Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-01
THE CHARTS WE'RE WRONG,
ROncadOr Reef Was Not Marked
Where the Kenrsarge Was Wrecked.

At noon the reading Of the minutes was
completed in the Kearsarge court of in
quiry at Brooklyn yesterday and Command
er Heyerman was recalled to the stand
When asked what had become of the cipher
code he stated:
Before leaving the ship one of the men
asked me if 1 wished to save anything.
1 told him that 1 could not save anything
but my life. 1 remembered that the cipher
code was under lock and key in my cabin.
1 gave the man the key to my bureau and
told him to secure the cipher code. The
cipher book was saved. and yesterday l
shipped it to Washington, per order from
the department.
Junior Lieut.. Charles II. Lyman, the nav
igator Of the kearsarge, was then called
to the witness stand. He testified that he
had been in the navy for nearly twenty
eight years.
His testimony may throw great light upon
the loss of the ship.
He stated that the Roncador reefs were
from three to I'VE miles west Of the place
they are marked on the chart fur
nished him by the naval authorities. The
witness stated that the chart provided him
was compiled in 1885 He said that all of
the glasses and instruments on the Kear-
sarge. with the single exception of the
night sextant. were in good order.
In the run from New York to San Do
minge the difference between the patent
log and the old Chip log was only six
had reason to believe that his sights"
were uniformly correct. His work was
checked by naval cadets. who took sights
for practice.
At this point, 12:30 pm a recess for an
hour and half was taken
After recess Lieut.. Lyman resumed his
testimony. In answer to the question
whether he had informed himself on jan
uary 30 of the character of the water to
be sailed over on the run from Port au
Prince TO the Nicaraguan coast, he said:
i did by examining the charts"
Lieut.. Lyman then described the course
sailed after leaving Port au Prince.
Were the currents nominal. as shown
by the chart?''
Yes; so much SO as TO be a subject of
comment among the ships officers"
When did you first change your course ~
About 1910 am. on February 9. 1t was
changed from south-southwest. one-quar-
ter west, to west-sourhwest three-quar-
tiers west. The first observation taken that
day was at $50 am. The observation at
noon was taken under perfect conditions
of and sky. Three observations were
taken on that day. 1t was found that the
current in the twenty-four hours was sew
enteen miles to the north and twenty-eIsht
miles to the west. At the time of the
meridian observation l reported the lati-
tude to the commander as 1913. 1t should
have been 1881. The commander said
that II must be wrong in view of the cur
rents. The latitude was therefore taken
again and found to be first reported
Our course would have carried us at least
three miles to the north of the northern
end of Roncador reef. I told the command
er that if We kept on that course we should
have TO maintain a sharp lookout for the
reef We were then about fifty-sx miles
from the reef
VIII you tell u.s. asked the judge adj
TO s.U-hx -hAv, L
current had set in from the north and
west. you waited until within fifty-six
miles of the reef before you changed the
course?"
1T had been our intention to pass to
the south and east of Roncador reef but
at 1912 am. it was decided to pass to the
north of Ii, and so the course was chang
ed
Continuing, Lieut.. Lyman said that at
noon on February they were forty-two or
forty-three miles from the reef. He told
the commander that If he wanted to sight
the reef before dark ii would be necessary
to get up steam. so that the Kearsarge
could be Kept at a speed of seven knots
an hour. 1t was expect that the reef
would be sighted at d . He cautioned
some of the officers thai they were in a
dangerous locality. AT G::sO p. m. the course
was again changed and an observation
was taken.
were only two miles north of Roncador
Key. the northern extremity of the reef
With the northwest current which they
believed that they had and which they did
have at pm, they should have passed
to the north of the key anywhere between
five and ten miles.
Where did you suppose you were at the
time of striking the reef?''
About five or six miles to the north
ward. Even without the aid of the north
west current We should have been two miles
to the NORTH
Now. Lieut.. Lyman. kindly sum up the
reasons. you understand them, for the
wreck of the Kearsarge"
The loss of the ship was due partly to
improper charting. partly to currents set
ting in an opposite direction from that an
ticipated and partly to our not having
sighted the reef before dark"
This finished the lieutenant's examina-
ton. and the court adjourned.