The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-24 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE AMAZON.

---
The adjourned inquiry into the causes of the destruc-
tion of the Amazon, and as to the fate of her crew still
unaccounted for, was resumed yesterday at noon by the
directors of the West India Mail Steam-packet Com-
pany. Captain Beechey again attended on behalf of the
Board of Trade, and the Rev. Mr. Warburton was also
present, and took part in the proceedings.
Captain Chappell, the secretary to the company, drew
attention to the following correspondence, bearing upon
the conduct of Admiral Sir John Ommanney, in not
sending out a steamer to search for survivors from the
wreck. lie first read the subjoined extracts from letters
addressed to him by Messrs. Fox. Sons, and Co., dated
the 6th and 7th of January, 1852, and on which the
statements made by him at Southampton, in answer
to questions put by Captain Warburton, had been
founded:—

" It is reported the Government have sent a steamer
out to seek for fragments and boats of the Amazon, but
we do not know if our information is correct."
No steamer has been sent out. The Admiral in-
forms us that he considered it useless. We called on
him to know if the report we had heard was true."
In consequence of what he had said at Southampton, Ad-
miral Ommanney had addressed to him the following
letter:—

• " Admiralty-house, Devonport, Jan. 21.
" Sir,—Seeing my name brought before the public in
the Times and other papers on the 17th, upon a reply
made by you before the committee, which is founded on
a falsehood asserted by Mr. Fox, as soon as I saw it in
the papers I sent for Mr. Fox, who came before me, to
reply to interrogatory as to the fact of his ever having
seen me. He positively denied, in the presence of Com-
modore Seymour and my secretary, Mr. Kent, that he
had ever seen me. I said this denial was not sufficient,
I must have it in writing, which he promised to send
to me, which he did; but it was at a late hour, just as
the post was leaving, doubtless with the expectation of
my sending it away in haste, having told him that I
should forward it to you. When I read it I considered
it to be an evasion, and rather tending to confirm the
statement than to contradict it. I immediately wrote to
him a letter in which I expressed my surprise that he
had departed from the pledge ho had given in the pre-
sence of the Commodore, and insisted on his giving me
in writing a denial of his having ever seen me; but this
did not reach me until it was too late to send it by
Tuesday's post in time to adopt measures to obtain a con
tradiction of the false assertion. Although I have not the
pleasure of your acquaintance personally, yet your re-
putation as an honourable man of sound judgment and
discretion is well known to the public; therefore,
when you receive the accompanying declaration, I
hope you will do me the justice to adopt measures
to contradict a statement so thoroughly incor-
rect. If Mr. Fox had given a viva voce statement on
his oath I would have prosecuted him for perjury, but he
sends a statement from the representation of another
person which is inadmissible in any court of law, as it is
only hearsay evidence, and ought not to have been re-
ceived. As the secretary of the Steam Packet Company,
I take this opportunity of informing you that there never
was a subject of importantance so connected with the
situation I hold so shamefully conducted. Mr. Vincent
acknowledges to have landed at 1 o'clock A.Y. from the
Marsden, and probably left by the express train at 10.
During the nine hours neither himself, nor did any other
person, agent or otherwise, come near me to furnish me
with any information; therefore I was in total ignorance
of what had occurred except from what I heard from
the general rumour. The only assistance I received was
from Commander Kennedy, of the Coast Guard, who
brought some vague account, but I recollect that it was
directly and positively stated that no boat left the ship
but the one whieh was picked up by the Marsden; that
shortly after she left the Amazon she blew up, • and
there was not a vestage of her to be seen afterwards.' 14
the admiral serving here, and the only person capable of
affording assistance, I appeal to you whether some
person should not have come to me to have afforded
information, and to have solicited assistance, i
had
ot
required? I should then have had an opportunity
putting those questions which naturally occur to state
sailor
been
as to the place where the accident took plac
of the wind and weather at the time, Weis,
the
the wind
blew after the people were in the boat,questions
and after the
explosion of the vessel, answers
to whieh
might have been the groundwork for taking into
but of
vessel;
,con-
sideration the necessity for sending
oat
whoma all
all persons the Admiral is the one from
evi-
dence is withheld. I cannot conclude without express-
ing my hope that you will cause _ the reported statement
of Mr, Fox to be contradicted, and remain, Sir, your
very obedient servant,

" JOHN A, OMAIA.NNEY."
The written statements referred to by the Admiral in
.he preceding terms were asfsoelniotws:—
"Fox, Sons, and Co.their respects to Ad-
miral Sir John Ommanney,
C.B , and beg to what
that eg
When the junior Septimua
Fox called at rningpre
they stated this rho()
Admiralty-office to inquire if any
steamer had been sent out to look for the crew of the
Amazon, after waiting some time he saw Mr. Kent, the
who informed him that the Admiral con-
useless, or words to that effect.
ssiedcerreetdariyt'
outh Jan. 18, 1852."
44 Plyin
Fox, Sons, and Co., Present
their respects to Ad-
miral Sir Johni, Ommanney, and, until receipt of his
letter of yesterday, believed their note of same date
conveyed all tne facts of his question.
" Fox, Sons, and Co., of course, admit that when their
junior called at the Admiral's
office on the Bth inst. he
did not see Sir John Ommanney, but he saw his secre-
tary, and had an answer from that gentleman to their
inquiry, which they considered to be the same as if given
from the mouth of the Admiral himself, viz., that no
steamer had been sent out to seek for the Amazon's
crew, as the Admiral considered it useless ;' and these
are the words used by Fox, Sons, and Co., to
Captain
Chappell. The extract of their letters to that gentle-
man, dated the 6th and Bth of January, they beg to
annex."

