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HALIFAX DISASTER RECORD OFFICE
ARCHIBALD MACMECHAN, F.R.S.C.
DIRECTOR
HALIFAX, N.S.

April 20, 1918.

JOURNAL
[Newspaper clipping]
DECISION IN IMO MONT BLANC CASES
Judge Drysdale Finds the French Ship Solely to Blame For the Collision.
Mr. Justice Drysdale yesterday filed his decision in the Imo and Mont Blanc cases in the Admiralty Court, finding the Mont Blanc solely to blame for the collision which caused the great explosion on December 6th. The decision was as follows:
The actions here are being tried together, viz., the claim vs. the Imo now lying in the harbor and the counter-claim vs. the Mont Blanc. The circumstances attending the collision of these two ships were investigated before me, assisted by two of the best of the nautical assessors in Canada, and by common consent the evidence adduced on the investigation is to be considered the evidence n this case. The only attempt to vary the evidence in the investigation is that of one Makinney, called on the trial herein. As to Makinney's evidence, I have only to day that he did not impress me as throwing any light on the situation. His manner was bad and his matter worse. In short, I did not believe him, although he professed to be an eye-witness of the collision. I am convinced that he did not add any light to the controversy. He failed to convince me that he knew what he was talking about. Notwithstanding he professed to be an eye-witness to the collision, I am quite sure he could not place the point or place of collision within one-half mile of the actual place of occurrence. I think this man was a belated occurrence in the inquiry and came with a story the result of instruction, and that on behalf of the French ship. I do not believe him.
As to fault or blame for the collision, I am of opinion that it lies wholly with the Mont Blanc. Once you settle where the collision occurred and I think it is undoubted that it occurred on the Halifax side of mid-channel, you find the impossibility of the story of Pilot Mackey. Even if you day mid-channel, the story of the French ship is absurd. The fault, to my mind, appears to have been the result of the last order of the Mont Blanc when being in her own waters on the Dartmouth side she took a starboard helm and reached for the Dartmouth wharves, thus throwing herself across the bow of the outcoming ship Imo. Why this order was given, I know not, but I feel sure it was gross negligence, and in so thinking I am supported by the advice and opinion of both nautical assessors. The order for a starboard helm and to lay a course suddenly across the harbor was justified by the officers in charge of the Mont Blanc as an emergency order to prevent a collision, but, taking into consideration the then position of the two ships, this claim will not bear investigation.
I find the Mont Blanc solely to blame for the collision. I refer the question of damages to the Registrar and two merchants.


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