Afghanistan - wreck inquiry

Masters: 1897-1900 K Saunders: 1901-02 C Sadler: 1904 James Hudson.

Crew January 1904: Jones, John, chief officer

Afghanistan left Newport, Monmouthshire on a voyage for Sawakin, Bombay & Karachi with a general cargo, 5 passengers & a crew of 35. She carried 2 compasses, 4 boats, 46 lifebelts & 2 lifebuoys. At Algiers she landed a female passenger. She left Suez on 19 January 1904 & at 1.40am & on 21 January she passed St John’s Island. Weather was fine but hazy & she was full speed ahead at about 10 knots. About 2pm she reduced speed to 7 knots for the purpose of getting abeam of the Sanganeb Reef Beacon at daylight, no land was visible. At 6.10am on 22 January the engines were put to full speed ahead & by 7.10am high land was on the starboard side. There was no broken water or any indication of a reef. The master then left the bridge & at 7.45am on 22 January the vessel struck ground & became fixed. She was 40 miles north of Suakim on the Towartit Reef in the Red Sea. The chief officer reduced the engines to slow but the master rushed from the chart-room & put the engine at full speed astern. There was water in the no. 1 hold & the forepeak, which was increasing. At 8.10 the engines were stopped as the engineer thought that if the vessel slipped off the reef she would founder. At 11am the third officer was sent in a boat to Suakim to procure help. He returned on 23 January with a small steamer which could not render any assistance. On 24 January the steamer Mukbar came with five lighters. By now the weather was bad so the passengers & the stewardess were taken off.  A large part of the cargo was discharged but during a gale in early February the vessel swung broadside to the reef & the crew had to leave her to her fate.

The inquiry found that the master should have been on the bridge to give his personal supervision; that the alterations to the course after the 21 January did not take into account the tides & currents & there was not a proper look-out. The cause of the casualty was that because the weather was hazy & the vessel had passed the Sanganeb Beacon without sighting the reef, improper courses were steered & full speed towards a dangerous reef. This was & a wrongful act by the master & his certificate was suspended for six months. It was also found that chief officer was blameworthy in failing to realize that the vessel was in danger while he was in charge of her & in touch with the master in her navigation. The 2^nd & 3^rd officers were exonerated of any blame. Mr Baden-Powell applied for a chief officer’s certificate to be granted to the master for the duration of his suspension & this was agreed.

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