On the 12th of August 2015 Andrew Van Rensberg posted an interesting blog on the collision of the Pisagua and the Oceana, I should like to add further to the event.
The Pisagua was a German barque of 2,906 grt with a length of 370ft 9inches x beam 44ft 7inches x depth 26ft 1inch. she was driven by 38,000 square feet of sails and was under the command of captain R.Dahm. Built of steel in 1892 she was carrying 4,500 tons of nitrates from Mexillones (Chile) to Hamburg Germany.
The Oceana was owned by the P&O Company a passenger cargo ship 6,610 grt x beam 57.15 ft x depth 26ft 6inches with a steaming speed of 14.5 knots. She was under the command of captain Thomas Hide and was bound from London to Bombay India. Oceana had a crew of 221, and was carrying 15 first class passengers, 26 second class (21men, 18women and 2 children). On board was specie in the form of gold and silver ingots valued at the time to be worth 747,110 pounds. The Oceana left Tilbury for Bombay at 2.00pm on the 15th of March 1912. About 2.56am on the 16th of March, she passed the Royal Sovereign light ship at about 3 miles off. A course was then set, S83W true. The weather was described as fine and clear with a north fresh wind. Beachy Head was abeam at 3.28am. In accordance with the usual arrangement the pilot was to continue to act until the ship reached the Nab light vessel. From midnight to 4am Mr. Walter Naylor the chief officer had the watch, he also held a masters certificate. Shortly after passing the Royal Sovereign light ship the pilot left the bridge to sit down in the chart room, he notified the chief officer and said, "keep a sharp lookout and call me if you need me". The vessel at this time was steaming at 14.5 knots.
At about 3.55am the chief officer was examining some lights on the starboard bow when he heard the gong in the bows strike once, the signal from the lookout indicating that there was a ship on the port bow. Mr. Naylor looked at the ship through his glasses and made her out to be a sailing ship under plain sail almost on opposite course, showing her starboard side open. A blue flare was being burned on the sailing ship and by its light he could see she was running free with her sails on the port tack. He judged her distance to be 1.25 miles, and she bore two points on his starboard bow (22.5degrees). At first he did not see the green light but as the blue flare burned down he saw a dim green light. He gave the order "port five degrees" but did not signal with the ships steam whistle as to what he was doing. The pilot came out of the chartroom and said, "what are you porting to"? the chief officer replied "the ship burning the blue flare". The pilot quickly looked at the ship and gave the order, "hard a port". The order was repeated by the helmsman and the helm put hard over. It was of course to late and the Pisagua struck the Oceana at an angle estimated by the chief officer to be almost a right angle. The Pisagua struck the Oceana about 18 feet before her foremast with her bowsprit coming over the Oceana. The Pisagua rebounded before coming near the bridge of the Oceana again striking just before the break of the bridge, and sweeping away all the lifeboats on the portside except the after boat No 10. Her plating was torn away for about thirty feet, the cabins in the vicinity of the blow were all wrecked. The second officer was sent to check the damage and observed from the main deck that the top of the waves were entering the hole in the hull. regular soundings were taken of number 1 hold until they reached 33 feet. When both vessels were free of each other the captain and the chief officer both thought the ship was rapidly sinking, with the passengers on the captains mind he ordered the remaining boats made ready. The chief officer misunderstood the captain and lowered the No1 lifeboat down to the spar deck where 16 passengers and 2 crewmen boarded it. On reaching the water the boat, almost at once took a sheer out from the ships side. The after rope fall was released but no painter had been passed forward to the ship,(rope attached to the lifeboat). The ship started moving forward, the life boat was still connected by the forward rope fall and could not be released and boat capsized by being dragged along and threw all 18 people into the sea drowning 17 souls. There was no lifeboat equipment in the boats and an axe usually kept in each boat had been taken out for fear of theft. if there had have been an axe in the boat the seamen could have cut the rope fall and may have saved the boat from being upset. Prior to sailing two Board of Trade surveyors on separate occasions visited the ship to test her boats in the water. Neither of these two surveyors inspected the lifeboats equipment which should have been in the boats by law. If they had have done there job properly the axe would have been in the boat concerned.
The Oceana eventually sank due to the master insisting on the ship being towed when all advice to beach her while she still had flotation was ignored. The Pisagua was damaged to the effect that her bows had been crushed back 17 feet. It was only the strength of the No 1 hold bulkhead holding out saved her. She was towed back to Dover by two tugs. On arrival she was promptly arrested by having a writ attached to her mast to ensure payment for the salvage and towage by the tugs. Pisagua was named after the port of Pisagua in Chile where ships since 1860 came from all over the World to load nitrates.
The cause of the collision was the fault of the chief officer in attempting to cross ahead of the Pisagua, (steam must give way to sail), he was also found responsible for the deaths of the 17 people that drowned, his certificate was cancelled for six months with a strong censure.
Pisagua showing her code letters R.J.P.T.
The badly damaged Pisagua.
