Evening star., 1923-09-18
COMPASS BEARINGS.
PIVOT Al INQUIRY
Communications Officer of 7
Wrecked Destroyers Says
Visibility Was Fair.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
SAN DIEGO, Calf, September IS
Cross -examination of Lieut. Lawrence
Wild communications officer of the
destroyer squadron hurled on the
rocks off Point Honda September s,
was to be resumed here today before
the naval court of inquiry investigat-
ing the disaster which cost the lives
or twenty-three and the destruction
of seven vessels
Wild testified yesterday that none
OF the deStroyerS save the Delphy,
leading the squadron. had the right
Under heet regulations, to ask shore
stations for radio compass bearings,
enabling them to chart their courses
independently: that ii was the duty
OF the other vessels to take their posi-
ttons from the ship at the head OF the
column.
Calls Visibility Fair.
Visibility shortly before the de-
stroyers grounded was not particu-
larly poor, he said, citing the fact
that he saw the lights OF eight ves-
sells astern, the farthest being about
2,4O0 yards away.
Compass bearings flashed from q
radio station on Point Arguello were
the pivot about which testimony and
docun1 entary evidence roNolVed at
yesterday sessions.
The radio compass bearing is a sig
nal flashed from some point ashore
10 ship at sea, giving the vessel
its directions from that point and en-
abling the navigator TO determine his
exact location.
Reports of the commander OF the
Inflated destroyer squadron and
eleven of his subordinate officers, as
we'll IS the testimony of the one wit
ness examined, all emphasized com
pass bearings received from Point
Arguello as the crucial factor in the
events leading up to the disaster.
Trying 10 Place Blame.
Whether the ertur which led the
squadron commander to hurl his
ships on the rocks in the belief that
he was rounding promontory.
which, in fact. he had not yet
reached, originated at Point Arguello,
or aboard the deStroyers themselves.
lanes, caused by a multitude of mes
saSes concerning the fate of the
liner Cuba in distress not far away,
was question still unanswered
day.
Lieut.. Commander Leslie Bratton is
judge advocate of the court. Twelve
naval officers have been named as
parties TO the inquiry in the status
OF defendants"
Sessions OF the court were open to
the public, and newspaper men as
signed to the inquiry are receiving
full cooperation from naval author
tiles here.
Probe May Last Weeks.
Estimates as to the probable length
of the inquiry vary from ten days
to more than three weeks. Admiral
Robert CoontZ, commander-in-c -chief
of the United States fleet, said before
he left here on the flagship Seattle
yesterday that he did not see how
the hearings could be completed IN
less than three weeks.
Five bodies recovered during the
last two days at La Honda brought
the total up to eleven. Three OF the
bodies were identified today as those
of James Young, L. Jones H. ker-
ewski. Another was tentatively iden-
titled as that of William Pearson. who
Is said by comrades TO have become
denIented when his vessel struck.
The body was found lashed to
piece of mast which washed ashore.
Shipmates asserted at the time of the
tragedy that Pearson had become
blinded and demented when the vessel
struck and to avoid trouble they
dashed the seaman to a mast on the
Young. hoping to return for him
after all others had been taken
ashore. The vessel turned over, how
ever, and Pearson went down.