On Tuesday 30th a meeting of the Marine Board charged Captain Kendrick with careless navigation. This was to be acted upon at the Court of Marine Enquiry on Tuesday January 6th 1903.

The master of a ship lost or wrecked is required to produce a manifest to the nearest Collector of Customs immediately after the mishap. But the new year arrived and Captain Kendrick had still not furnished such a document.

The current penalty for ignoring these regulations (65th Section of the Customs Act, 1901) was a fixed sum of £20.