THE KING V. THE OWNERS OF S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. about to resume her voyage the Matthew Flinders was lying distant about 2 to 3 cables and bearing about three-quarters of a point on the starboard bow with her head about North by East magnetic and apparently her engines stopped. The Argyllshire, then moved slow ahead on both engines with her helm hard a-port and brought the Matthew Flinders about 14 points on her port Macnaughton J bow. The Matthew Flinders was then seen to be coming astern, and on a course which would bring her into contact with the Argyllshire. As she continued to come astern on this course, the Argyllshire, which was still moving slow ahead under her port helm, stopped first her starboard engine and then immediately after her port engine. The Matthew Flinders continued to come. astern until her starboard counter struck the port side of the Argyllshire about abreast of No. 2 hatch with such force that the Matthew Flinders rebounded some distance. The engines of the Matthew Flinders were still going astern, and as it seemed likely that she would come in again if her engines were not reversed, the starboard engine of the Argyllshire was moved full ahead for a few seconds in an attempt to avoid a second contact. The Matthew Flinders, however, with her engines still going astern, again struck the port side of the Argyllshire about abreast of No. 4 hatch with her starboard counter and swerved in alongside the Argyllshire, and went astern under her engines, grazing her starboard side along the port side of the Argyllshire." 6. "The Matthew Flinders negligently and improperly came astern on a course which brought her into contact with the Argyllshire." 7. "The Matthew Flinders improperly failed to slacken her speed or to stop or reverse her engines, or to do so in due time." 8. "The Matthew Flinders failed to keep a good look-out." 9. "Those in charge of the Matthew Flinders failed to properly manage or control her." In this case the tradition of giving flatly contradictory evidenco on all material points, supposed to exist in Admiralty Courts in collision cases, was fully respected. The following is a summary of the evidence :: The Argyllshire left Borthwick's wharf, on the Brisbane River, on the 8th of February, 1922, in charge of Pilot Rogers, and. reached a point in Moreton Bay about 4 miles from Cape Moreton, which was bearing South 57 East magnetic, a little after 5 o'clock p.m., and stopped to drop the pilot. The nearest land was more THE KING V. THE OWNERS OF S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. Macnaughton J. than three miles to the eastward and there was ample depth of water all round. There was a strong breeze from the South-east, between 5 and 6 of the scale-meaning a velocity of about thirty miles an hour with a moderate swell. The Matthew Flinders, which had been lying in her usual position near the Yellow Patch, steamed under the stern of the Argyllshire, round to her port side-stopped her engines at a distance of about 300 feet and dropped her whaleboat, which rowed over to the Argyllshire, and took Pilot Rogers on board the Matthew Flinders after the collision. He, Rogers, before leaving the Argyllshire's bridge, had stopped that vessel dead by going astern with both engines. After dropping the whaleboat, the Matthew Flinders, according to the plaintiff's witnesses, forged ahead under the way she had acquired before her engines were stopped, for a distance of about 600 to 700 feet ahead of the Argyllshire, where she remained stationary. The defendant's witnesses say that the Matthew Flinders' engines were started again after the whaleboat left, and that she had reached a position of 2 to 3 cable lengths, or 1500 to 1800 feet ahead of the Argyllshire when the latter started. At this time the Argyllshire was heading about N.E. by N., and the Matthew Flinders rather more to the northward, and lying about three-quarters of a point on the starboard bow of the Argyllshire. The Argyllshire, after remaining stationary for four minutes, except for the drift under the influence of the strong south-east breeze on her beam, referred to later on, started-according to her time, which was apparently a little ahead of that shown by the clocks of the Matthew Flinders-at 5.28 p.m. She went ahead slow, with both engines for about three minutes, with her helm hard a-port, and so paying off to starboard with the object of getting on to her course past Cape Moreton, which would have been approximately E.SE. The atmosphere was perfectly clear. A proper look-out was kept on both vessels. There was nothing in the weather to cause any difficulty in handling either vessel, yet at the end of those three minutes they came into collision, with the result that the damage described later on was caused to the Matthew Flinders. The Argyllshire was practically uninjured. It is obvious that the accident could not have happened without negligence on the part of one or other of each vessels concerned, or of both. A very important point-the first on which there is a THE KING V. THE OWNERS OF S. S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. contradiction-is the distance between them when the Argyllshire started. This cannot possibly be fixed with accuracy-the vessels being out at sea without any marks or bearings which could check the estimates of the witnesses. The estimates by the plaintiff's witnesses are: Duncan, the acting Master, 700 feet; Pilot Peden, who was on board the Matthew Flinders Macnaughton J. waiting his turn to take a ship up the river, from 700 to 800 feet; Pilot Munro, also on board the Matthew Flinders, about 700 feet; Pilot Rogers, at the time he left the bridge of the Argyllshire, 450 feet, but he said from the difficulty in estimating such distances at sea, it might have been from 300 to 1000 feet; Pilot Roberts, who was also on board waiting his turn, 500 to 1000 feet. Captain Page, the Commander of the Argyllshire, a seaman of great experience, in command of large steamers for a number years and of the Argyllshire for the last six, estimated the distance. at from 2 to 3 cable lengths, or 1500 to 1800 feet; Townrow, acting Chief Officer of the Argyllshire, 3 cable lengths, or 1800 feet; Robinson, the fifth officer, a quarter of a nautical mile, or 1500 feet. It was admitted by the defendants that the Argyllshire started when she had been stopped dead, and steamed ahead before the collision for three minutes with her engines dead slow, and her