Wreck report for 'Charter', 1933

FOR OFFICIAL USE

[Crown Copyright Reserved.]

(No. S. 352)

STEAM DRIFTER "CHARTER"

THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1894.

REPORT OF COURT.

In the matter of a Formal Investigation held at the Town Hall, Lowestoft, on the 16th and 17th days of February, 1933, before Sir Dawson Miller, K.C., Wreck Commissioner, assisted by Captain F. J. Thompson, O.B.E., R.D., R.N.R., Captain Piers de Legh and Mr. William Addy, into the circumstances attending the stranding and loss of the British steam drifter "Charter," of the port of Lowestoft, on the 7th day of January, 1933.

The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances attending the above-mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons stated in the Annex hereto, that the stranding and loss of the said vessel were due to the wrongful act and default of the skipper in leaving the deck at a time when he was in sole charge of the navigation, without placing anyone in charge on deck or at the wheel or on the lookout, when a short distance from a dangerous coast, whereby the vessel was allowed to change her course and run ashore.

The Court finds the skipper, Cleonard James Catchpole, in grave default and suspends his certificate for 12 months from this date.

Bated this 17th day of February, 1933.

DAWSON MILLER,

Judge.

We concur in the above Report.

Annex to the Report.

This Inquiry into the circumstances attending the loss of the British steam drifter "Charter," of Lowestoft, was held at the Town Hall, Lowestoft, on the 16th and 17th days of February, 1933.

Mr. Macaulay Mort appeared for the Board of Trade and Colonel C. J. Wiltshire, of Messrs. Wiltshire Sons and Jordan, Solicitors, Lowestoft, appeared for the skipper of the vessel.

The "Charter," official number 145,828, was a wooden steam fishing vessel, ketch rigged, built by Messrs. Richards and Company, Ltd., of Lowestoft, in the year 1925. Her tonnage was 96.18 gross and 43.89 net register and she was fitted with triple' direct acting vertical surface condensing engines of 36 nominal horse power. Her registered dimensions wore length 85.1 feet, main breadth 19.6 feet and depth of hold 9.6 feet. She carried a crew of 10 hands all told.

No question was raised as to her equipment with the necessary boats and life-saving appliances and these are presumed to have been in accordance with the Board of Trade requirements. Her steering compass was fitted in the roof of the wheelhouse and was said to have been correct magnetic on a south-easterly course; it was adjusted in June last. Her original cost was stated by Mr. F. E. Beane, the managing director of the owners, to have been about £4,700 for hull and machinery and from £500 to £600 for her gear. She was insured on hull and machinery for £3,500 with local Mutual Insurance Associations and for £500 with Lloyd's, and her gear was insured with Lloyd's for £500.

The "Charter," having left Lowestoft on the 13th December, 1932, on a fishing voyage, put in to Plymouth on the 6th January, 1933, and on the 7th January she left Plymouth bound for the fishing grounds off Salcombe which lie about 1 or 1½ miles to the southward of Bolt Head. At 3 p.m. on the 7th. January she passed Plymouth Breakwater, and on arriving off the Mewstone buoy, which she passed on her port side about half a mile distant, she was put on a S.E. magnetic course, according to the evidence of the skipper. This course would take her rather more than two miles off Bolt Tail, when abeam, and was a safe and proper course to keep her clear of all danger. Whether in fact she was kept on this course before arriving off Bolt Tail seems extremely doubtful. In a deposition made by the skipper before the Receiver of Wreck on the 10th January, three days after the casualty, ho stated that the course set from the Mewstone was S.E. to E.S.E., and, having regard to the events which subsequently happened, we think it is probable that he was not steering a set compass course but was steering by the land, which was always visible, in order to pass at what he considered a fair distance off Bolt Tail.

On leaving Plymouth the skipper took charge of the navigation and was stationed at the wheel in the wheelhouse. No one was placed on the look-out. The only other person on duty was the stoker who was in charge of the engine room. The remainder of the crew were allowed to turn in and rest because, as stated by the skipper, they had had a hard week's work before entering Plymouth. It may be mentioned here that the skipper stated that when he left Lowestoft he was feeling ill and run down, and when in Plymouth consulted a doctor who prescribed some medicine for him. In the doctor's opinion he had been suffering from an attack of influenza. There is, however, no evidence to show that on leaving Plymouth he was so incapacitated as to be unable to take charge of his vessel. In fact at that time the second hand, Francis Mills, asked the skipper if he should set a watch, but this offer was declined and the crew were allowed to go off duty for the reason already stated.

