Wreck Report for 'Band of Hope' and 'Wydale', 1884

(No. 2049.)

"BAND OF HOPE" AND "WYDALE" (S.S.)

The Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876.

IN the matter of the formal Investigation held at the Sessions House, Westminster, on the 10th day of January 1884, before H. C. ROTHERY, Esquire, Wreck Commissioner, assisted by Captain HIGHT, Captain GRANT, R.N., and Captain RONALDSON, as Assessors, into the circumstances attending the loss of the sailing ship "BAND OF HOPE," of Plymouth, and the loss of the lives of her crew of two hands, through collision with the steamship "WYDALE," of Scarborough, off Prawl Point, on the 18th December last,

Report of Court.

The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above-mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons annexed, that the said collision was due to the wrongful act or default of Burlinson Walker Hick, the master of the "Wydale," in not having, when in charge of the deck, kept a good and proper look-out, and it accordingly suspends his certificate for three months.

The Court was not asked to make any order as to costs.

Dated this 10th day of January 1884.

 

(Signed)

H. C. ROTHERY,

Wreck Commissioner.

We concur in the above report.

 

(Signed)

EDWARD HIGHT,

 

 

 

A. RONALDSON,

Assessors.

 

 

JOHN M. G. GRANT,

 

Annex t he Report.

This case was heard at Westminster on the 10th day of January instant, when Mr. Muir Mackenzie appeared for the Board of Trade, Mr. Gibson for the owners, and Mr. Nelson for the master of the "Wydale." The owner of the "Band of Hope" was present, but was not represented by either counsel or solicitor. Eight witnesses having been produced by the Board of Trade and examined, Mr. Muir Mackenzie handed in a statement of the questions upon which the Board of Trade desired the opinion of the Court. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Nelson then addressed the Court on behalf of their respective parties, and the second officer of the "Wydale" having been heard on his own behalf, and Mr. Muir Mackenzie having replied for the Board of Trade, the Court proceeded to give judgment on the questions upon which its opinion had been asked. The circumstances of the case are as follow:—

The "Band of Hope," which was a small ketch or smack belonging to the Port of Plymouth, of 40 tons gross and register, was built at Topsham, in the county of Devon, in the year 1860, and at the time of her loss was the property of Mr. Charles Francis Williams, of No. 7, Edgcumbe Place, Plymouth, in the county of Devon, shipowner. She left Hurst on the 15th December with a crew of two hands, and a cargo of about 50 tons of cement, bound to Plymouth, and was run down and sunk on the morning of the 18th of the same month, when between the Start and Prawl Point, by the screw steamship "Wydale," but as both hands were unfortunately drowned we have no evidence from the vessel herself. There was, however, a small pilot boat called the "Verbena" cruising in the neighbourhood, and from two of the crew who were examined before us we learn the circumstances under which the collision occurred. They told us that at about 9.30 a.m. of the 18th they were nearing Prawl Point, and were close-hauled on the starboard tack, heading about W.N.W., the wind being from the north and very light, the sea smooth, the weather quite clear, and the tide about three-quarters flood, when they observed a steamer, which afterwards proved to be the "Wydale," approaching them from the eastward. At this time the "Band of Hope" was from 60.0 to 700 yards ahead of them, and about two points on their starboard bow, standing to the westward, and on about the same course and heading in the same direction as themselves. The "Wydale," after passing to the north of the "Verbena" at the distance of some 60 or 70 yards, continued her course, going all the time at full speed, and struck the "Band of Hope " in the stern, causing her head to cant round to the southward across the "Wydale's" bows, and bringing the two vessels port side to port side. It is not pretended that there was any delay in proceeding to her assistance; the "Verbena's" boat was at once launched, and as soon as the "Wydale" could be stopped her boat was also launched, but before they could reach the spot the "Band of Hope" had disappeared, and both the hands went down with her.

