(No. 340.)
"CONGOU."
The Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876.
IN the matter of the formal Investigation held at the Town Hall, Lowestoft, on the 25th July 1879, before H. C. ROTHERY, Esq., Wreck Commissioner, assisted by Commander FORSTER, R.N., and Captain HIGHT, as Assessors, into the circumstances attending the stranding of the British sailing ship "CONGOU," of Sunderland, on the 9th instant, whilst on a voyage from Hull to Buenos Ayres.
Report of Court.
The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above-mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons annexed,-
"1. That the stranding of the said vessel on the morning of the 9th instant was due to the negligent navigation thereof by the master, Richard Stephenson Jobson.
2. That the master was to blame for having stood for so long a time on the same course, head reaching to the southward, the gale all the time driving him to the eastward, the effect of which was to place him between the Sandettié and Out Ruytingen Banks.
3. That the master was also to blame for not having taken a cast of the lead between 6 p.m. of the Sth and eight of the following morning, which would have shown him that he was shoaling his water, and approaching these dangerous sands.
The Court, however, considering all the circumstances of the case, returned to the master his certificate, but with a warning to be more careful in future.
The Court made no order as to costs.
Dated the 29th day of July 1879.
(Signed)
H. C. ROTHERY,
Wreck Commissioner.
We concur in the above report.
(Signed)
EDWARD HIGHT,
Assessors
"
GEO. H. FORSTER,
Annex to the Report.
This case was heard on the 25th day of July instant, when Mr. Cottingham appeared for the Board of Trade, and Mr. Archer for the captain and owners of the vessel. Six witnesses having been produced by the Board of Trade and examined, Mr. Cottingham asked the opinion of the Court upon the following questions:-
"1. Whether the stranding of the 'Congou' on the " morning of the 9th of July was not due to defective or " negligent navigation ?
"2. Whether the master, when he laid his ship by " the wind, at 1 p.m of the 7th, and continued this " course with a gale blowing at W.S.W. to west for 18 " hours, should not have made due allowance for the " easterly drift of his ship ?
"3. Considering the state of the weather and the direc- " tion the ship was taking, whether the master took the " steps he might have taken to verify his position ?
"4. Whether under all the circumstances of the case his " certificate should not be dealt with ?"
The owner was then called to speak to the master's character, and Mr. Archer having been heard for the master, and Mr. Cottingham in reply, the Court proceeded to give judgment on the questions that had been submitted for its consideration. The circumstances of the case are as follow:-
The "Congou" is a vessel of 324 tons net register, built at Sunderland in the year 1865, and at the time of the casualty which forms the subject of the present inquiry she was the property of Messrs. Staunton, Tranter, and Company, of Liverpool. She left Hull on the morning of Sunday the 6th instant, bound with a cargo of 502 tons of coal to Buenos Ayres, and having on board a crew of 10 hands all told. On leaving port the weather appears to have been extremely moderate, so much so that, according to the captain, she had at first hardly steerage way upon her, but afterwards the wind freshened, and she proceeded on her course down the coast; and at noon of Tuesday the 8th instant the North Foreland bore W. by N., distant about eight miles. It was then blowing a gale from about W.S.W. and the vessel was close hauled upon the port tack. At 1 p.m. of the same day the North Foreland bore W.S.W., distant about eight miles, and the vessel was then wore round with her head to the south, and from that time until 8 a.m. of the following morning she was kept close hauled to the wind on the starboard tack heading south, or a point either way, the wind varying from west and W.S.W. At about 6 o'clock a cast of the lead was taken, which gave 25 fathoms, but from that time no cast was taken until eight the following morning, when 16 fathoms were obtained. The master thereupon, thinking that he had got sufficiently far to the south, gave orders to wear ship, and she was accordingly laid with her head to the northward and westward, close hauled upon the port tack. It was half-past eight before she was fairly round, and her sails trimmed, and she had been for about three quarters of an hour upon this tack, when she suddenly struck the ground; upon which her head was laid off to the north, but in a few minutes she again struck, but more severely; and after striking a third time she beat over the bank into deep water. On then sounding the pumps it was found that she was making a good deal of water, but by manning both pumps they were able to keep it under, and she was continued heading to the north. At noon of the same day an observation was obtained for latitude, which enabled them to fix their position approximately, when a course was laid for the Gallopers, whence she was steered for Lowestoft, which they reached on the following morning. Such, briefly, are the facts of the case, and the first question which we have to consider is, where was it that the vessel struck, and how came she to get there? The captain told us that, from finding himself at 8 a.m. of the 9th in 16 fathoms of water, he had assumed that he must then have been in about latitude 51° 17' north and longitude 2° 1' east, which would place him to the north of Sandettié Bank, but this is quite impossible, for after going about she stood away to the N.W. for about three quarters of an hour before she struck, and there is no bank or shoal in that direction, Sandettié being the outermost of these banks. It becomes therefore important to ascertain where we might expect to find her at 8 a.m. of the 9th, when she put about to run to the north-west, having regard to the course steered, and the direction and force of the wind and tide.
