Wreck Report for 'Loch Rannoch', 1881

(No. 1113.)

"LOCH RANNOCH" (S.S.)

REPORT of a Court of Inquiry held at Bombay into the fire on board the steamship "LOCH RANNOCH," of Dundee, and the subsequent foundering of that vessel.

Bombay, Chief Presidency Magistrate's Court, 6th August 1881.

Pursuant to Government Resolution, Marine Department, No. 443, dated 27th July 1881, appointing C. P. Cooper, Esquire, Chief Presidency Magistrate, Captain W. T. Crockett, late I.N., and Captain R. Collins, master of the steamship "Branksome Hall," to conduct an investigation into the circumstances connected with the steamship "Loch Rannoch" having arrived at the Port of Bombay on fire, and the subsequent submergence of that vessel, the Court assembled on the dates mentioned in the record of proceedings for the purpose stated.

From the evidence before the Court it appears that the steamship "Loch Rannoch" left London on the 21st May last, bound for Bombay, under the command of Mr. Stewart Robertson Lee, who holds a master's certificate from the Board of Trade No. 84446, issued at Dundee on the 2nd May 1870. The "Loch Rannoch" is of 1008 tons register, has engines of 480 horse-power, is constructed of steel, and is rigged as a two-masted schooner. She is classed 20 years A 1 at Lloyd's, Liverpool, and was launched last year. On her voyage from London to Bombay she carried a general cargo, consisting of sleepers, Government stores, and cargo of all sorts. She had ten cases of ether on deck, and some lights for putting on life buoys. These lights were in the after-hatch. There were also some matches, but not in the after-hold. There were small packages of composite candles which were used for broken stowage, and mostly all of them were in the after-hold. They came right up to between decks, and a great part of them were stowed in the fore part of the lower after-hold just in front of the hatch. There were coals in the between deck from the engine-room to the fore part of the after-hatch, and a temporary bulkhead was fitted up just in front of the after-hatch between decks. These coals were above the candles, with a steel deck between them. The "Loch Rannoch" called at Malta on the 31st May last, and at Port Said on the 5th June. All went well until the 17th June last, when the ship's position was latitude 17° 52' N. and longitude 62° 30' E. Captain Lee reckons that he was then 600 miles from Bombay. At 4 o'clock that afternoon the steward reported to him that there was smoke coming from the forward after-hold ventilator on the port side. Captain Lee ordered a hose into the bunkers on the port side, and this order was carried out by the chief engineer and firemen. The chief engineer came on deck and assured Captain Lee that the coals were all right. The after-hatches were then taken off and the buoy lights removed. They then commenced to dig down as far as they could amongst the cargo until they were driven out by smoke. They could find out nothing, there being so much smoke. The hatches and all other ventilators and openings to the hold were then battened down. The after engine-room bulkhead, which is a steel one, was a little warm on the port side just below the steel between decks. This was all that was done on the 17th June, and Captain Lee kept on as hard as he could for Bombay. The next day the smoke increased in the cabin aft. Nothing was done except getting the fire-hose ready. The engine-room bulkhead did not get hotter until the afternoon of Sunday, the 19th June. Captain Lee states he then did nothing, as he could do nothing that he knew of until he got to Bombay. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 20th June a pilot came on board and brought the vessel into port and anchored her near the quarantine ground. Captain Lee asked the pilot to go ashore and report the case to the port officer. He did so, and Mr. Walke, harbour master, came off and shifted the vessel further up. At about 8 o'clock the anchor-buoy and water-barge belonging to the port were brought alongside, and water poured down the after-hold ventilators. When shifting the vessel's ground a hole was made in the engine-room's bulkhead and a steam hose was put in through it; at that time there was 90lbs. pressure of steam on. This was kept going while water was being poured down the ventilators. The chief engineer states that steam was kept playing through the hose for about three hours at about 90lbs. pressure, but he could not tell what effect the steam had. The water came in and condensed the steam; the hatches were battened down. Captain Lee states that he could not tell if the fire was then at all got under. Captain Morland, port officer, came on board at about 8 o'clock, and the vessel was afterwards shifted further in-shore to three fathoms water; immediately after. wards the anchor-buoy and water-barge came again alongside, and the hoses were put in the ventilators on both sides. Before moving from the second anchorage the tarpaulings were taken off from the after-hatch; the smoke was very bad, and the men battened it down again. About noon the hatches were taken off, and the cargo taken out, water being pumped into the hold at the same time; water was pumped into the ship until about 3 o'clock that afternoon, and the fire was supposed to have been got under, and then Captain Lee stopped all the hoses but two; he did so because the water was leaking into the engine-room through the steel bulkhead, and was likely to put out the fires. The engine-room was then pumped out, and the water decreased so fast in the after-hold that the fire increased again. The bulkhead was leaking very badly; the fire got worse, and pumping was recommenced and continued up till 3 o'clock in the morning of the 21st June (Tuesday), when the fire was finally put out. At that time there were about three feet of water above the between decks. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the previous day, when Captain Lee stopped water being pumped in, the water in the after-hold was about 13 inches below the between decks. Captain Lee states that he thinks when the water was about 9 feet high in the after-hold it commenced to leak through the engine-room bulkhead, which at about that time the chief engineer reported was leaking badly. During the night the water appears, from the pumping being continued, to have gone into the main and fore holds from the between decks, and in consequence the ship became submerged. Captain Lee states that the vessel's bulkheads are fitted with sluices, that each sluice was drawn when the ship arrived in harbour, and that none of them were opened afterwards to his knowledge. At daylight the hatches were battened down, and then Captain Lee went ashore and procured two pumps with engines from the Bombay Port Trust. At about 11 o'clock at night the pumps were worked, but they did not work properly the first night, and the ship commenced to sink in the mud. There were four feet of water over the after part of the main deck that night. The vessel was upright then, but she took a list the next day. The deck pumps were worked with the donkey engine until all the water left the donkey boiler. Pumping was kept up until the 13th July last, and Captain Lee states that he had succeeded in getting the water four feet below the between decks. It was intended to raise the vessel with one tide, but she did not rise. Captain Lee states that he then called a special survey committee, consisting of Captain Clarke, Lloyd's surveyor, Captain Russel, and Captain Newell, and they were all the time up to the 10th of July trying and attempting to lift her. Every endeavour was made to do so, night and day, but a gale came in on Sunday morning, the 10th July, and knocked all the appliances adrift. Captain Lee states that they raised the batches aft 10 feet, the main hatch about 5 feet, and battened down the forecastle and forehatch, and raised all the pumps on the spar deck. These appliances he considers were sufficiently strong had it not been for the gale, and they were according to the surveyor's orders. The ship's present position is 15 feet in the mud with 2 feet of a list to port, caused, Captain Lee thinks, by the ground being harder on one side than on the other. It is in contemplation to attempt to raise her, and an expert and gang are expected here on the 8th of this month from home for that purpose.

