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1, the undersigned, Alfred Chetham Strode, Esq., one of
Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, and a Resident
Magistrate in and for the Colony of New Zealand,
having been on the fifth day of April, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven, applied to by Thomas
Hill, Esq., Principal Officer of Customs at the Port of
Dunedin, for a formal investigation pursuant to Section
VII. of "The Inquiry into Wrecks Act, 1863," and
other provisions of the said Act, respecting the loss of a
certain steamship, called the "South Australian," of the
Port of Melbourne, Victoria, on the second day of April
last, on the reef of rocks lying four miles south of
"Cook’s Head," on the East Coast of Otago, did duly
proceed with the said investigation, to wit, on
the ninth, tenth, eleventh and eighteenth days of April,
instant; and had before me and examined on oath divers
persons and witnesses, to wit, Hugh Mackie, master
mariner; Hunter Regnart, chief mate; Henry Mullen,
second mate; John Thomas Nutt, chief engineer;
James Aitken, Magnus Brown, Fowler Masterton, Evan
Davis, seamen, (all of the "South Australian" steam-
ship); Francis Dillon Bell, Albert Griffiths, John Reid
Mackenzie, passengers on board; Alexander McKinnon,
master mariner; Spencer Brent, clerk; John Bell Mudie,
merchant; and George Simpson, master mariner; the
original dispositions of whose evidence are hereunto an-
nexed, signed by me, being assisted therein by William
Thomson, Harbour-Master of Otago, and a master
mariner, holding a Certificate of Competency from the
Board of Trade in London, who was duly appointed by
Thomas Hill, Esq., Principal Officer of Customs at the
Port of Dunedin, to act as Assessor to me the said Justice
of the Peace and Resident Magistrate, and upon
such investigation and examination of witnesses as afore-
said, I find, and beg to report to the Honorable the
Postmaster-General of New Zealand as follows, that is
to say:—

1. That the official number of said ship called the
   "South Australian" is 29,570, of which Hugh
   Mackie is master, who holds a Certificate of
   Competency, and which ship belonged to Messrs
   McMeekan, Blackwood and Co., of Melbourne,
   Victoria, Merchants.

2. That the loss or damage herein more particularly
   mentioned happened on the second day of April,
   one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, at
   about eleven o’clock in the evening, on the reef
   of rocks lying four miles south of "Cook’s Head,"
   on the East Coast of Otago.

3. That the loss or damage appears by the evidence
   to have been caused mainly by the incorrectness
   of the deviation card supplied by the authorities
   at Melbourne, inasmuch as the actual course
   made by the "South Australian" on the night
   in question has been one and three-quarter (1¾)
   points to the westward of the course indicated
   by the deviation card, supposing the position of
   the point at which the course was shaped to
   have been correct.

4. That the nature of the loss or damage done was
   total wreck. That it is not known to the master
   or any one in Otago whether the vessel is in-
   sured or not. That the "South Australian" is
   barque-rigged; her port of registry, Adelaide,
   South Australia; her registered tonnage, 435

53-100. That no lives were lost through the
wreck.

And I, the said Justice of the Peace and Resident
Magistrate, further state my opinion on the matter
aforesaid to be as follows—That at the time the course
was shaped abreast of Cape Saunders (up to which time
the vessel had been steered by the land) presuming
the vessel to have been about four miles off the coast
as appears by the evidence of the master, she must
have taken considerably more than the customary
offing for steamers in daylight: the usual course being,
when abreast of that Cape about one and a half (1½)
miles from the land, a S.S.W. course; which was the
course set, steered according to the deviation card, from
one and a half (1½) miles from Cape Saunders, the usual
track for steamers, would, with the current on the port
bow, which is known to exist, place the vessel on the reef
on which she struck. There seems by the evidence to
have been no effort made from time to time to determine
the true position of the vessel, and, particularly at the
time of shaping the course, the evidence of the master
and that of the chief officer being on that point very
conflicting. Moreover, this is the more apparent from
the fact of the master having after the vessel struck
supposed his position to be south of the Nuggets,
and having given an order to one of the officers in
charge of a boat to steer a N.N.E. course in order to
fetch the Molyneux. It appears from the testimony of
all the witnesses that the night on which the disaster
occurred was fine, calm, and starlight, with a slight
haze over the land, but quite clear overhead. Under
these circumstances it seems somewhat unaccountable
that the close proximity of the land was not observed
by those connected with the management of the ship,
and consequently but one conclusion is forced upon me
(i.e.) that the lookout was insufficient and careless of
his duty; and even supposing that the land was
partially obscured by the haze, a cast of the lead every
hour should have been taken. The evidence discloses
that no officer was in charge of the bridge of the vessel
where the telegraph to the engine-room was fixed. This
circumstance appears to show something, to say the
least, unusual, when a steamer is under weigh; but
from the evidence adduced I must conclude that the
loss of the "South Australian" was not, in the words
of the two hundred and forty-second section of "The
Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," caused by the wrongful
act or default of the master or any other officer of the
ship. In conclusion, I deem it right to state that the
master had been fourteen years at sea, and four and a
half years in the trade between Otago and Melbourne,
and had never before met with the slightest accident.

Given under my hand this twenty-third day of
April, one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven, at Dunedin, in the Province of
Otago, New Zealand.

A. CHETHAM STRODE, J.P. and R.M.

I, William Thomson, Nautical Assessor on the inquiry
into the cause of the wreck of the steamship "South
Australian," concur in the above Report concerning the
loss of the said vessel.

WILLIAM THOMSON,
Nautical Assessor.

Printed under the authority of the Provincial Government
of Otago, by Mills, Dick & Co., of Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand,
Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.