THE KING . S.S. Pilot Roberts was on the after deck of the Matthew Flinders THE OWNERS OF until after the collision. He emphatically denied that her engines ever went astern, and said that they only made two or three revolutions at full speed ahead before the collision. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. Macnaughton J. His evidence and that of Peden on this part of the case strongly corroborated Cruickshank's that the collision occurred a second or two after the emergency order to go full speed ahead, and I am satisfied that it did occur then. Pilot Munro also corroborated Duncan generally, but said that if the Matthew Flinders had gone full speed instead of slow when her engines were started at 5.35 p.m., it might have prevented the collision. When the collision occurred, Pilot Rogers was in the whaleboat, about 20 feet astern of the Argyllshire, and about 20 feet from her port side, and about 500 feet from the point of contact of the two ships, and shortly after the collision he went on board the Matthew Flinders. He corroborated the other witnesses for the plaintiff that the Matthew Flinders after the collision swung alongside the Argyllshire and came astern in contact with her, getting clear when she reached the Argyllshire's quarter. In the witness box he said that he did not think that the Matthew Flinders was going astern just before the collision, as he noticed no wash to indicate this. In cross-examination, however, he admitted that when in the whaleboat he said that by the look of it the Matthew Flinders was going astern, and that he made a remark to this effect to the other pilots when he got on board of her, but he added that this impression was due to an optical illusion: namely—when a person sees a large ship and a smaller one coming together, the latter appears to be coming to meet the big one, and that he and other pilots discussed the matter and were unanimous that the Matthew Flinders was going ahead at the time of the collision. This first erroneous impression is not enough to shake the evidence of all the other witnesses from the Matthew Flinders. Captain Page's story as to what occurred was that after the Argyllshire had been brought to a dead stop and Pilot Rogers had got into the whaleboat, he noticed the Matthew Flinders steaming ahead and going ahead till she reached a spot from two and a-half to three cables or 1500 to 1800 feet in front of the Argyllshire. He waited until the whaleboat was 60 or 70 feet clear when he started both engines slow ahead and the helm hard THE KING V. THE OWNERS OF S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. a-port in order to go to starboard, so as to get on his course to pass Cape Moreton, which would be about E.S.E.. The time during which the Argyllshire was stationary was four minutes, as appears from the rough engine-room log of the Argyllshire. He said that, with the Matthew Flinders at her estimated distance of from 1500 to 1800 feet distance, bearing three-quarters of a point Macnaughton J. on the Argyllshire's starboard bow, and with the weather conditions then existing, this was such a safe manoeuvre that he did not give. it a second consideration, but that if the Matthew Flinders had been only from 600 to 1000 feet ahead of him it would have required more consideration, and he might have waited until she got further away before starting on his course under a port helm so as to pass the Matthew Flinders to windward. He also said that a position of from 600 to 1000 feet ahead of him was an improper position for the Matthew Flinders to take up under the circumstances. After starting, the Argyllshire turned to starboard, bringing the Matthew Flinders to a point and a-half on the port bow of the Argyllshire. At this time the Matthew Flinders appeared to be heading more to the north than before, and when the Argyllshire had got within 550 feet of her, swinging all the time to starboard, she ceased to open out further on the Argyllshire's port bow. Captain Page, when within about 275 feet of the Matthew Flinders, stopped the starboard engine to give the Argyllshire & bigger swing to starboard. He said, and I am inclined to agree with him on this point, that if the Matthew Flinders had gone full speed ahead at this time she would have cleared the Argyllshire. As the Matthew Flinders did not appear to open out further, the port engine of the Argyllshire was also stopped at 5.31 p.m., according to her rough engine-room log. Captain Page swore that he then saw the Matthew Flinders coming astern in the direction of the Argyllshire, and as she came along, and when within one of her own lengths (166 feet) of the larger vessel, he noticed the wash of her propeller going from stern towards her bow, showing that her engines were going astern. The Matthew Flinders came on and struck the Argyllshire between No 1 and No. 2 hatches, about 150 feet from the Argyllshire's stem, with the round of her starboard counter. He said it was not a heavy blow, yet after it that the Matthew Flinders bounded off from the Argyllshire's side, 30 or 40 feet. The Argyllshire's starboard engine was put full ahead to avoid the Matthew Flinders if possible, and stopped again in a few seconds when the Matthew Flinders struck the Argyllshire a second time at a point about 100 feet further aft than where the first impact took place, nearly at right angles, and breaking her flagstaff, which had not touched the Argyllshire on the first occasion. This second blow was a more serious one, and caused the injuries described below to the Matthew Flinders, which gradually got parallel with the Argyllshire's port side, and remained there till she got clear at the counter. At the time of this second impact he still saw the engines of the Matthew Flinders going heavily astern. The Argyllshire's rough engine-room log shows that the start of the engines was at 5.28 p.m.; that both engines were stopped, and also the starboard engine put full ahead at 5.31 p.m., making the time she was in motion until the collision three minutes. Townrow, the acting Chief Officer of the Argyllshire, was not able to see all that occurred before and at the time of the collision, but was sure that the Matthew Flinders appeared to be coming astern just before the accident, but he would not say that there was more than one impact. Robinson, the fifth officer, stationed at the port telegraph bridge, had his attention fixed on obeying the Captain's orders, and so did not see a great deal, but he was