The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-04-15
Weather Reports Cap.
tain Blanchard Had.
Hearing Today as to Fixing
Time for Trial.

In the United States District Court &c
day a hearing will be held on the question
of fixing time for the trial of the suits
for damages against the steamboat COM
pany.
Some time ago certain interrogatories
were filed for the steamboat company to
answer. one set by Gen. Charles p. Mat
tocks of this city for Walter j. Gately.
and the other set by s. Henry Hooper
and Alberto 4. Flint. prootors for Ludger
( j. Renouf.
The two sets of interrogatives covered
generally about the same ground, and
have heretofore been printed. The re-
plies to those made by Gen. Mnttocks GOV.
er very completely the facts which 1t was
the object to elicit.
The answers to both sets Of interr oga
tives were filed late yesterday afternoon
by Bepj. Thompson, ESQ.,, counsel for
the steamb boat company. The answers to
Gen. Mattocks's interrogatories are as
follows:
To interrogatory it says:
Immediately preceding the loss Of the
steamer Portland, Hollis II. Blanchard,
A$6WlS II. DuEOub, anu lLoWiS Ne ANCieoh,
were pilots on said steamer, and each OF
Said persons held licenses as tirst-class
pilots.
beld a certificate issued by the United
States local inspectors of steam boats
on the 18th day Of January, 1877, and
numbered $50, Us a master and nrst-ciass
pilot for the Atlantic coast, also as q
irst-class pilot between PASSPORT and
Cape Hatteras, and intermediate ports In
Guiding Chesapeake bay and tributaries,
which was the eighteenth consecutive
annual issue OF such license.
Said Lewis NJ. Nelson ut said time, held
a first -alass pilots license, issued by said
inspectors, dated November 20, 1897, and
numbered 1873, which was the seventh
Jnsscntive annual issue Of license to him
in said capacity, and extended to the
bays and harhors between Portland, Me-,
and Boston, Mass.
liz preceding her loss. wero Edward ssl3eef-
ing and John Mckie. Ansel l., Dyer,
who was one of said steamers crew, also
held license as first mate of ocean 60
ing stea mers.
At the time of said steamers loss.
Pilot Lewis r. Strout anu Mate Edward
b Deering, were absent therefrom, hav-
ing obtained permission from Capt.
Blanchard to stop off that trip to atte nd
the funeral of Capt. Charles Deering, who
was relative of theirs, but their places
were filled by licensed officers
To interrogauory 1t says:
Prior to the loss of the steamer Port
land, the libellant was in the habit of re-
ceiving daily ut Boston and Portland
the weather map regularly issued by the
weather bureau. In addition to this the
libellant was accustomed to rec i've at
its boston office. report OF the New York
weather, which was obtained by an ex-
"A $50, AID N,f he
libellant by the Western Union Telegraph
company. These
REPORTS WE'RE REPEATED
to the Portland Office by the Boston office
of the company and the master of the
company's steamer then in Boston would
add the weather in Boston. These re-
ports from New York We're sent at p m,
and Immediately repeated as above to
Portland. From all this Information and
other fGcts within their knowledge, the
captains of the respective vessels of this
company would determine whether 10
sail or re ain III port.
To intetrogatory 1t says:
Generally speaking, the weather bu-
reau reports have proved valuable, but in
many instances where storms have been
predicted for the New England coast,
th have diverted oceanward. or dlsap-
peared before reaching this ,oas5,
The accuracy of the local predictions
for this coast by the weather bureau has
been questioned by many experienced
shipmasters.
10 interrogatory 4 1t says:
In the forenoon Of November 20, 1898,
the llceilant received at ia Boston Office.
from the weather bureau, the following
telephone communication:
"Storm; northeast signals. II a. NJ,
storm central near Detroit moving east.
East to northeast gale with heavy snow
tonight Wind will shift to west and
northwest with much colder Sunday"
and similar communication was re-
ceived at its Portland office very early in
the afternoon of the same day.
Very early the same afternoon. map
containing the weather predictions was
received at its Boston office, of which the
following is an extract:
forecast for Boston and vicinity |: