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To Captain McGregor-I saw the breakers about ten or eleven minutes before we struck.
To the President-We passed outside the Mela Ledge. The ship was going at 12 knots. We did not slacken until we grounded. I do not impute any blame to any of my officers or men
in regard to the stranding. The officers and crew behaved in the best possible manner after the casualty happened. Boats were lowered and lights arranged. The second officer, Mr. Beckman, lost his life in getting out the boats. Every thing possible was done to rescue him. I think he was probably stunned against the side of the ship as he went down into the boat. There was a south-westerly swell running at the time. To the President-I attribute the accident entirely to my own mistake in judgment in taking Mela Head for Sunosaki. I was not ill or out of sorts at the time.
Mr. Lowder, who appeared for Capt. Walker with the permission of the Court then put some questions. How long have you been at sea?
Captain Walker-Thirty-one to thirty-two years.
How long have you been in command of a ship?-Four years and ten months on a sailing ship, and ten years in my present command. I have been in the service of my present owners about eighteen years. This is the first time I have been before a Board of Trade or Naval Inquiry for an accident, to a ship
command.
under
made
the ob- my servation that Sunosaki was abeam to the fourth officer. It was a very usual thing for me to steer by the land. I should judge that it is a usual thing for officers or pilots in command of vessels making the entrance to the Bay to steer by the land. The breakers were distinctly visible when I came up on the bridge the second time. I cannot hope that if I had been on the bridge when they first came in sight that the casualty could have been prevented, but I am not in a position to say. There are no lights on Mala Head or Sunosaki, and at night time they present a similiar appearance. I only know of one vessel, the Tokyo-maru. being in the same position.
G. T. Tiltson, first officer of the Belgic, gave evidence of the course of the vessel while he was on watch from four o'clock till eight, when he was relieved by the second officer, to whom he gave the course, N. W., and reported lights burning brightly. He was sitting in his cabin when the ship struck and he immediately rushed to the bridge.
The President-To what do you attribute the casualty?
Witness-Well, I can hardly say: except keeping too close to the land, and mistaking Mela Head for Sunosaki, as entered in the log.
To Captain McGregor-I have been chief officer of the Belgic for five years. I have always been on good terms with Captain Walker. Nothing occurred between us on the date of the accident. I saw Mela Head, but I did not think we could have been at Suno- saki by the time. The ship was going at about 13 knots. The deviation of the compasses
I estimated on westerly courses, to be about 5 W., on south-westerly courses from 4 to nothing.
The President-Have you always been on good relations with Captain Walker?-None of
the best.
How long has this lasted ?--Dating back some time. Four years I have not been on cordial terms with him.
Did you make the suggestion as to the altera- tion of the course in a proper and respectful way P-Yes, sir.
Was Captain Walker sober ?-Up to the time I left the bridge he seemed so.
Is he a man of sober, steady habits ?--I can't say he was.
Have you even seen him under the influence of liquor ?--I am sorry to say I have remon- strated with him in regard to drinking. I think he was not under the influence of liquor nto the time I left the bridge.
Have you any reason to suppose that he was under the influence of liquor the night of the acoident P-I am afraid he was.
How long after the accident ?-Before mid- night.
Have you any reason to believe that he ob- tained liquor and was under its influence soon after, or before the accident P-I can only infer
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
that he was under the influence of liquor from his extraordinary manner after the stranding,
Captain Street-Are you certain it was liquor, or was it only due to excitement P-Possibly it may have been both,
The President-You are quite certain that the captain was under the influence of liquor on the evening of the stranding, after the ship had gone ashore: remember, you are on your oath -I know that he was under the influence of liquor before midnight.
Captain Evans-Then your feelings towards Captain Walker were not exactly friendly ?--- They were not hostile to him. I am willing to serve under any master the Company may put in command of its ships, but I have my own duty to perform and I do it Personally, as a man, I have nothing to say against Captain Walker. He is master of the ship, and I am the chief officer. I have a master's certificate to defend and therefore I do all I can for the welfare and safety of the ship.
The President How do you infer that the captain was drunk P-From his dazed and dull kind of manner.
Mr. Lowder-How long after you joined the ship was it that you gave up taking meals in the cabin and messed by yourself?-About a year.
From that time you had no social relations with Captain Walker ?—None particularly.
You have said that on several occasions you have seen Captain Walker under the influence of drink and have remonstrated with him ?--
Yes, sir; but I have no specific dates. Could you tell me on how many occasions you spoke to him on the subject ?-Well, spoke to him, I think, about four or five times.
Had you occasion to remonstrate with him on this voyage P-I have done so since the steamer stranded.
But prior to the stranding P-No.
Was it not your duty to have entered in the log, in your own log, if not in the official log, that you had seen your captain intoxicated ?—I don't say that he was intoxicated, merely that he was under the influence of liquor.
