The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-16 00:00:00

Captain Morgan, the superintendent of the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway at Dover,:reported on
Saturday :

"I have to state that the Wave' when 40min. out
from Calais this morning, with 101 passengers, mails,
and baggage, was in collision with the French
barque Fanny, of Nantes, bound to Stettin. There
was a thick fog at the time, and daylight was
just commencing. Sea smooth. The lioarque's
jibbom knocked over the Wave's after-funnel
and mainmast, but the jibboom does not appear
to have been carried away. The barque's cut.
water was a little started. Unfortunately, the main-
mast fell upon a passenger, striking him on the head
and killing him instantly, A card found on him gave
the address, 'E. L. Barnett, 66, Great Hampton
street, Birmingham.' It is a large commercial card,
that of a traveller or tradesman, with notes about
jewellery at the back. Another passenger gave me his
card —` Herbert Boyd, 26, Place Vendome, Paris '—
stating that he had been struck on the back by the
falling peak and knocked down. His back hurt him
still, and he left his card and address in case it was any-
thing serious, The captain of the Wave lowered a boat
and sent the chief mate to the barque to examine
any damage she might have received, and see if
she was in want of assistance. The French captain
wished the Wave to tow the barque into Calais, but as
the damage was found to be slight, the cutwater
being only a little started and the bobstay carried
away, and the vessel in no way injured, he declined
to do so, and came on to Dover, arriving at six
o'clock. Telegraphed to Calais, if prudent—i.e., if
fog permitted—to send France or Poste out to the
barque if she still wished for as!iitance. Many of the
passengers when they landed shook the captain of
the Wave by the hand, and offered to testify to the
admirable manner in which he behaved after the col-
lision."

The inquest on the body of Mr. Barnett was held at
Dover, on Monday, before the coroner, Mr. Payn.
Deceased was 43 years of age, and leaves a widow and
two children.

The principal evidence was given by Captain Wade,
who commanded the mail packet Wave. He said that
on the morning of Saturday he left Calais at 1.53
with 101 passengers and mails, bound for Dover.
The weather at the time was overcast and hazy.
The wind was easterly. He had proceeded about
twenty-five minutes when a fog came on, and he
ordered the engines to stand by, reduced speed of the
engines to 30 revolutions a minutes, and kept the
steam whistle constantly going. Witness continued
this speed about ten minutes; when 'the fog lifted
somewhat, he increased speed to 34 revolutions, full
speed being about 40. He had been going at this
rate of steed about three minutes, when he discovered
an object about half a point on the starboard bow.
Witness immediately starboarded his helm, stopped,
and reversed engines full speed. When he saw the object
first he could not make out what it was, or in which
direction it was going. He then made it out to be a
vessel on the port tack, heading right for the steamer.
At this time she was close aboard, and as the steamer
had still headway he saw that he could not clear
her by going astern. He inn aediately stopped the
engines, and went ahead fail speed, as that was the
only possible chance of avoiding a collision. This had
hardly been done when she struck the after funnel of
the steamer with her jibbooln, knocking it over. As
she passed aft, she knocked down the mainmast, car-
ried away two starboard boats and davits, part of the
bulwarks, and one of the after wheels. The main-
mast in falling fell on a passenger. Witness stopped
the steamer and reversed engines. Witness tken pro-
ceeded to see if any one was hurt, and saw a passenger
in the arms of one of the crew. He appeared dead, and
witness ordered him to be taken down below, with orders
for the steward to give every attention to him. A
doctor who was on board examined the deceased and
pronounced life extinct. A card found on him dis-
closed the name of E. L. Barnett. When witness tSrst
observed the barque she was about two ships' lengths
off. Witness had all his regulation lights up, and
sounded his whistle about every half minute. He
attended to the whistle himself. In foggy weather
they carried out the Board of Trade regulations as
to speed.

James Rayner, the mailmaster, said he was on baard
the Wave on Saturday in charge of the mails. He was
on de* nearafter sponson when the collision took place.
The first thing witness noticed was the stopping of the
steamer. That was about three minutes before the
collision. Witness looked over the starboard after
sponson to see what was the matter and saw a vetsel
looming down stem on to them. The vessel came on
and struck the steamer near the starboard after spon-
BOIL He thought all due precaution was taken to
avoid collision.

The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental Death,"
and commended the conduct cf the captain.

In Paris, on Tuesday, Miss Booth, of the Salvation
Army, held a conference at the English chapel in the
Rue Roquepine, at which about 600 persons were
present. Miss Booth related the impressions gathered
by her during her tour on the Continent,

According to intelligence from New Zealand, the
volcano Tongariro is at present in a state of eruption
more violent than at any period during the last
thirte3n years.

From a Parliamentary retutn, issued on Wednes-
day, relating to the British Museum, it appears that
last year 767,402 persons visited the general collec-
tions ; ond the visitors to other departments, such as
the reading-room, print-room, map department, gal-
leries of sculpture, &c., made up the total numbers
of visitors te 963,869. Besides these 278,027 persons
were admitted to view the natural history collections.