Edited sentence: After the disaster, Foley was posted to another department, which prevented his attendance at the enquiry, and so obscured the fact that the ship was incompetently parked by the harbour master, who then refused to consider otherwise.Foley, the assistant, insisted upon a written confirmation of these instructions, which was refused; with this Foley left the office.However, the ultimate reason for the disaster lies with the harbour master, who was confident that his choice of berth for the ship was safe, despite objections by the assistant harbour master who tried to have it relocated, but was countermanded by his superior