The story told by the "Wydale" is as follows:—She is an iron screw steamship belonging to the Port of Scarborough, of 1,961 tons gross and 1271 tons net register, and is fitted with engines of 190 horse power She was built at South Shields in the year 1881, and at the time of the casualty which forms the subject of the present inquiry she was the property of Mr. Pentland Hick, the younger, of No. 1, Palace Hill, Scarborough, and others, Mr. Pentland Hick being the managing owner. She left Havre on the 17th December in water ballast, with a crew of 22 hands all told, bound to Cardiff, and at 9.30 a.m. of the 18th was off the Start Point, steering a W. by N. 1/2 N. course, the engines going at full speed, and making about nine knots an hour. Her witnesses tell us also that the wind was from the north and very light, the sea smooth, and the weather clear. At this time the second mate, who had the watch, was on the upper bridge; there was a man in the wheel house amidships steering, two men on the topsail yard mending the sail, and another was forward washing the decks. A little before 10 o'clock the captain came on deck, and after walking the poop for about 10 or 12 minutes, went forward to the bridge and ordered the second mate to get the flags ready to signal to the Prawl Station, which they were approaching. The mate accordingly came off the upper bridge and went into the chart room, where he was for some minutes looking for one of the flags, which was not in its proper place; having found it, he came out and called to the man who was washing the decks to come aft and assist him to hoist the flags. On getting aft and finding that the man had not followed him, he went forward again and called him a second time, upon which the man came to him, and they proceeded to bend the flags on and to hoist them. In the meantime the captain remained on the lower bridge walking backwards and forwards, and in charge of the deck. All of a sudden, and when they had passed the "Verbena," the master observed the "Band of Hope" about half a point on their starboard bow, standing to the westward on the same course very nearly as themselves, and apparently very close to them, upon which he at once ordered the helm to be starboarded, and himself went into the wheel house to help the man get the wheel over. On coming out again he went towards the ladder to go on the upper bridge, when he observed that the "Band of Hope " had, as he stated, paid off some 4 or 5 points to the southward, and was standing across his bows, upon which he at once gave orders to port the helm, and then proceeded to telegraph to the engine room to reverse full speed. In the meantime the second officer, who was aft, had had his attention called to the vessel by the chief engineer, who happened to be on deck at the time, upon which he ran forward to the wheel house and helped the man to get the helm over to port, but they had hardly succeeded in doing so when the collision occurred, with the result, as I have already stated, that the "Band of Hope" was sunk, and that both her hands were drowned.

These being the facts of the case, the Board of Trade have put to us a number of questions, the first three of which relate to the "Wydale," and I propose to take them together. They are as follow:—

1. "Whether both vessels were proceeding in such directions as to involve risk of collision; and, if so, whether every possible effort was made by those on board the steamer to keep out of the way of the sailing ship, as required by article 17 of the regulations for preventing collisions at sea?"

2. "Whether the steamer was overtaking the sailing ship; and, if so, whether every possible effort was made by those on board the steamer to keep out of the way of the sailing ship, as required by article 20 of the said regulations?"

And 3. "Whether, under the circumstances, the steamer ought to have slackened speed, stopped, and reversed sooner than she did?"

It is not denied that the two vessels were proceeding in such directions as to involve risk of collision, nor that the steamer was an overtaking vessel; and the question therefore which we have to consider is, whether the steamer made every possible effort to keep out of the way of the sailing ship. New we are not disposed to say that, after the "Band of Hope" was seen, every effort was not made on board the "Wydale" to avoid running her down, considering the very short time that there was between seeing the vessel and the collision. It was said that there was some delay in giving the order to stop and reverse the engines, for that the chief engineer had told us that, after calling the 2nd officer's attention to the vessel, he had had time to go down to the engine room, and was standing by the engines for a minute before he got the order to reverse. The Court, however, is not disposed to place much reliance upon a witness's estimate of the time under such circumstances; and when we have the fact before us that the second officer, after his attention had been called to the vessel by the chief engineer, had only time to run forward to the wheel house, and that they had hardly succeeded in getting the wheel over when the collision occurred, it is obvious that the time must have been very short. No doubt some time was lost by the master going into the wheelhouse to help the man get the wheel over, instead of running at once to the telegraph to stop the engines; but the assessors are inclined to think that the best thing to do under the circumstances was to starboard the helm, and to keep it to starboard, more so than to stop and reverse the engines. On the whole we think that, after the vessel was seen, every proper effort, which the time allowed, was made to avoid the collision.

