Do you recall doing that....  No not specifically.  I was involved in destroying a lot of papers that were damaged and would have caused distress some because of that and some because it was the obvious thing to do.”

As a further sample of the kind of material that might have been provided by the criticized officers had they been given the opportunity we were referred to a signed statement by Captain Crosbie forwarded to the police (who by then were investigating the allegations of conspiracy) on 5th May 1981.  In the statement he has said after he had given evidence before the Inquiry he recalled that because of the poor condition of the notebook and severely damaged paper inside it and “rather than present this to Mrs Collins” he had disposed of the pages himself.  Then having cleaned the cover he dried it in the sun and returned it to Mrs Collins.  It would seem to be an understandable reaction although once again the effect this kind of material might have had if it had been put forward is not for us to assess.  In any event, concerning this matter the Commissioner said in paragraph 352—­

“As to the ring-binder notebook, it had been returned to Mrs Collins by an employee of the airline, but all the pages of the notebook were missing. Captain Gemmell was asked about this in evidence.  He suggested that the pages might have been removed because they had been damaged by kerosene.  However, the ring-binder notebook itself, which was produced at the hearing, was entirely undamaged.” (Emphasis added.)

It is clear that the Commissioner has wrongly attributed the explanation given by Captain Crosbie concerning the removal of missing pages to Captain Gemmell.  The latter was never questioned at all about possible reasons for the missing pages.  The fifth and sixth respondents have formally acknowledged that the reference to Captain Gemmell in that paragraph is wrong.

Contents of Flight Bags

It has been explained that the Commissioner was satisfied that Captain Collins had used the New Zealand Atlas to plot the last leg of the flight path from Cape Hallett to McMurdo and may have used a chart of his own for the same purpose.  In addition there were his briefing documents and those received by First Officer Cassin.  Those received by the latter have been discussed.  The Commissioner held that they had not been taken aboard the aircraft.  But he was concerned with whatever else may have been carried onto the DC10 by First Officer Cassin in his flight bag; and about the contents of Captain Collin’s flight bag which he believed would include the atlas and briefing documents.  In fact the only evidence concerning the possible survival of the first officer’s flight bag, let alone its contents, was a name-tag which finally reached Mrs Cassin through Captain Crosbie, the welfare representative.  Since there is no description of the contents and it has been held that the briefing material was left behind anyway, the fate of the bag itself would seem to be immaterial.