clear that the Matthew Flinders was coming astern, as he saw her wash. The other witnesses from the Argyllshire made up for the moderation of Townrow and Robinson. Spiers, the fifth engineer, who was standing opposite the 6th hatch of the Argyllshire, which is near the stern and more than 300 feet from the alleged first point of impact, came over from the starboard to the port side of the deck when he saw the Matthew Flinders practically in collision with the Argyllshire, coming stern first with her engines running astern, as he could tell distinctly by the wash from her propeller running from her stern towards her bows. She struck the Argyllshire, swung slightly clear, and then came on and hit the Argyllshire a second time. He said that at the time of the first impact he noticed the handle of the telegraph on the bridge of the Matthew Flinders was looking aft as though it indicated an order to go astern. At my suggestion the Matthew Flinders was brought from her station in Moreton Bay to the Port Office wharf, Brisbane, where in company with the learned Counsel on both sides, I inspected her, taking particular notice of this telegraph, which I also examined at a distance of about 300 feet and at an angle approximating that at which the Matthew Flinders was said to have been in respect to the Argyllshire at the time of the THE KING . S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. collision. As the result of this inspection I refuse to believe Spiers' story about the position of the telegraph. Jamieson, the THE OWNERS OF carpenter of the Argyllshire, Raymond the carpenter's mate, Rossiter the second steward, and Shelley the electrician, who were on the port side of the Argyllshire's deck, forward of the funnel, all swear that they saw the Matthew Flinders coming Macnaughton J. astern for a considerable distance, with the wash from her propeller going from her stern towards her bows; that there were two impacts, the first light and the second, which amongst other things smashed the flagstaff, more severe. The story that the Matthew Flinders came on with her engines going astern for a distance of 100 feet or more before the collision before she struck the Argyllshire, and kept her engines going astern after the first impact and until the second, is an extraordinary one. No witness on either side had ever heard of such a manœuvre, nor have I in any report of a case or in any account of an accident at sea. It is not at all like an accident due to a wrong order given just before a collision by the officers in charge, or a mistake in the engine-room in carrying out a proper order wrongly, instances of which are not uncommon. No motive was suggested, and if this actually occurred, the only explanation would be the temporary insanity of Duncan, and of Peden who was on the bridge beside him, and could have reversed the telegraph before the collision. Further, according to the defendants' witnesses, although the first impact was so slight as not to injure the flagstaff of the Matthew Flinders, in which by the way, most of them appeared to take great interest, and only damaged the first top plate on the round of her starboard quarter, yet it was sufficient to make her bound off 15 or 20 feet at least. Again the Argyllshire was going at the rate of 51 knots and the Matthew Flinders, if the Argyllshire's witnesses are telling the truth, must have been going quite three knots in nearly the opposite direction. Under these circumstances surely not only would the Matthew Flinders have been much more seriously injured, but her sharp, overhanging counter would have done some appreciable damage to the Argyllshire. The injuries actually inflicted upon the Matthew Flinders, and the absence of any to the Argyllshire other than to the paint on her side, point to a grazing contact of the sides of the two vessels both going in the same direction, the Argyllshire gradually going ahead of the Matthew Flinders because of her THE KING V. THE OWNERS OF S.S. ARGYLLSHIRE. THE ARGYLLSHIRE. Macnaughton J. higher speed. Taking these things into consideration, if there had been no evidence at all to the contrary, I should have felt some difficulty in believing the story told by the defendants' witnesses. With the mass of evidence set out above for the plaintiff added, I have no hesitation in substantially accepting the story for the plaintiff as to this part of the case, and finding that the engines of the Matthew Flinders were never going astern at any time from the period when they were stopped to drop the pilot boat until the collision. Two expert witnesses were called: Captain Douglas Taylor, who gave evidence for the plaintiff, is a master mariner of many years' experience now practising in Brisbane as a marine surveyor. He has been in command of large oversea vessels for a number of years, including the Oswestry Grange, a twin-screw steamer of over 7000 tons burden, and is well acquainted with the Argyllshire and Matthew Flinders. He emphatically stated that with the two steamers in question, situated as they were, and with the wind. and weather as they were, the Matthew Flinders being three or four of her lengths, say from 500 to 700 feet, ahead of the Argyllshire, in his opinion the proper and safe course would have been to go to leeward of the Matthew Flinders-that is, to go to port under a starboard helm and pass her on that side-instead of going to windward under a port helm as the Argyllshire did. He added that even if the Matthew Flinders was as much as 300 or 400 yards ahead of the Argyllshire, the Argyllshire should either have gone to leeward or, if she determined to pass her to windward, should have gone astern for some distance before doing so. He was positive that with a south-east breeze, with strength 5 to 6, the Argyllshire, in the light trim that she was in, would drift a good deal, and that the drift of the Matthew Flinders would be much less. He described the damage to the Matthew Flinders which he had surveyed and whose repairs he had superintended, as follows: The damage was confined to her starboard side, the first top plate on the round of the counter was knocked in, the rails, stanchions, boat hangings, starboard lights, and lantern frame and awnings outside of the cabin frame were smashed, the deck-house was set over to port, and the rod connecting the steering engine to the wheel was knocked out of position, and one of the whaleboats was smashed. Captain R. S. Taylor, who was called for the defendants, is |