The fourth question that we are asked is, "Whether the sailing ship kept her course as required by article 22 of the said regulations?" The master and second officer of the "Wydale" told us that the "Band of Hope" paid off some 4 or 5 points before the collision. On the other hand the witnesses from the "Verbena" have said that she kept her course until she was struck, but they add that just before the collision they saw the two men on board her hold up their hands apparently to attract the steamer's attention, but if so, it would seem that they must have left the tiller, and in that case it is quite possible that the vessel may have fallen off, but that, if it occurred only at the last moment, and when they saw the steamer about to run them down, would not in our opinion amount to a violation of the 22nd regulation.

The fifth question which we are asked is, "Whether a good and proper look-out was kept on board the steamer?" The second officer, so long as he was in charge, remained on the upper bridge, keeping a good look-out, and saw both the "Band of Hope" and the "Verbena" when they were still from three to five miles off. After, however, he had been called from the upper bridge by the captain, there was apparently no one keeping a look-out. There was no look-out stationed forward, and the captain, instead of going upon the upper bridge as he should have done, remained below on the lower bridge walking backwards and forwards. Whether he could or could not have kept a good look-out from the lower bridge, it seems quite clear that he did not do so, for he did not see the "Band of Hope" until he was close to her, too close to avoid a collision, although the weather was so clear that she could have been seen, had there been a proper look out, at a distance of from 3 to 5 miles. We have therefore no hesitation in saying that there was not a good and proper look-out being kept at the time on board the "Wydale."

The sixth question which we are asked is, "Whether both vessels were navigated with proper and seamaulike care?" There is no evidence to shew that the "Band of Hope" was not being navigated with proper and seamanlike care. The owner has told us that both the men who were on board her were old experienced hands, and it seems clear from the evidence that she was kept on her course, at all events until just before the collision, when it is possible that she may have been allowed to fall off the wind owing to the men having left the tiller but that was not an act for which we are disposed to find fault with them. As regards the steamer, however, it certainly was not a proper or seamanlike course to be navigating this part of the channel at the rate of 9 knots, where they might expect to fall in with small fishing and pilot boats, without having any proper look-out either forward or on the bridge.

The seventh question which we are asked is, "Whether the master and second officer of the 'Wydale' are, or either of them is, in default?" and it is added that, "the Board of Trade are of opinion that the certificates of the master and second officer of the 'Wydale' should be dealt with." The charge made against the second officer is that, having seen this smack ahead when he left the upper bridge, it was his duty to have told the master of it. To this the second officer replied that he expected that the master would have taken his place on the upper bridge, and that in that case he would have at once seen the "Band of Hope" ahead; and that there was no more necessity to report this smack than some twenty others which were in the neighbourhood. No doubt it would have been better had the second officer informed the master that there was a smack in the way, but he might naturally expect that the master would go on the upper bridge and would see her himself; and we are therefore not disposed to deal with the certificate of the second officer. As regards the master, however, the case is different; he was in charge of the deck, and knowing that he had sent the officer of the watch aft to hoist the signal flags, and that there was no look-out man stationed forward, it was the more incumbent upon him to be keeping a good look-out ahead; and the result of his neglect to do so is the loss of this vessel and two lives. Mr. Nelson has said that in cases of collision the Court seldom deals with an officer's certificate, the casualty being generally due to some error of judgment, and not to wilful default or neglect. It appears to us, however, that this is something more than a mere error of judgment, and that to be going at full speed, making nine knots an hour in this part of the Channel without keeping any look-out, is a default or neglect for which we are bound to deal with his certificate. He has however, given his evidence in a very straightforward way, and has candidly admitted his fault; and we think, looking at all the facts, that it will be sufficient if we suspend his certificate for three months.

The Court is not asked to make any order as to costs.

 

(Signed)

H. C. ROTHERY,

Wreck Commissioner.

We concur.

 

(Signed)

EDWARD HIGHT,

 

 

 

A. RONALDSON,

Assessors.

 

 

JOHN M. G. GRANT,

 

L 367. 1821. 150.—1/84. Wt. 73. E. & S.