The Press. — London, England, 1856-02-09 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 9, 1856• THE CRIMEAN COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. THE report of Sir John M'Neil and Colonel Tullocb, the commissioners appointed last year to inquire into the condition and the causes of the sufferings of the British army during the winter of 1854 5, has appeared this week. It is a document of great length, embracing the result of investigations into the arrangements of the Commissariat for the supply of the army, the various deficiencies of fuel, provi sions, clothing, medical and general stores, the utter absence of an effective land transport force, and the total want of forage and shelter for the cavalry, artillery, and bat animals. The commissioners, after a preliminary investiga tion at Scutari, arrived at Balaklava on the 12th of March last, and at once commenced the examination of witnesses. Officers of all ranks and of every regiment, brigade, and division, individually or col lectively, were carefully examined with a view of obtaining evidence of what deficiencies actually occurred in the supplies afforded to each corps, and of the results of these deficiencies as affecting the health of the men. The original documents have been forwarded to the War office, and, "it is a great satisfaction to us," observe the commissioners, " to find, on most of the important points, a remarkable concurrence in the testimony as to matters of fact." The principal deficiencies from which the army suffered were in the commissariat supplies of fresh meat, vegetables, fresh bread, fuel, hay and straw (to such an extent that enough couldnot be procured to fill the palliasses of the sick), medicines, warm clothing, huts, and, above all, a defi ciency of land transport, " to which," add the commissioners, "many of the other deficiencies are mainly to be attributed." This want of land trans port we find throughout the report to be the sole and constant defence of the commissary-general. The troops were kept without fresh meat, without vege table food, without limejuice, without fuel, in short without every requisite, from want of means to transport to the front the large sup plies collected at Balaklava. Second to the want of transport, the want of a road from Balaklava to the front is mentioned by the commissioners as greatly increasing the difficulties of supplying the army after November. That it was impossible to make this road was admitted on evidence by the commanding officers of every division, " who were unanimous in their opinion that it would have been impossible to employ a sufficient number of men to make the road, and at the same time to carry on the military operations in which the army was engaged." The only remedy for this difficulty was the increase of means of transport. " Unceasingly," says the quartermaster-general in his evidence, " was the commissary-general urged to increase the amount of transport both by the commander in-chief personally and myself." But here the want of forage prevented him increasing the number of animals to be fed. Turkish contractors had engaged for 800 tons of hay at Bajvok Tchakmedge, on the Sea of Marmora. Hydraulic presses were sent out from England to press the hay, but were erected fifteen miles from where the hay was made ! In bad weather the bay could not be carted or carried by water to the presses, the contractors, men of no or but borrowed capital, failed ; and thus at a time when 800 tons of forage would have been invaluable, as enabling the animal transport to he strengthened and kept efficient, the only provision made for a supply of hay failed through mismanagement. The great deficiency, that of land transport-, being accounted for, we come to the sufferings of the army from want of proper food and fuel, and the results. From November to March the army was fed upon salt meat and biscuit, with the exception, the com missioners report, of 31bs. of fresh meat per man in the whole month of December, 51bs. in January, and Albs. in February. The explanations offered why fresh meat was not supplied the commissioners report as not satisfactory. The commissary-general admits that 8,000 head of cattle were secured, but attri butes to the want of land transport, the difficulties and losses from winter navigation, and the delays at Balaklava, as the reasons why these cattle were not brought to the camp from the neighbouring coasts of the Black Sea. " All these circumstances," observes the report, "doubtless caused the difficulty of supply; but," considering the vicinity of Samsoon and other ports on the southern shore of the Black Sea, where cattle could not only have been procured, but were actually tendered to him in December, and rejected; we are forced to the conclu sion that the commissary-general was not then sufficiently alive to the importance of that article of food. In short, it appears to us that fresh meat, in much larger quantities, might have been, and ought o have been, supplied to the army. 9f vegetables, limejuice, and fresh bread, none was Mimed to the army during the winter. On the 16th THE PRESS. of November the daily