New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-23
DISAGREE ON SPOT
WHERE LINER SANK
Empress Captain and the
StOrstad's First Officer
Far Out of Way.
BOTH USED MAPS OF
THE UNITED STATES
Entries in Log of Collier Made
Day After Collision-Cap-
tain Consulted.


Quebec, June o2.-That neither Cap
tain Kendall, of the sunken Canadian
| Pacific liner Empress OF Ireland, nor
Alfred Tuftenes, first officer of the
Storstad. had correctly indicated on
maps the spot where a government
investigator claims the shattered hull
of the liner now lies, was the most i'm
portant point of the testimony heard
to-day by the Dominion commission in
vcstigating the collision. This de-
veloped when Captain Gagnon, of the
Department of Marine and Fisheries,
was called on to establish the position
of the hull.
CAPTAIN Gagnon first drew his rec
ord Of the position OF the Empress on
the British Admiralty map. 1t was
then found that Captain Kendall and
First Officer Tuftenes had used United
States maps. and that there was dis
crepancy between the points they maj
Gated as the resting spot OF inc inner
and the point indicated b. captain
Gagnon as her grave. Captain GaghoH
! then marked the spot where the col
| lison occurred on the map USED py
| Tuftenes. When he filed this eNhlolt
| il was discovered by the commission
/ that CAPTAIN Kendall had Indicated the
/ collision occurred about a mile ana
quarter to the north of the spot where
/ the hull lies, and that Tuftenes gave a
/ spot few miles to the southeast
/ Mr.. Haight, of counsel for the own
| ers Of the Storstad, in pointing out
| the discrepancy. argued that ne was
/ Of the opinion that the course OF the
+ Storstad. as given by her ofhcers'
would lead TO the sunken liner III
reply to Chief Justice McLeods com
ment that il was the contention OF the
owners Of the Storstad that the En-
press was moving at the time of the
/ collision, and that if such was the
case it would have been possible Tor
/ her to have moved some distance after
/ she was struck, Mr.. Haight said that
/ the fact that the passengers did not
have time to dress and go on deck
/ before the liner went down proved that
/ she could not have gone more than a
| ships length or two.
Says Empress Moved Fast.
The second officer of the Storstad
/ Einar Reitnertz, took up the story of
/ the tragedy when the commission be-
gan the second week of its investiga-
| ton to-day. Reitnertz was asleep in
his berth when the steamers collided
and his testimony had TO do with events
that followed He said that when he
first saw the Empress she was moving
rapidly forward. He saw her lights
] 10 CT ri II
Reitnertz said that he took charge OF
one of the boats lowered from the
Storstad and rescued fifty persons from
the water on the first trip, although the
boat was supposed 20 carry only thirty
He did not have TO row far, he said,
/ 10 reach the people in the water. He
thought that the Empress might have
been two or three hundred feet from
his boat when she went down.
Knute Tonder, sailor on the col
lier, testified that the Empress was on
the port bow of the Storstad when he
| first saw her. He could tell by the
/ vibration of the propeller, he said, that
the Storstad's engines had been put
astern.
The next witnesses, a fireman and a
/ coal passer. corroborated in a measure
the testimony of the officers of the
Storstad. Alfred Tuftenes, the col
/ lier's first officer, who was in charge Of
| the vessel just before the collision,
was called back to the stand and eX-
amined regarding the ships log, which
he had written. This log showed that
the lights at Father Point were
blotted out by the fog at 2:50 a. m,
while the engineers log noted that the
! Storstad was going full speed until )
B a. m. When these facts were called TO
the witnesses attention he replied that
he was not sure that his clock and the
clock in the engine room agreed.
Witness Sent to Montreal.
Tuftenps said that he made the en-
tries in his log the afternoon following
the collision. and admitted that he had
talked TO the captain before he wrote
them. The scrap log from which ma
tCrial for the ships log was taken was
produced. but the witness declared that
il contained nothing about the collision.
/ This gave rise to complications and
the commissioners finally decided to
send Tuftenes to Montreal this after
noon for memoranda which he thought
he had left on board the Storstad.
From these notes the court hoped to
learn the exact times that various or
ders relating to the navigation of the
collier were given.
G.. r. Mclsaac, general traffic man
ager of the Dominion Coal Company,
charterer Of the Storstad, the next wit
ness. denied that his company paid
! bonuses to officers of ships for making
quick passages. He then read copy
Of instructions issued to the captains
of ships. which included clause pro-
vidiing for "gratuities" for officers who
Safeguard the interests of the COM
pany." Lord Mersey, after reading the
/ instructions himself, called attention to
a provision reminding captains of the
! Importance Of making every moment
count" The witness explained that
"gratuities," if any, were based on the
amount Of tonnage carried by vessels
and not upon the speed made.
Lord Merscy asked Mclsaac whether
the company made a practice of sus-
pending payment on a charter for
vessel when it was out of commission
for twelve hours or more. The wit
ness said this was done.
M. |. T. PLANS COURSE