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82
WHAT IS OBSTRUCTION OF. THE FAIRWAY?
AN IMPORTANT CASE.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
| August 1, 1898.
Witness I did unt see it; I was not within | boat under sail or with oars goes by the rule
close range....
Mr. Dennys-If there had been a line there would have been no cause for complaint?
WitnessIn that case they would have gone across the channel so much faster.
the
of the road; if there had been a sailing ship the steamer would have got out of the way; if it had been a steamer action of the captain of the Peru would have depended upon which way the steamer was going. I submit, with all "deference, that Mr. Dennys's argument about Queen's Road is non-
A man does not go and lie down i Queen's Road. If Mr. Dennys goes across he is under proper control, whereas these lighters were not. The ship was seen for twenty minutes coming up, and the P. & O. people ought to have seen it; they ought to have kept a look out.
Mr. Dennys-The evidence on the last oc casion was that it took only six or seven minutes for the lighers to go from the buoy of the Khe-sense. dive to the buoy of the Verona. That is not very slow travelling for heavy cargo boats, is it? Witness-I cannot say about that. I cannot
At the Police Court on Friday, before Hon. H. E. Wodehouse, a case of considerable interest to shippers was re-opened. It was one in which three lightermen in the employ of the P. and O. Company were summoned for obstruoting the fairway of the harbour, and the case was first heard at the Court on Tuesday. For the prose cution it was proved that three or four lighters loft the P. & O. Khedive and went across the fair-dispute the time. way to the Verona, just as the Peru was going to her buoy. The captain of the Peru saw danger ahead, and he reversed his engines in order to avoid a collision with the lighters. which he said were not under control and were not being towed.
Mr. Dennys appeared for the P. & O. Com. pany and said that the lighters were being towed by a rope, and no obstruction within the meau- ing of the Act had been proved.
The Magistrate held that there had been no obstruotion.
The Acting Captain Superintendent of Police (Hon. W. C. 11. Hastings) applied for a re- hearing of the case, and the application was granted.
Yesterday, when both parties were in Court, the Magistrate asked the Acting Captain Superintendent if he had additional evidence to
call.
The Acting Captain Superintendent said he had, and put the captain of the Peru into the
bor
Mr. Dennys-You have been running here a great many years, and you have seen lighters belonging to Messrs. Butterfield and Swire and the P. & O. Company being towed about the harbour; aud you have seen sometimes 15, 20, and 39 in a bunch in typhoon times.
Witness-That is a very different condition of things, in typhoon times. Then the boats are at the mercy of the elements.
Mr. Dennys-They have a right to go across the fairway?
Witness-They have a right to cross the fair- way, but it seems rather unseamanlike at least for a lot of lighters to drift across the fairway when there is an incoming ship right in sight. I must have a little momentum on my ship to keep her ander way. I cannot control the ship unless I have a momentum on her.
Mr. Dennys-You were 800 feet away from the lighters, and that may account for you not seeing the ropes between them and the Khedive, and there was another rope attached to the other buoy.
Witness-I cannot say about the ropes; I did not see them.
Mr. Dennys-Did you not believe when you first saw them that they were hanging to the stern of the ship ?.
Mr. Dennys-How long were you delayed F Witness-The delay was slight. But it was not a question of delay, it was a question of the chance of damage that I had to consider. The delay was about 20 minutes altogether.
Mr. Daniel Friele, captain of the Peru, said that at noon on Friday, the 18th inst., be entered the harbour with his vessel through the Lye- moon Pass. Ile steered the usual course for the ship's buoy, which he saw, after leaving the
Witness-I supposed they were. If they were Meeanee, open between two P. and O. steamers. As the southern buoy of the fairway was ap-hanging they ought to have been there when I proached he saw two or more lighters astern of got a little closer. a P. and O. ship (the Khedive) and he thought they were hanging at the steru. When he got within about 800 feet he saw that the lighters- there were three or four of them-were drifting at right angles to his course. He bad only one alternative, which was to go full speed astern, otherwise the Peru would have struck the lighters. The breadth of the fairway was about 1,100 feet, and he thought the position of the lighters very dangerous. They had no tng, there was no way of propelling them, there was no control over them at all, and unfortunately the wind was sonth-west, which was right angles to his course. The engines had been stopped five minutes, and the vessel was going at the rate of three miles an hour. For five minutes previously he had perceived no motion of the lighters, which were bunched together.
The Magistrate-Suppose the lighters had charged you with obstruction. Would that have been a proper charge P
Witness-Excuse me, I do not understand the
question.
Mr. Dennys You were drifting about. The Acting Captain Superintendent of Police repeated the Magistrate's question.
Witness-I was on the way to my buoy, I had my ship under command, and was attend- ing to the usual navigation of the harbour.
The Magistrate-Could the lighters have got out of your way ?
Witness-They had no means to do that; they had to go where wind and current took them.
The Magistrate-Except by watching their drifting. had you any means of knowing what they were doing?
Witness-No, sir.
Mr. Dennys, cross-examining,-Suppose yon had seen a steam-tug towing a lot of lighters, yon would then have gone astern?
Witness-I should certainly do my utmost to avoid a collision. I should go astern certainly.