issue of two ounces of rice ceased, from the neglect of the proper authorities to issue an order for its continuance. Vegetables, which, the commissioners state, could have been abundantly furnished by the Turkish provinces, were not pro vided until scurvy was extending rapidly, owing to the regulations not recognising vegetables as part of a soldier's rations. Limejuice, although 20,0001b5. arrived at Balaklava on the 10th of December, was not issued to the troops till the first week in February. The commander-in-chief, not having been informed of the arrival of the vessel, did not issue the requi site order to the Commissariat. Fresh bread, the commissioners state, was not issued till April. " There appears," observes the report, "to have been an indisposition to make the attempt." The commissary•general had heard of a floating bakery building in England, " and thought it unnecessary or impossible to do anything until it arrived." The failure of the Commissariat to supply fuel ap pears from tbo report to have been very reprehensible- Up to the 29th of December the troops were without fuel, and then only were those regiments in and about Balaklava supplied, although the southern shores of the Black Sea offered an unlimited supply. To want of fuel, from which an objective system of cooking naturally arose, improper diet, want of me dicines, and the utter destitution of the men in point of clothing, is attributer) in great measure that aggravation of disease which every week swept them off by hundreds. The strength of the men gave way under excessive labour, watching, exposure, and privation. The deaths from October, 1854, to April, 1855, amounted to thirty-five per cent. of the whole force ; and this terrible mortality, the report states, was only to be attributed to overwork, exposure, im proper food, insufficient clothing, and want of shelter. In conclusion, the report recommends various alterations in the future arrangements for the clothing and provisioning the army, suggesting among others the appointment of an officer to be responsible for the fitness of the diet supplied to the troops, and for the most advantageous adaptation of the resources of the countries in which military operations are carried on to the requirements of the army; and sums up, on the whole attributing the cause of all the disasters more to the exceptional nature of the campaign and the errors of the corn missariat system, than to the failure of the com missariat officers to perform their duties efficiently. THE "JOSEPHINE WILLIS." connected with the loss of this unfortunate ship have created an unusual degree of painful interest. The ship left Gravesend on Sun day morning, was standing down Channel with a fine fresh breeze on the port beam, when, off Folkestone on the evening of the same day, about eight o'clock, a steamer's lights were seen ahead. The chief officer on board the Josephine Willis, who had charge of the deck, went forward to examine the lights, and put the helm a-starboard, bringing the ship to the wind, to let the steamer pass to leeward. The steamer Mangertcn, of Limerick, was coming up Channel at full steam, going about eight knots. The ship's lights were seen from the deck of the steamer about the same time, and unhappily the steamer's helm was put to port, thus bringing her head directly round against the ship as she came up to the wind. The vessels rapidly neared each other—neither righted their helms, each trusting to the other to do so, till at last the crash came, the steamer cutting the 3hip almost in two just amidships, and the ship striking heavily on the steamer's port bow. The result is told in few words. The collision was so tremendous that, while the steamer was much damaged, the ship was ren dered a perfect wreck, and, rapidly heeling over on her beam ends, in a short time foundered. Then was to he seen such a sight as those who have ever witnessed a wreck at sea will readily recal. One hundred and six passengers and crew crowded upon deck—there was a rush for the boats—some were lowered, and others cut away, the lucky first few getting off in them. Hencoops and spars soon floated off the ship—there was a struggle for self and life on all sides—those who got safe off in the boats thought the perils they had escaped sufficient without a second risk to save the lives of those they left behind, and upwards of fifty poor wretches were pitilessly left to perish miserably within sight of land, and within reach of assistance. The steamer the moment after the collision backed astern and got clear, and, after striking the ship, ap parently fearful of having much more to do with her, ran about a mile and a half off to the eastward, hove to, and sent a host back with two hands to render help. Between the boats of the ship and the one THE Ci 135 boat of the steamer some fifty of the passengers and crew were saved. The last of the ship that was seen was about ten o'clock, as she lay on her beam ends. Very shortly after she settled down and went to the bottom, carrying with her about fifty six souls left on board. The steamer being much injured, and making a great deal of water, the captain ran in