From the Mewstone the vessel proceeded at full speed, making about 8½ knots through the water, the tide being ebb. According to the skipper the sun set at about 4.10 p.m., but it was actually at about 4.20 p.m. G.M.T. in that longitude. The navigation lights were not exhibited at sunset or at any time before the vessel stranded. The excuse for not exhibiting them was that it was not dark. At about 4.30 p.m. the vessel was off Bolt Tail, which, according to the skipper's evidence given before us, was 2 to 3 miles distant, but which, according to his deposition before the Receiver of Wreck, was from 1 to 1½ miles distant. We think the "latter estimate is probably nearer the truth. Shortly after passing Bolt Tail the skipper, as he was not feeling well, decided to go down into the engine room in order to get warm. He said his head was aching and he " came over queer." At that time there was no one else on deck and he took no steps to call any of the crew to take his place at the wheel. He said he lashed the wheel a little to starboard so that the ship would not run off to port towards the land, and he apparently considered that this precaution was sufficient for the safe navigation of the ship. He said he did not intend to stop in the engine room for long, but in fact he remained there until the vessel stranded about half an hour or 40 minutes later, during which time the vessel was left to take care of herself. About 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour after the skipper went to the engine room the stoker went on deck to get tea in the galley, leaving the skipper below. He did not go forward of the funnel but said that when he was on deck ho saw some of the other fishing vessels-he could not say how far off-which appeared to be shooting or to have shot their nets, his vessel being inshore of the others. He afterwards returned to the engine room and reported what he had seen to the skipper. He then got the order to reduce the engines to half speed, which he carried out. According to the skipper the order to reduce speed was given when he first went to the engine room. This order he said was given because he had plenty of time to get to the fishing ground and not because he considered such a precaution necessary for the safety of the ship. That she was in any danger does not appear to have occurred to him. About 10 minutes after the stoker returned the vessel ran aground on the rocks under the cliffs, near the spot marked West Cliff on Admiralty Chart No. 1613, about a mile and three quarters to the southward and eastward of Bolt Tail. The engines were reversed full speed but the blades were stripped from the propeller almost at once. The skipper then went on deck and judged the vessel to be heading about E. by S. On going to the wheelhouse he found that the lashing had come adrift from the wheel. This he attributed to the wheel having more play after the speed was reduced. The wind was then increasing and the vessel remained hard and fast on the rocks not far from the cliffs. No further attempt was made to get her off, and it was not suggested that such an attempt could have proved successful. The vessel appears to have been leaking before the crew left her about half an hour later. They went ashore by means of a derrick swung over the ship's side. On the following day some of the crew returned to the vessel and found that she was rapidly breaking up. Practically everything was lost on the vessel, including the skipper's certificate and ship's papers.

It seems to us almost incredible that anyone holding a skipper's certificate should be so lacking in a sense of his responsibilities as to leave his vessel after sunset, without lights and without anyone in charge on deck, when so short a distance from a dangerous coast, and when there were admittedly other vessels in the immediate neighbourhood drifting with their nets down. The only excuse put forward for such conduct is that he was not feeling well and he did not like to call upon the other members of the crew to relieve him as they had been hard worked during the previous week.

We are satisfied that the state of his health was not such as to render him incapable of taking the obvious precaution of calling upon the second hand, or one of the crew, to take his place if he found it necessary to give up charge. Nor do we consider that the fact that the crew had been hard worked previously affords any justification for not seeking their services in case of emergency. Moreover it is to be observed that the story told in his deposition to the Receiver of Wreck differs materially from that given before us in his evidence. The story there told omits all mention of his illness and of his having left the deck and gone into the engine room, and attributes the accident to the vessel having struck submerged rocks about three quarters of a mile from the cliffs which stripped the blades from her propeller so that she drifted in shore and grounded close under the cliffs. This deposition also states that the deponent under-estimated the distance from the land owing to the haze. From the weather reports of Penlee Point and the Start Point Lighthouse, as well as from the evidence of other witnesses called before us, it is manifest that there was nothing in the weather conditions that would account for any miscalculation of the distance from the land, and this suggestion was not pressed before us at the hearing. it is also apparent from the evidence of Conolly, the stoker, and Mills, the second hand, who went on deck just after the vessel struck and found her then close under the cliff, that she could not have been anything like three quarters of a mile from the shore when she first struck; nor docs it appear from the Admiralty Charts that there are any submerged rocks three quarters of a mile from the cliff in that locality. We can only conjecture that the skipper, when he made his deposition on the 10th January, was fully conscious of his neglect of duty and was endeavouring to make out a case which might to some extent mitigate his conduct. it is, however, a point to be taken in his favour that he has not attempted in his evidence before us to conceal the fact that he left his vessel unattended in the manner already described. We can, however, find no excuse for his conduct, which might have had much more disastrous consequences than the loss of the ship. in fact it appears from the evidence of John Hambly Pengelly, skipper of the motor vessel "Our Girls," of Fowey, which was in the neighbourhood with her nets out ahead when the "Charter" was heading for the shore unattended, that ho had a narrow escape from what might have been a serious collision. The "Charter" crossed his bows from port to starboard, a short distance off, going over his nets, and he could not make out why she was steering in towards the shore. He cast off his nets and followed her up, blowing his fog horn and hailing her through a megaphone and burning a flare in order to attract her attention, but without success, and only stopped when it was dangerous to proceed any further in shore. Mr. Ripley, coastguard at Hope Cove, who was on watch at Graystone Ledge, also tried to attract her attention by blowing his fog horn when he saw her running into danger about half a mile from the shore. It is quite clear from the evidence of these witnesses that when the skipper left the deck not only was the ship's navigation left uncontrolled, but nobody on board was in a position to hear or see any warning signals which might be given from the shore or from other vessels.