Mr. Dennys What you think wrong about the cargo boats is this: you first of all considered that they were tied to the stern of the Khedive, and when you got up close you found they were not tied on, but were going straight across the fairway.
Witness-That is what puzzled me.
Mr. Dennys-Suppose it is quite true that they were tied up, and that they were handed across, would there be anything wrong then f
Witness-There was no line.
Mr. Dennys-I am prepared to prove there
Was.
Mr. Dennys-Did you see. where the lighters went to P
Witness-They went to the port side of the Verona, which was lying at the southern booy They were making fast as I was eu ering the fairway the second time.
|
The Magistrate-After the additional evidence we have had to-day, I am inclined to think it well to have an adjournment, for Mr. Dennys to make what other defence he has. When will the Khedive be back P
Mr. Dennys-She will be back before long; she has gone to Bombay.
The Magistrate--Bombay!
The Acting Captain Superinten lent of Police -The only thing the captain of the Khedive can say is that he did not see the Peru. If the people did not see her they must have been blind. They have no right to send derelicts along like they did.
Mr. Dennys To talk about them being derelicts is absurd.
The Acting Captain Superintendent of Police I say it is a case of very gross obstruction. Mr. Dennys-I shall prove that the lighters were under control.
The Acting Captain Superintendent of Police They had neither steam, nor a sail, nor a single oar amongst them.
Mr. Dennys-Why do you allow them to exist ? If there is any responsibility it does not rest with the defendants, but with the persons who sent the boats off.
The Magistrate adjourned the case sine dię.
THE SINKING OF THE ** BIRKHALL."
NAVAL COURT OF ENQUIRY. A Naval Court was held at H.B.M.'s Cons sulate-General, Shanghai, on the 17th inst., to enquire into the circumstances attending the sinking of the British steamer Birkhall at Woosing on the 10th instant. The Court was composed as follows:-Mr. J. W. Jamieson, In answer to the Acting Captain Superinten-acting British Vice-Consul, President, Lieut. dent witness said that if there had been a tug E. F. Talbot, H.M.S. Daphne, and Mr. G. K. boat he would have seen it. There was danger Wright, Master ss. Rosetta, Assessors. in going astern.
P.C. Campbell said that no rope was attached to the lighters.
This concluded the evidence.
Mr. Dennys asked the Magistrate to uphold his former decision, as the evidence brought for- ward to-day did not alter the position of affairs in the least.
The Magistrate-What constraction do you put upon the words in the section, "or otherwise obstructing the fairway."?
Mr. Stokes appeared for Captain Cameron; the master of the Birkhall. Mr. Stokes put in a copy of the N. C. Daily News containing the Customs notification of the position of the wreck, which was accepted by the Court.
Charles Cameron, master of the Birkhall, sworn, stated-1 hold a master's certificate No. 99,782. We arrived at Woosung at 8 a.m. on Monday, the 8th instant, and reached the lower anchorage at 2.30 p.m. and received orders to proceed to buoy off the Old Dock for the_pur- Mr. Dennys-I say there has been no obstruc. pose of fitting the vessel to carry troops. These tion; they were sailing across the fairway. It orders were given by Messrs. Hopkins, Dana & is just like my crossing Queen's Road. I am Co., time charterer's agents. After fitting we not allowed to lie down in the middle of the road were ordered to Woosung and to go as near as and obstruct the traffic, but I am not bound to possible to Prince's Jetty for the purpose of em- walk across at the rate of 10 or 12 miles an hour. barking troops. I was told to go down as soon The point for the prosecution in this case is that as possible. We left the Old Dock at 4 45 a.m. the lighters were going slowly, and that therefore on the 10th and went down to Gough Island, they were obstructing the fairway. Obstruction where I had to bring up on account of not having I left the under this Act is in connection with anchoring, | sufficient water on the Bar to oross. although I quite admit that the Act may cover | ship at 9.30 am and came up to Shanghai with other things besides anchoring. If there is a two of my crew to pay them off. I left the chief conviction in this case every launch that goes officer in charge and I told him I would send from here to Kowloon is causing an obstruction down a pilot, but if he did not come in time, the if another steamer going towards it has to get mate was to take the ship across the Bar himself out of th way. This is not a case of careless and proceed immediately to get the troops on ness on the part of Chinamen. Here are three board as soon as they came alongside. I resobed men in the employ of the P. & O. Company, and Woosung on my return about 7 p.m. and met they take six or seven minutes to go from one Captain Yung, of the Wantai, and my pilot, Cap- steamer to another. I suggest it would be the tain Leach, who informed me of the sinking of If the vessel. I met them about half-a-mile above height of absurdity to convict these men. your Worship thinks the case has been made out Prince's Jetty. I at once took them in my car- I would like the case adjourned, so that I can riage, drove back with all speed to Shanghai, and call the captain of the Khedive, who can say what reported. was done and how the lighters got across to the Verona,
The Acting Captain Superintendent of Police -I call obstruction the drifting of a vessel not under proper control. It is clearly shown that these vessels were not under proper control. Any
By the Court.-The ship's register is still on board.
Alexander Monroe Lindsay, chief officer of the Birkhall, sworn, stated-The Birkhall is a vessel of net 912.55 tons. I hold a master's certificate '17,103 (Aberdeen), and I had been several voyages