THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 23RD JULY, 1892.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.--No. 325.
673
The following Finding of the Marine Court into the loss of the British Steam-ship Haiphong, Official No. 88,838 of Hongkong, is published.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Ilongkong, 23rd July, 1892.
FINDING.
G. T. M. O'BRIEN, Colonial Secretary.
We find that the British Steam-ship Haiphong, Official No. 88,838 of Hongkong, of which WILLIAM YOUNG HUNTER Was Master, whose Certificate of Competency is No. 34,465, left IIongkong on a voyage to Yokohama viâ Swatow and Takow on the 10th June.
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That the voyage was uneventful so far as this Court is concerned until June 27th. On that day at 8 A.M. the following cross bearings were obtained Oosima N.N.W. and Siwomisaki N.W. by W. W. and a course then set N. 661⁄2 E. true.
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At noon observations were taken giving a position of lat. 33° 33′ N. and long. 136° 32′ E. afternoon observations were also taken.
That soon after midnight the ship was supposed to be abeam of Omasaki Light and distant from it 16 miles and the Master not seeing the light which has a range of 19 miles in clear weather sent a man aloft to look for it but it was not seen.
That soon after midnight the weather began to get hazy but afterwards cleared.
That by the Master's calculations at about 1.50 A.M. on the 28th the ship was within the radius of Rock Island Light and also of Iro-o-saki at about 3 A M., but neither of these lights was seen either then or at any subsequent time.
That at 3.45 A.M. the ship stranded on the rocks about 2 miles West of Iro-o-saki Light and became a total loss.
The Court is of opinion that the casualty was brought about by the ship having been under the influence of an indraught current, which the Mariner is cautioned against in the latest Charts of this part of the Coast.
The Ilaiphong, however, was not supplied with the most recent Charts (that in use being one in which large corrections had not been made for 13 years and small corrections for 10 years), and no mention or caution of this indraught is made on the Chart which was in use by the Master.
The supply of these Charts the Court is informed lies with the owners, but the Court cannot hold the Master free from blame for not having taken the precaution to see that he was supplied with the best Charts.
The Court is further of opinion that the Master would have displayed more seamanlike caution if when he did not see Omasaki Light or Rock Island Light he had considered the possibility of their being obscured by the fog or haze, which from the evidence before the Court they are led to believe existed rather than that of being outside the range of the lights.
No use was made of the deep sea lead, though in other particulars the ship was navigated in a seamanlike manner, the reason given for the non-use is that, there were no soundings marked on the Chart in the place where the ship was supposed to be, but to the Court it seems probable that, the ship was at midnight inside of her supposed position, and that the light was obscured by the thickness of the weather, and if this is so a cast of the deep sea lead might and probably would have revealed the dangerous state of affairs to the Master. It is also to be regretted that the ship was not supplied with Sir William Thompson's sounding machine.
The manner in which the Log has been kept does not assist the Court in coming to a satisfactory conclusion.
The Court is finally of opinion that with the use of the most recent Charts and possibly of the deep sea lead the casualty might have been avoided; this omission, added to the fact that no allowance was made by the Master for current which was named in the Charts in use, also the want of caution previously alluded to, leads the Court to consider that the ship between midnight and the time she struck was not navigated with seamanlike care, and that this omission amounts to a wrongful act or default of which the Court must take notice.
The Court, therefore, decides that the Master's Certificate be suspended for two months from this date and it is hereby so suspended.
Given under our hands at Hongkong this 15th day of July, 1892.
R. MURRAY RUMSEY, R. COM. R.N.,
President.
JNO. HORATIO WOOLWARD,
Staff Comdr. R.N.
A. TILLETT, C.P.RY. COMPY.,
Master Mariner.
D'A. DE STE. CROIX,
Master, Steam-ship “Wingsang.”
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