After giving due consideration to the state of the skipper's health, and to his past good record and to all that was urged on his behalf by Colonel Wiltshire, we are of opinion that his conduct calls for severe censure.

At the conclusion of the evidence Mr. Mort, on behalf of the Hoard of Trade, submitted the following questions for the opinion of the Court:-

1. Who wore the registered owners of the s.s. "Charter"?

2. When the s.s. "Charter" left Plymouth on the 7th January, 1933, was she in good and seaworthy condition as regards hull and machinery?

3. At what time on the 7th January, 1933. did the s.s "Charter" leave Plymouth? What were the weather conditions at that time?

4. For what fishing grounds was the vessel bound? On what course or courses and at what speeds did she proceed?

5. At what time was sunset on the 7th January, 1933? Did the s.s. "Charter" after sunset on the 7th January, 1933, carry and show the regulation lights for a vessel of her class?

6. Was a good and proper look-out being kept on the s.s. "Charter"?

7. Was the vessel navigated with proper and seamanlike care?

8. At what time and where did the s.s. "Charter" strand? What were the weather conditions at that time? What was the visibility?

9. What was the cause of the stranding of the vessel ?

10. Was the stranding and loss of the s.s. "Charter" caused by the wrongful act or default of Cleonard James Catch pole, her skipper?

Colonel Wiltshire having addressed the Court on behalf of the skipper, and Mr. Mort having replied on behalf of the Board of Trade, the Court delivered its judgment and returned the following answers to the questions submitted:-

1. The registered owners were Messrs. Peacock & Company (Lowestoft), Limited, of 3, Herring Market, Lowestoft.

2. Yes.

3. The "Charter" left Plymouth at about 3 p.m. on the 7th January, 1933. The weather was fine and cloudy, the wind was about S.W., force 3. The visibility was good.

4. The vessel was bound for the Salcombe fishing grounds off Bolt Head. According to the evidence of the skipper the course was set at S.E. magnetic when half a mile to the southward of the Mewstone buoy and not altered, but for the reasons stated in the report we are not satisfied that this course was maintained, and are of opinion that the course steered was more easterly. The vessel proceeded at full speed on leaving Plymouth, making about 8½ knots through the water. Subsequently at some time after the skipper had left the deck and gone into the engine room the engines were reduced to half speed and so continued until the vessel stranded.

5. Sunset at the place in question was at about 4.20 p.m. G.M.T. on the 7th January, 1933. The vessel carried but did not exhibit the regulation lights after sunset on the day in question.

6. A good and proper look out was not kept.

7. The vessel was not navigated with proper and seamanlike care.

8. The "Charter" stranded at about 5.10 p.m. on the 7th January about a mile and three quarters to the southward and eastward of Bolt Tail at the foot of the cliff beneath the spot marked West Cliff on Admiralty Chart No. 1613. The weather was fine and cloudy, the wind was westerly, force 4 to 5. Visibility was good.

9. The stranding was caused by the wrongful act and default of the skipper in leaving the deck when he was in sole charge of the navigation with nobody at the wheel or on the look-out for over half an hour, whereby the vessel was allowed to get off her course and run ashore.

10. Yes.

DAWSON MILLER,

Judge.

We concur,

(Issued by the Board of Trade in London

on Friday, the 17th day of March, 1933)

LONDON

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