Volume Ten - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Even more aspects - The Lloyd's Register at Penarth Dock . . .

Then instead of having, as the act prescribed, the deck line marked amidships of the vessel, he put the deck line 12 feet forward, whereby he gained another 3 inches. Mr Ropner had done this thing before, and, consequently, the Board of Trade felt bound to press their case against him. A captain of Mr Ropner's was on the occasion referred to fined £25.

Mr Stephens objected to the importation of this matter, seeing that Mr Ropner was not fined. As a matter of fact, Mr Ropner knew nothing of the lines. He left them to his qualified men.

Thomas Henry Sloggett, shipwright, surveyor to the Board of Trade, stationed at Cardiff, said the s.s. Horden was a British vessel, and he put in her register. On the 14th March last the vessel was in the Penarth Dock. In company with another Board of Trade surveyor he visited her, and examined the position of her deck lines. He found the port deck line 6 inches higher than it ought to be, including the distance forward ; the starboard deck register was 3¾ inches too high amidships, and the line from the sheer was about 6¾ inches. Instead of the deck line being marked amidships, it was marked 12 feet forward of the midships ; by the sheer of the vessel that would be a loss of three inches. Supposing the vessel had been loaded down to her disc, she would have had 15 inches at her port side. He saw the superintendent engineer who, at the time altered by marks of a chisel the deck lines to the proper position.

Cross-examined : He had seen the vessel in Cardiff since on the 14th of the present month. She had an iron deck. He did not know that many north-country vessels were marked differently to others. He did not know that the vessel had been in the same condition from the time she was launched.

Re-examined : He had made allowance for the deck being of iron instead of wood. The line was a fictitious one.

Mr Stephens said Mr Ropner was the owner of 19 other vessels besides this one, and complained of the lapse of time that had taken place, showing that the Board of Trade were not particularly interested in prosecuting. The marking of the vessels was left to the superintendent engineer, and in this instance the chief engineer had put the position, which he characterised as a trivial matter, right.