The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-01-04
CAPTAIN AND
MATE CENSURED
Celtic Chief Stranding Inquiry
Throws Some Light on
the Mishap.
rrom saturdays Advertiser,

v.
convened yesterday by the British
Consul, Ralph G. E. Forster, to inquire
into the causes of the stranding of the
British ship Celtic Chief, which went
or the reef Eva of the entrance to the
chanpel on December 8.
While censuring Captain Henry, mas
ter of the ship, for committing a grave
error of judgment in carrying too much
sail after passing Diamond Head. the
court placed itself plainly on record
that the stranding of the Celtic Chief
might easily have been avoided had it
been practicable for the pilot to have
boarded the vessel at a greater dis
tance from the anchorage.
This does not pass any censure for
Pilot Macaulay, who. handled the Gel
tic Chief on arrival, as it was shown
that he did all in his power to bring
the vessel to safe anchorage after he
boarded her, but having other vessels
to attend to, the Celtic Chief was
boarded when she was well under way
and about to pass the channel entrance.
The burden of the blame, however,
falls upon the first mate of the Celtic
Chief in not carrying out an order of
the master to have both anchors ready
for letting go, and preparing only one
for tripping. That one of the anchors
was not in readiness for its plunge is
credited with being the cause of the
disaster.
Consul Sits in Judgment.
The naval court of inquiry session
was held in the consul's office on King
street. The three members of the court,
comprising the British Consul, Capt. II.
K. Case. master of the British mer-
chant steamer Dunedin of Leith; and
Robert Cation, which is designated in
the consul IS call as British merchant
Of Honolulu, sat behind long table
covered with the British ensign, bear
ing crown in the center. Stenograph-
er Kearns took shorthand notes of the
proceedings. The table was covered
with maps, charts, books of admiralty
matters and the Holy Bible the latter
being used by the consul when he swore
a witness.
Captain Henry of the Celtic Chief,
rather medium sized man, was one of
the first witnesses called. He was ner-
vous and somewhat agitated at times,
the strain of the incidents conneced
with the stranding of his ship having
caused him to become exceedingly ner-
vous. When asked to mark the place
on the chart where the vessel had
bumped, he gave some figures. Captain
Case of the Dunedin began making cal
culatious and frowned after reaching
the sum total thereof, and then meas
ured the chart again, and then asked
more questions of the captain. Some
thing did not agree.
Something Wrong With Compass.
The same thing occurred again when
Pilot Macaulay was on the stand and
was asked to point out the exact place
on the chart where the vessel was an
chored first. He gave the bearings and
said that in these bearings he had been
corroborated by Captain Haglund of
the Inter-Island Steam Navigation
Company. They were taken from the
ships compass. Captain Case worked
over the charts for some time and final
ly laying down his pencil remarked that
there seemed to be something wrong,
either with the charts or the ship Is
compass. Captain Macaulay said it
must be with the compass then, and
there was n general opinion expressed
that the compass was out of gear and
was not true. From this it was gath
cred that Captain Henry's bearings as
to his position when about ready to
drop anchor had been faulty, only in
that the compass itself was not true.
l. 1, 4
intended anchoring on the eastern side
of the channel, but after the pilot
boarded the vessel and gave orders for
taking in sail, he was a little mixed
and finally decided to anchor on the
other side, The captain believed his
vessel under sail was moving along at
siX-knot rate as they passed the bell
buoy.
Gave Order Seven Times.
Pilot Macaulay IS testimony was prac-
tically n repetition of his statement
given before Superintendent of Public
Works Campbell, already published in
The Advertiser He says he boarded
the vessel at $3.50 in the evening and at
once advised the captain to wear ship.
The captain did not wish to do so.
However, he had the master take in all
sail and the helm was put up, so that
the vessel fell off three or four points.
As she swung he gave orders to let
the starboard anchor go, and received
no answer from the forecastle. He
shouted again and gave the order seven
times, when he received a reply from
the foreeastle, that the starboard
anchor was jammed but the port anchor
WAS all right. He shouted "Then, for
God = sake, let the port anchor GO"
II fell, and later the starboard anchor
was let 60 That delay was the critical
moment, for the vessel later on swung
on 10 the reef.
lle gave Il as his opinion that this
delay IN letting go the starboard anchor
WAS responsible for the siranding OF
the ship Captain Maeaulay said blue
lights were burned during the night
after the ship struck but no notice
seemed 10 be taken Of them from shore
and no assistance eano until ihr fol
lowing morning
The court after hnlahing wiih the
testimony, weni over the sans and