter across the H river. We 1 hove it' home, and then we ife. took the kedge in the boat and took it &"" ahead ariS* f urtlirr into the river. We W hove on that and tho vessel came off. i "We hove up our anchor, and hove on the t; kedge line as loiig as the kedgo would V hold. The pilot sang out to let go both I anchors/ as the kedgo was coming f- home. I let go tho starboard anchor ': and played out about ton fathoms, and then let' go tho port anchor, and we played but both chains until we had about eighteen frithoms on tho star- ► board and twelve fathoms on the port 'during the whole of the ebb. Tho ' vessel was ■ cleftr, but on tho flood she * swung very olose to the rocks. "We 'lifted our kedge and ran out again ahead, to haul the vessel a little further up the river. "We picked up our anchors and hove up to the kedge, and let go both anchors again, and payed out on both anchors and. on the kedge line the same as before. And then the vessel was swinging at flood tide clear of the rocks. I did not warp her any more, as it was blowing too hard, and I thought I was out of everybody's road. I was on deck until 12 o'clock that night. The vessel had swung down ■with the. ebb. I saw that the anchor light was burning brightly and went down below and turned in. I lay awake until half-past 1, when I heard a crash. I jumped on deck and saw that the steamer Clyde had run into us. The men and myself went forward to help to clear the Clyde from us. Captain Bonner, of the Clyde, was giving the orders. My men and myself did what he told, us to do. I •went to see how far the vessel was from the rocks, and then I went below to putsome clothes on, and when I came forward again the Clyde's stern was cutting us down on our port bow. The Clyde drifted clear of us, and we lay there until the next morning, till the flood-tide, about nine o'clock on the 7th inttant, when she swung with her stern on the rocks again. Having ( lost the kedge, I could not heave the > vessel off. I hove up tho port anchor and set the double-reefed mainsail. I ■ ' hove the starboard anchor up too, and set the jib and tried to sail across the river, the wind being south-east, and blowing heavily. We got off, and half way across the river the pilot sang out to let go our anchor. We let go our starboard anchor with about fifteen fathoms of chain. While we were lowering tho sails the vessel drifted ashore again, and there she lay until the steamer Huia camo in. I wcut alongside with our boa* and asked Captain Berrimau to tow us off. Captain Berriman went inside the river and brought up. He told mo then that it was dangerous for him to P o there to tow her off. He f-'uou lent nic a kedge and a warp. We took it ou boai-cl and, bent some wore lin.es on to

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the warp, ran the kedge out into the river, took the line into the port quarter, and hove tho vessel off stern foremost into the middle of the river. When we hove her away from the rocks we hove up the anchor, and carried it from the bow to the stern and dropped it. We let her swing to her anchor with about fifteen fathoms of chain. With the two succeeding tides we warped her further into the fiver than we were at first, and on Friday, 9th inst., the s.s. Tui towed us up to the wharf. I laid her on the Putiki beach yesterday, at twelve o'clock, and found, a plank stove in on her starboard quarter, and part of the false keel and main keel forward broken away.' In the collision part of my covering board, and part of the stern, bulwarks, and jibboom were gone, and thebobstay and bolts belonging to the bowsprit shrouds were carried away, and our jib sheets were lost. — By the Pilot: There was about two hundred and fifty feet clear from us on the south spit. I lay up well to the end of the south spit. — By the Collector of Customs : There were two fathoms of water over two hundred feet away in the direction of the spit. I was about a hundred feet from the spit when the head sails were shaking. If I had known there was deep water by the spit I would have kept closer in. — Arthur Irvine, Pilot, and one of the seamen corroborated the testimony of the master of the vessel. — Charles Bonner deposed: I am master of the s.s. Clyde. I hold a New Zealand certificate of service. I left the Wauganui wharf for Patea at about 1 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, 7th inst. about high water, wind south east, etrong. When nearing Castle Cliff with the beacon lights on I saw a vessel with a riding light which appeared to bo lying in the narrows between the spit and the cliff, with her head across t*>n channel towaTds the south-east, or head to. wind. Fearing to foul ihu-cn-hle, I tried to go round astern, but found there was no room betwpen her stern and Castle Cliff.' I put the lieJui hard a starboard, and reversed the. engines. The wind being strong, the vessel did not come to in time, and fouled the schooner on the port bow by our stern. After the collision, while working the engines astern (having given a' line from our bow to the schooner), the starboard engine brought up. and the line on board the schooner was let go. I got clear of the schooner and worked the port engine ahead until past the cliff outwards. After passing the cliff, I went astern on the port engine to prevent her drifting out, and to go on the beach easy. I grounded on the north side of the channel, and stuck fast at low water. Tho vessel was dry all round, and I found some rope on the starboard propeller. I carried thp anchor out as far as I could from the bow in the direction of the channel, anil as the tide flowed I hove on it. It had the effect of getting the bow round to the river; but did not get her off that tide. I then borrowed the pilot's boat, and at low water, and with the pilot's assistance, I laid my anchor out with a warp, and hove on it. As the tide made, tho anchor came home. *t low water I again laid out a heavier anchor with fifty fathoms of chain, and I hove on it as the tide made. When the hiwsepipp curried awny, I then shifted the chain on the port side, which took considerable time to do, and the tide ebbed so much that she was aground again. The next tide we got off with the same appliances, at half-past one on Friday morning, the 9th instant. I came up the river with the starboard engine, and put her on the beach at Putiki, at 4 a.m., when I found that the blades of the port propellor had shifted on the bows. I account for this from the engine being worked while the vessel was ashore. I have examined the vessel now she is on the beach, and there is no damage done under water to her hull. The bulwarks on the starboard side have their stanchions carried away from tho effects of the collision, and the cheeks of the hawse-pipe were carried awny by the strain in getting her off tho bench. The rope that was foul of the starboard propeller was the schooner's kerlge rope. The schooner was theE. and U.Cameron, of Lyttelton, in ballast, Cnptnin .a schman. — By the Collector: The schooner was there the following day. I Ibink thpre was room aboad of tho schooner had I been aware of it. I did not see a buoy to say positively whether there wns room or not. I saw tho schooner's ridinglight some time before the collision, but I thought the vessel was further up the river. I saw no one keeping anchor watch, and nobody sung out, although at the time of the collision they were all on deck. If they were on deck to give me notice, I could not have heard them with the noise of the engines and the wind. I felt -sure of being able to pass astern of her until too late. — By Captain Asohman : I told your men that I was trying to cross your bows when I discerned that I could not go astern of you. I attributed tho stranding of the Clyde to the schooner's kedge rope fouling the starboard propeller, and the place where the schooner was anchored not leaving room enough in the dark. — The further evidence taken was mainly corroborative. As we have said, the Collector of Customs yesterday afternoon forwarded to the department his report re tho inquiry, which we are not permitted to publish at present. It will now rest with the department to decide whether any further inquiry is necessary.