Captain Lee has stated that he has no idea as to what was the cause of the fire breaking out on board the "Loch Rannoch," and that he never got down to where the fire was supposed to have broken out. A lot of burnt damaged cargo was got out. The smell was very strange, but Captain Lee could find out nothing. It seemed to him as if wool and straw were burning, but he knew of nothing that could have set wool and straw on fire. Mr. Walke also states that the smell was like that of straw burning. There were no matches in the hold where the fire was; they were in the fore-hold between decks. Captain Lee says he is certain the fire originated somewhere in the cargo, and that he could see only the smoke, but could get nowhere near the fire. He thinks the fire could not have been the work of an incendiary on board, and there was no reason for him to suspect such a thing, as no one could get near the place where the heat was felt. He received every assistance from his officers before and after arriving in port, and his crew had all been on duty from the midnight of the 19th June.

A great deal of evidence has been taken by the Court to elicit the cause of the fire and the measures taken to put it out, and to ascertain the circumstances under which the "Loch Rannoch" was submerged. The evidence of the captain and witnesses leads the Court to believe that the fire was spontaneous, and not the work of an incendiary, since it was impossible to get near the spot where the fire appears to have originated. Neither does the fire appear to have been caused by the careless stowage of the combustible part of the vessel's cargo. The Court is of opinion that from the time the fire was discovered up to the time when the "Loch Rannoch" was grounded, and the fire finally put out, Captain Lee took all proper precautions, and did everything that was necessary for the safety of his vessel. The Court must take into consideration the anxiety under which Captain Lee had laboured, and the great energy he ?? had displayed up to the time that his vessel became submerged, but they think that if he had used more energetic measures afterwards the vessel might have been raised, and for his not doing so the Court consider the captain's conduct is open to some censure.

From the evidence given before it the Court cannot but come to the conclusion that the after engine-room bulk-head was faultily constructed, and had it not been so the water in the lower after-hold would have been con. fined to that compartment, and could easily have been pumped out by the ship's engines, and the vessel would not have been submerged. The port authorities appear to have acted most promptly in rendering every assistance to the captain of the "Loch Rannoch" in the trying position in which he was placed.

 

(Signed)

C. P. COOPER, Chief Presidency Magistrate.

 

 

W. T. CROCKETT, Late I. N. and Permanent Nautical Assessor.

 

 

R. COLLINS, Master s.s. "Branksome Hall."

(True copy.)

 

(Signed)

C. P. COOPER, Chief Presidency Magistrate.

L 367. 883. 70.—10/81. Wt. 203. E. & S.