§ 77. Mr. PETOasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the prosecution at Goole, on the 29th September last, of Captain Henry Arnold and Mr. F. Chapman, mate of the Goole steamer "Knowl Grove," on a charge of ignoring signals made from one of His Majesty's armed trawlers, the case against the master being dismissed, whilst the mate, Mr. Chapman, who pleaded that he did not understand the Morse code signals and 1611 had disobeyed the regulations in ignorance, was fined £30 and costs; and whether he can state if the "Knowl Grove" at the time was fitted with adequate and efficient signalling apparatus for signalling both by day and by night?
Mr. RUNCIMANI am aware of the circumstances of the conviction of the mate of the steamship "Knowl Grove" for failure to obey orders given by one of His Majesty's armed trawlers. I cannot say whether the "Knowl Grove" was provided with efficient signalling apparatus, but the question of signalling apparatus does not arise in this case as the mate failed to stop when ordered to do so by siren signals, by megaphone hailing from a distance of under fifty yards, and by the firing of a rocket across the vessel's bows from a short distance.