New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-02-07
THE UpECK OF THE COLUMBUS.

THE VRECK OF THE COLUMBUS.
The statement of Captain Wright before the
Investigating Board confirms the belief that the
wreck of the the City of Columbus was brought
about by objectionable carelessness; that the
second mate was not the main actor In the DIS
graceful blunders which resulted in the disaster;
that the captain neglected his plain duty in not
seeing that his orders were executed, and III
leaving the deck to a subordinate before his
ship was out of danger. And the extent OF his
NEGLIGENCE is further shown by his inability to
comprehend, or to explain how the steamer
could have got where she was when she struck.
He SAYS, We were four miles from NoDSka
slight when gave the order to the second mate
Gto steer sOuthwest-by west. | told him 10
q change the course TO wcst-sOuth-W west when oil
" Tarpaulin Cove, to clear Naushon Point. |
4" gave this order before ! left the pilot-house.
" If the vessel had continued on the southwest
"by-west course from where it was ordered she
awould have cleared Gay Head by two miles,
"and if the course had been changed oil Tar
"paulin Cove to west-southwest, as ordered,
she would have gone three and quarter miles
q oft Gay Head" The position of the steamer
at the time the order to change her course was
given could not have been as represented by
Captan Wright, if his calculation as to the
result of steering southwest by-west from that
position is correct. For, as shown by Captain
Hammond's chart, published in The Boston Post
this course was really calculated to take her
diaconally across the channel, and to carry her
nearly over Lucas Shoals and very near to Gay
Head where she actually struck. A west-sOuth-
west course on the other hand would have kept
her in mid-channel full two and half OF three
miles from Gay Head.
Now ii may be inferred from one statement
of Captain Wright that when he gave the order
to change the course, of TaTpauln Cove, he
was further south than he believed and by no
means so near the Naushon Isle coast as he
thought. For he says he gave the order to steer
| west-sOuthwest "tO clear NaushOn Point"
which shows that he thought himself pretty
close in on that side. Had he been where he
seems TO have thought himself at this time, tho
course he gave, southwest bywest would have
taken the ship well clear of Gay Head. But if
he was really much further over than he
supposed when he changed the course, the
southwest-by-west course would have brought
her where she actually went, on the Devils
Bridge. The fact that the captain cannot
explain the disaster does not really shut us up
to the conclusion that the second mate failed to
| change the course rs ordered. Indeed there is
some evidence in support of the theory that he
did change the course to west southwest, for
the captain says he heard him speak to the
quartermaster before lie himself left the deck
! He may have run the vessel as ordered, Oh a
west-southwest course, then have changed the
course to southwest-by -west, and still have run
her on the Devils Bridge, provided that the
captain erred as to his position ut the time
when he gave the order. The ship was certainly
steering southwest-by west when she went
ashore. That at least is positively asserted.
And if this is true it will be very difficult to show
how the second mate could have been respon-
sible for the course, though he certainly was
responsible for the consequences OF that course,