You wish to draw that distinction P-Yes. Then I am right in inferring that on none of these occasions was Captain Walker in a condition that would interfere with the dis- charge of his duties on board his ship ?--I think you are wrong there. On some of the occasions I speak of, he was far from being in a fit state, and in a condition not to know what was the right and proper thing to do for the ship; con. sequently I spoke to him about it.
If he was in that condition, was it not your duty to have logged the fact? I thought not in my subordinate position I thought that it was my simple duty to speak to him.
[November 7, 1859.
permits were given their baggage could not be landed. Altogether, this official stayed about half an hour. Then he asked me if I was the captain. Upon hearing that I was not, he said he had some private questions to put to the captain. I did not know where the captain was, but I took the official, whom I afterwards discovered to be the Mayor, through the saloon to the captain's room. I found him lying down on a couch. I introduced the Japanese to him. Ten minutes afterwards the Japanese came on deck to me and said---
:
Mr. Lowder-I don't want to hear what was said it is what you saw yourself that you have to speak.
Witness I saw that Capt. Walker was under the influence of liquor. I saw it at a glance. He got up off the couch when I roused him.
And he presented the dull, dazed appearance ? -Very much so.
He had suffered a great mental strain P-We,
all had.
1
Yes, but he in particular as master of the ship; the catastrophe may have made yon mors energetic for all I know.
Thomas Dillon, third officer of the Belgic, also gave evidence and as to the charge against the captain said: "I have never seen Captain Walker under the influence of liquor. I cannot form any opinion as to the captain being a sober man."
H. Gankroger, the fourth officer, and M. Shiswander, the purser, also gave evidence and both averted that they had never seen the captain under the influence of liquor. Neither had witnessed any display of ill-feeling between the chief officer and the captain.
Mr. Lowder handed in a statement by a pas senger made de bene esse before the Consul affirming that there was nothing abnormal - in the captain's manner before the stranding, and from deponent's own observation Captain Walker had not been drinking. He was seen by deponent two hours after the stranding and presented the appearance of a he then man who was suffering from a great mental strain. He did not attribute this to drink. ing. Some four days later he saw Captain Walker and he seemed to be in the same mental condition. Captain Walker had suffered from sunstroke; he was not a total abstainer.
a
Mr. Lowder said that after that statement he should take it for granted that the charge of drunkenness had entirely broken down. If the Court was not with him on this point, then he should ask for an adjournment of the inquiry in order to produce some 30 to 50 witnesses who could give evidence in his client's behalf,
The President (after consultation with his assessors) said that they unanimously found the charge of drunkenness to be entirely unproven... The Court did not consider it necessary to call further evidence, but would proceed to consider its finding, unless Mr. Lowder wished to address the Court
After the casualty you say you saw that Captain Walker was under the influence of liquor ?I think it was before midnight when I saw him so! Everybody was upset at the
Mr. Lowder then addressed the Court in stranding, and everybody was on deck. I had my duty to attend to, and ordered the carpenter mitigation of the punishment which was to be to close the water-tight bulkhead doors, to bat-awarded Captain Walker for unfortunately ten down the hatches, etq. and to make all things safe. I went along the deck and saw Captain Walker stretched out on a canvas chair, snor ing. I think therefore he was under the influence of liquor; at any rate he was the only man asleep on board the steamer that night.
And because he was asleep at that time, you inferred that he was drunk P-I thought so.
The ship was now in safety?—No, sir, she was bumping; and there was a heavy list to port.
If the captain had been awake could he have prevented that ?-No, sir, but there was no tell. ing when the masts might go.
Could he have prevented that if he had been awake -No.
Well, then, could he not go to sleep if he so desired: what was there he could do ? (No answer)
When next did you see him, or think you saw him, under the influence of liquor Next morning. It was like this. In the morning the Japanese head official of the village near where we stranded came aboard. He asked a lot of questions; asked if we had permission to take the ship into that bay; then he wanted to know if we had passports, or whether the passengers had passports; if they had not the passengers could not land and unless Customs
he said, blame did attach to him. The Court was called under section 260 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, though section 489 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 was really the statute quoted, this Act having repealed the former Act. The Act of 1894,
allowed he might he
to gay 80, | if
was not artistically drawn, and required & little study ere the exact meaning of the legislature could be arrived at. The Court was called under section 480 as a Naval Court by a Consular official. Mr. Lowder then quoted the different clauses of the Act bearing on the duties and powers of Naval Courts of Inquiry, and pointed out that they had power to remove a master from his ship if they thought fit: still they could not exercise this power without the consent of the consignor of the ship. The owner of the ship was fully represented at the Inquiry, and, as his Honour was aware, he had been informed of the de bene esse proceedings. No complaint, however, had been brought against the master of the ship by the owners, and the inference to be drawn from that was, that as far as the owners were concerned, they had not lost confidence in Captain Walker, nor did they think it in the interest of the ship or crew that he should be removed from the command of the ship. They were
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