New Britain herald., 1914-07-11
STORSTAD 10 BLAME
 FOR EMPRESS WRECK
Continued from First Page

 evidence connected with the Empress of Ireland first.
 No witness speaks of having seen her make any change of course dur ing the fog, and. those who were on board engaged in her navigation dis tinctly deny that any change what ever was made.
 Two Theories Expounded.
 There is, in our opinion, no ground for saying that the course of the Elm press of Ireland was ever changed in the sense that the wheel was will fully moved; but as the hearing pro- ceeded another explanation was pro- pounded, namely, that the vessel changed her course, not by reason of any wilful alterations of her wheel, but in consequence of some uncon- trollable movement, which was ac- counted for at one time on the hy- pothesis that the steering gear was out of order and at another by the theory that, having regard to the full ness of the stern of the Empress of Ireland, the area of the rudder was insufficient Evidence was called in support of this explanation. It is not necessary to examine this evidence in detail.
 Galway Principal Witness.
 The principal witness on this point as to the steering gear was a man named Galway, one of the quarter masters on the Empress of Ireland. He said that he reported the jamming incident to Williams, the second officer on the bridge (who was drowned), and to Pilot Bernier. He said he also mentioned the matter to Quartermaster Murphy, who relieved him at midnight of the disaster. Pilot Bernier and Murphy denied that Galway had made any complaint what ever to them about the steering gear.
 Galway gave his evidence badly and made so unsatisfactory a witness that we cannot rely on his testimony. Some evidence was called, however, to confirm Galway's.
 Witnesses spoke of having passed the Empress of Ireland on her way down the river, about S:20 (Montreal time) on the evening of the 2Sth of May, and they said she was swinging and steering badly, changing from red to green several times.
 Not We'll Founded.
 "On the whole question of the steering gear and rudder we are of opinion that the allegations as to their conditioins are not well founded.
 Tt was said on behalf of the Stor- stad that the order to put the liner full speed astern was probably given hcp become unmanageable by reason of her defective steering gar. We can- not accept this suggestion, but we do think the stopping evidences uneasi- ness on the part of Captain Kendall and consciousness that his ship was possibly in too close proximity to the Storstad.
 We think that he would have been better advised if he had given the Storstad a wider berth, and had navigated his ship so as to pass the Storstad at a greater distance on his beam than he originally intended. We do not think, however, that his stopping, which was really done for greater caution, can be said to have been an unseamanlike act, nor do we consider his failure to give the wider berth as contributory cause of the disaster
 No Lack of Discipline.
 The report found that there was no lack of discipline on board the Em- press and that the Empress compiled with all the regulations regarding boat equipment, watertight doors, etc.
 To prevent such loss of life in the future the commission made these suggestions:
 That in foggy weather all water-tight doors and port holes be- lew the top of the water-tight bulk heads be closed. Preferably they should be closed all the time between sunset and sunrise.
 ''2-That it might be desirable to consider whether rafts could not be placed in such a position on the upper deck that they would float auto matically on the water as the ship sank"