speed at the end of that time was not more than 5 knots per hour. Her starboard engine was moved full ahead for a few seconds before the collision, but this made no difference. Captain Page said that she went in this time three of her own lengths or 1650 feet. This would give her an average speed of about 54 knots for the whole three minutes. It was proved that a ship of her size after starting would gather speed very slowly, much more slowly than the Matthew Flinders-but according to her captain's evidence she must have jumped to the full 5 knots at once. This is impossible. No witness professed to be able to estimate the rate of acceleration from a stationary position to a speed of 5 knots, so I cannot accurately say what distance was actually travelled, but allowing for the ship's admitted slowness in picking up speed I do not think she can have gone more then half the distance estimated by Captain Page. If the Matthew Flinders remained stationary during the three minutes this would make her distance from the Argyllshire, when the latter started, a little over 800 feet-nearly the distance given by the plaintiff's witnesses, and that is the approximate distance I find was between the Matthew Flinders and the Argyllshire when the latter started slow ahead. THE KING V. The next point to consider is, what was done by the Matthew THE OWNERS OF Flinders and the Argyllshire after the whaleboat left the Matthew Flinders up to and at the time of the collision. S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. The evidence as to what occurred in the engine room is :— Campbell, the Chief Engineer, put the engines slow ahead at 5.29 Macnaughton J. P.m., according to the Matthew Flinder's time, and stopped them. at 5.30 p.m. He then left the engine room and went to the messroom for tea, being relieved by Cruickshank, the second engineer. Cruickshank got an order at 5.35 p.m. to go slow ahead, which he answered and carried out at once. At 5.36 p.m. he got an order to go full ahead, which he also answered and executed immediately. Just after that he got another order a violent ring-which meant an emergency order to give all possible speed, and this he carried out by opening the stop valve as wide as possible. A second or two after he did so he heard a crushing sound at his back-that is from the stern of the ship--and he felt a bump. This was of course the shock of the collision. At 5.38 p.m. ho was ordered to stop the engines and did so, and then to go slow ahead at 5.39 p.m. At this time Campbell ran down the engineroom ladder, took over the control of the engines from Cruickshank, and obeyed the next order to stop at 5.40 p.m. These orders appear in pencil in the rough engine-room log of the Matthew Flinders, which lies on a shelf just behind and within reach of the engineer-in-charge. The entries were made immediately after the orders were carried out. The orders are indicated by symbols, which were explained to me, and the times in figures. The first and last of those mentioned were in Campbell's handwriting, the others in Cruickshank's. This engine-room log, in my opinion, is a genuine document, and the entries in it were made at or very shortly after the times mentioned in it. In the Argyllshire the practice, which is usual in large steamers, is to write the orders down after they have been carried out, on a blackboard, and to copy them afterwards into the rough engine-room log. Both Campbell and Cruickshank, who seemed to me trustworthy witnesses, positively swore that during the material time from 5.30 to 5.40, no order was given to put the Matthew Flinders engines astern, and that in fact the engines did not go astern. Duncan, the acting Master of the Matthew Flinders, said that he stopped her engines when abreast of the port side of the Argyllshire amidships; that she carried on her way and got abreast of the bows of the Argyllshire when the whaleboat was dropped, and that she forged ahead of the Argyllshire about four of her lengths or 700 feet. In cross-examination Duncan admitted that, in a written report of the accident to the Harbour Master, Brisbane, on the evening of the 8th of February, he said "My engines at this time" (just before the collision) "were going slow ahead holding position," but stated he did not remember the contents of this report, and that in fact his engines were not moved until he went slow ahead as the Argyllshire approached the Matthew Flinders; and in view of the evidence of the engineers, I believe that this is the truth, and so find. He watched the Argyllshire drop the pilot and saw her start ahead. She did not sound the whistle, but under the circumstances, the ships being so close together and plainly visible, I do not think that, if this omission to whistle was a breach of Article 28 of the Regulations for Preventing collisions at sea, hereinafter referred to as "The Regulations of 27th November, 1896," it in any way tended to cause the collision. He noticed the Argyllshire heading to starboard but drifting down on to the Matthew Flinders under the influence of the strong S. E. breeze, and when she got within one and a-half or two of the Matthew Flinders' lengths, that is from 166 to 232 feet, he put the Matthew Flinders' engines slow ahead. The Argyllshire kept coming on, drifting sideways, towards the Matthew Flinders. Duncan then put her engines full ahead and then gave the second emergency order "full ahead," after which the Argyllshire struck the Matthew Flinders on her counter on the starboard side with her side, near the bluff of the bows. The Matthew Flinders lurched over on her side, was drawn in alongside the Argyllshire, grated right along the Argyllshire's side, smashing some of her upper works and the upper whaleboat, and when she got to the Argyllshire's quarter, the Matthew Flinders got free. Just before this the engines of the Matthew Flinders were stopped. Pilot Peden, who was on the after-deck of the Matthew Flinders when he saw the Argyllshire getting close, ran up on to the bridge and was there when the collision occurred. He corroborated Duncan in every particualr, and especially that the engines of the Matthew Flinders never went astern. He said that the Matthew Flinders was practically stopped when the Argyllshire started, and that she did not move from her position from the time she went slow until the collision more than 100 feet, or at the very outside 200 feet. THE KING v. THE OWNERS OF S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. Macnaughton J |