shore, and made at once for Ramsgate, where she is at present under repair, and tinder seizure by Admi ralty warrant for the loss of the Josephine Willis. On Tuesday a coroner's inquest was held at Folke stone on the bodies of two of the crew washed ashore. The evidence of the chief officer and look-out man of the Josephine Willis is clear. The steamer's lights, they both say, were first seen right ahead, the ship's helm was put to starboard, and the steamer putting her helm to port when close aboard, of course ran into them. The look-out man was of opinion that there was no one on the look out on board the steamer : There were about twelve of us on the forecastle, and we called out to the steamer as loud as we could. We did not see any person on the bridge or on the forecastle of the steamer on the look out I am confident I did not see any person on the forecastle of the steamer on the look out. We were hailing her two minutes, and there was ample time for her to have cleared us, if there had been any person on the look out and had heard our cries. The evidence of this man, Sheen, of the conduct of the captain of the steamer is worthy of notice. After the ship's boat, with some of the passengers and himself, had reached the steamer, the second mate, who was in the boat, said to the captain : " Are you going to render any assistance to the ship?" The captain replied, " Yes, I have got a boat alongside, with two bands in her." The mate said, " Two hands are no use ; they could save no lives." The boat, however, went to the ship, and saved the chief mate, four or five passengers, the carpenter, and, I think, two of the ship's company. We all asked the captain of the steamer "if he was going back with the steamer ;" but he did not do so, and still allowed her to drift up with the tide. She was not steaming. I did not go on board the steamer. When I asked the captain to go back, he said he must first lighten his vessel forward, and pump the ship. After we put the passengers on board from the life•boat, I heard an order given for her to go ahead, which she did slowly. The steamer did not come back. We asked him to put back several times, and he seemed annoyed at us, and used bad language. "But why," asked a juror, very properly, " did you stay so long with the ship ? " Witness : Because the captain of the steamer told us not to go back until he could take his steamer with us. The steamer gave us a line, and towed us to the eastward away from the ship. Captain Bourchier, of the Mangerton steamer, next gave his evidence. After detailing the single fact of the collision, in answer to a question by the coroner, Captain Bourchier stated that he hung on to the ship about " ten minutes," but stayed alongside about three hours : We had to back at full power to get clear of the ship. We had four boats, and I ordered all of them to be lowered. We had backed her out, and then turned ahead and came under the stern of the vessel. Our quarter boat then went off and brought some passengers, but I can't say how many. Our vessel stayed alongside her three hours. On going down below I found my vessel stove to the water's edge, and water was coming into the fore compartment. When I last saw the ship, at ten o'clock, I could just dis tinguish her masts, at which time we might have been a mile or a mile and a half to the eastward of her. The boatswain of the steamer, in charge of the deck at the time, did not hear the ship hail, and asserts that he was on the bridge and had a look-out man on the forecastle, He first saw the ship's lights at about a mile distan't. Mr. Henry Ray, one of the passengers saved, stated : We were about half an hour getting to the steamer, and T asked the captain as to whether he considered his ship in a sinking state. He said that he must move some of the cargo aft from the forehold, and I went below to assist. The life-boat remained alongside some time. I should state that the boat in which I left was in a leaky sinking condition, and when about two hundred yards from the steamer we hailed the lifeboat, and we put the ladies into her and then got in ourselves, and towed our boat after us. After I got on board the steamer, and while the life-boat was alongside, I asked the boatswain of the Josephine Willis why he did not go back to the wreck with the life boat and endeavour to save some of the passengers. He replied that he was afraid of his boat being drawn down by the sinking of the ship; he also said that he thought the steamer was in a sinking state, and that he ought to stay by, to render assistance to those on board. By the CORONER : I heard the cries of some of those on the wreck as late as eleven o'clock. (They were seven passengers, who had taken to the rigging of the topgallant yards, and were rescued by lugger X L, which landed them at Deal.) The captain of the steamer gave his orders in a cool and collected manner. At this stage of the proceedings it was proposed to adjourn the inquiry, in order to procure the evidence of other passengers. That was accordingly agreed upon, and the investigation was adjourned for a week. Several bodies of the passengers have been washed shore at Wilmer.