Taking the North Foreland as our point of departure, we find that at 1 p.m. of the 8th it bore W.S.W., distant eight miles, and that the vessel was from that time until 8 a.m. of the following morning kept on a south to S. by E. course, close hauled to the wind on the starboard tack, head reaching as the captain called it at the rate of about a knot an hour, which agrees with the mate's statement, that during those 19 hours between 1 p.m. of the 8th and 8 a.m. of the 9th she made about 20 miles on a southerly course. During all this time, too, she was under her two lower topsails, foretopmast staysail, and mizen staysail, and was therefore driving to the eastward before the gale, which was from west to W.S.W. As to the tide the master told us that it was high water in Dover Straits at about 2 p.m. of the 8th; she would consequently have had two ebbs and one flood tide between that time and eight of the following morning, but the master says that he estimated that the two ebbs together would set him about as far to the N.E. as the one flood tide would set him to the S.W., the flood running very much stronger than the ebb. The tides, in fact, he said, neutralized one another, and might be left out of account. So that if this assumption was correct, all that we have to do in order to fix the position of the vessel at 8 a.m. of the 9th is to calculate the effect which would be produced upon her by headway and drift, without reference to the force and direction of the tides, and this is what the master says he did. Now according to the evidence the vessel made by head reaching between 1 p.m. of the 8th and eight of the following morning about 20 miles in a southerly direction, and by drifting about the same distance in an easterly direction. Her direction then through the water would be in the line of the diagonal of a parallelogram formed by two lines representing the headway and the drift, that is to say, in a S.E. direction, and this is in accordance with the evidence of the mate, who told us that during his watch that night, which was from midnight to 4 a.m., he put the lead over the side to see which way she was going, and found it to be to the S.E., due as he said to head reaching and leeway. But if we take a chart and place the vessel with the North Foreland bearing W.S.W., distant eight miles, and allow her to drive to the S.E. at the rate and for the time stated, we shall find that it would bring her to the south of the Sandettié Bank, and between it and the Out Ruytingen, and there no doubt she was. What probably occurred was this: the vessel some hour or two before 8 a.m. of the 9th, and when she was still heading to the southward, crossed the Sandettié Bank, but there being then plenty of water on it, and no soundings having been taken, the fact was not observed. When, however, her head had been laid to the northward and westward, it happened very unfortunately that just as she was recrossing the Sandettié Bank it was dead low water, and the result was that she struck upon one of the shallow flats on this sand, on which the charts show us that there is at low water only about 3 1/2 fathoms. This, no doubt, is the true explanation of the case, as the master himself admitted towards the close of his examination. The cause of the casualty was his standing for too long a time on a southerly course, whilst at the same time the wind was driving him to the eastward, which would necessarily place her between the Sandettié and the Out Ruytingen.
The question then arises, what excuse had the master for continuing so long on a course, which must, if continued, have inevitably taken him, and which did in fact take him, into the neighbourhood of these dangerous shoals? At page 148 of Part II. of the Channel Pilot I find the following remarks. Speaking of the banks off the north coast of France it says : "The approach to this low dangerous coast " is obstructed by numerous banks, composed of grey and " black sand, which extend as far as 15 miles from the " shore on the meridian of Calais, and 42 miles in a N.E. " direction from Dunkerque. Their shoalest spots may " be touched upon by vessels of almost any draught, and " the eddies they occasion cause a hollow sea and the " waves break upon them when it blows strong. Those " farthest from the land lie on the eastern limit of the " 20-fathom line of soundings, which form in the southern " part of the north sea the deep, known as the deep " soundings channel, which begins at Dover Strait and " ends at about latitude 53° 20' north." "The banks," it goes on to say, "are all steep-to on their inshore edge, " and spread in a gentle slope towards the offing, and as " they rise from the submarine bank, composed of sand, " gravel, and broken shells, joining the shore, and upon " which there are less than 20 fathoms at low water, a " simple method is afforded to avoid getting amongst them " by not going into less than that depth at that time of " tide." Further on at page 149, speaking of the Sandettié Bank, it says: "Its south and south-east edges " are steep-to, having from 19 to 20 fathoms water at less " than half a cable from the southern edge, but its slope is " more gradual towards the north-west and this side may " easily be avoided by the lead. There are two shallow " fats on this bank, over which it would be dangerous to " pass in bad weather."
All then that the captain had to do to avoid getting amongst these most dangerous shoals was to keep the lead occasionally going, and not to get into less than 20 fathoms of water, and yet we find that from 6 p.m. of the 8th until eight of the following morning, during all which time he was on a course heading directly for these shoals, he never once took a cast of the lead. It is not, as Mr. Archer has contended, a mere error of judgment, it is a very grave offence of which this gentleman has been guilty, and by which he ran the risk of losing the vessel and all on board, and the question which we have now to consider is whether we shall accede to the application made to us by Mr. Cottingham cn behalf of the Board of Trade that we should deal with this gentleman's certificate.
It seems that Captain Jobson had generally sailed out of Liverpool, and that he had not been through Dover Straits since 1862, and he was then before the mast; he was therefore evidently not well acquainted with the navigation of these waters, and not fully alive to the danger of approaching too close to these shoals, or he would never have continued for 19 hours on a course heading directly for them, without taking a cast of the lead. On the other hand, he seems to have been generally a very careful man, and very attentive to his duties; and the assessors were much struck with the care with which he had taken the bearings of all the lights and headlands on his way down from Hull to the North Foreland. Before joining this vessel, which was his first command, he had been in the service of the West India and Pacific Steamship Company, and the certificate which they gave him on his leaving them is in these words: "This is to certify that Mr. R. S. " Jobson joined this company's service as third officer in " May 1875, and was promoted to second officer in June " 1877, in which capacity he served up to the end of May " 1879. The masters, with whom he sailed, always " reported him as being a strictly sober and diligent " officer, his cause for leaving the company was to better " his position." The owner, too, of the "Congou," himself a nautical man, told us that he had been well acquainted with him for from 8 years to 10 years, during which he had been sailing out of Liverpool, and that he believed him to be a thoroughly honest, sober, and diligent officer; that he had entire confidence in him; and that in the event of the Court not suspending his certificate he should be prepared still to continue that confidence to him.
Under all the circumstances of the case, we are disposed to take a lenient view of this gentleman's conduct, and believing that he is now fully conscious of the grievous fault which he has committed, we shall not suspend his certificate, but shall warn him to be more careful in future. Mr. Cottingham stated that he was not instructed to ask for any costs. None were therefore given.
(Signed)
H. C. ROTHERY,
Wreck Commissioner.
We concur.
(Signed)
EDWARD HIGHT,
Assessors
"
GEO. H. FORSTER,
(No. 449.)
L 367. 111. 70.-8/79. Wt. 47. E. & S.