Captain Chappell concluded by stating that what he
had said at Southampton had been founded on the ex-
tracts read by him from the letters of Fox,
questions which
Sons, and
Co., and that he was merely replying t to ques
had been put to him by Captain Warburton.
Lieutenant GRYLLS, R.N., repeated the statement
which was published under his name from Plymouth.
He heard 11PInnes, the storekeeper, say that he saw
flames come from the storeroom; and the engineer said
that he saw the fire break out somewhere before the
boiler. He could not say positively, but he was almost
certain that Whines said so; they talked of the subject
frequently. The man who lowered the foremost fall of
the first coat he saw launched was, he believed, one of
the officers. The captain had just, before ordered the
fall not to be lowered. When the ship exploded and
went down an intense feeling of loneliness came over
them. The crew struck him as a very fine, efficient
body. He could say little of the officers, as there were
none of them known to him except Lieut. Brady. when
he left the ship the only boat remaining, in his opinion,
was the gig. The lifeboats on both sides were in flames.
On the morning of his arrival at Ply
n mouth he reported
himself te admiral wmumney, who put to him a number

of einel!tions. A steamer lied been sent, out previously. It
appeared to him that Captain Symons bad almost last
his mind. Ile was rushing about the deck and baying
" Don't lower the beats;" and twice he heard him
say " Where are the ladies?" It did not strike him
that there was insubordination. The crew were h:rt hod
forward, under the forecastle; ant, from the rapidity of
the flames, corna.neica,tion fore aud eft was cut cif
shortly after he reached the deck; but a number of them
had by that time got to the boats. It was two hours
after they left when the barque passed, and the ship
was then about two miles and a half away. They could
see that she never hove to, unless she did se when she
got to the lee of the burning steamer. The explosion,
took place in the after part of the ship, and must have
been from the powder-magazine.
Captain CIIAPPELL, alluding to the letter signed " A
Transatlantic Passenger" published in the Times. and
reflecting on the efficiency of the crew, read in defence
of the company the following statement :—" List of the
crew on board-3 midshipmen, 1 eaved; 36 seamen,
18 saved; 6 boys, 1 saved; 6 engineers, 2 saved;
1 boilermaker, saved ; 21 firemen, 10 saved ;
1 lamp-trimmer, saved; 12 coal trimmers, 6 saved; 16
stewards, 2 saved; 1 captain, 4 mates, 1 surgeon, 1
purser, 1 assistant-purser. Total on board 110; 42
saved, 68 lost. Passengers—Mr. Neilson, Mr. Hawkes
Mr. Sisley, Mrs. E. R. M'Clennan and child, Mr. F.
Glennie, Mr. Bernardo Barricon, Miss Anna Maria
Smith, Mr. W. Evans, Mr. Jean Strybus, the Rev. W.
Blood, Lieutenant Grylls, R.N., Mr. P. Kilkelly. Senor
J. C. Oa Cima. Total number of passengers, 50; 13
saved, 37 lost. There were formerly in the company's
service—the captain, 4 officers, 1 surgeon, 1 purser, 2
midshipmen, 2 petty officers, 10 seamen, 3 engineers, 13
firemen, 1 lamp-trimmer. 7 coal-trimmers, 12 servants;
total, 57 out of 110." Ile was present with two of the
directors when the men were examined by the superin-
tendent of the Admiralty, and he made the remark at
the time that ho never saw a ship go out with so young
Po
annillyY' one of them hay-
and the 'fficers
e
and efficient a crew; of 110, the whale number 57 were
th practised
th
es
ierr vdaantyt s
to
of
the
ee
last,com
all stuck
Nav-
in g been saved.
Ono Rev. Mr. WARBURTON, with reference to the
censures which had been passed on Admiral Onaman-
ney's conduct, said that when he went to him to apply
f*Jr aid he expected at least to receive kindness and
courtesy, but had found none. The rev, gentleman then
gave a-minute account of the steps which were at lase
taken to search for survivors under the orders of the
Admiralty, and praised the liberality of the company in
providing a special train for him to Plymouth, that no
time might be lost. no described the fruitless cruise of
the two small steamers which had beau sent out, the
stormy weather which they had encountered, and their
being compelled to return without having completed
their search. In consequence, feeling himself entrusted
with the discharge of a duty, he had made a representa-
tion to the Admiralty, to which he had received the
following reply:—

" Admiralty, Jan. 22.
" Sir,—With reference to your letter of this date,
stating your return to Deronport in the Avon steamer,
and the Sprightly in company, and requesting that
the Hecate might be ordered to complete the search
those vessels had begun, and which they had been
prevented prosecuting from their being unable .to
make Brest to replenish fuel, and furtner stating
that, after the prompt and liberal manner in which
the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company had forwarded
you to Plymouth with their Lordships' orders, you were
under the impression that you held a power which had
been confided to you on the faith of a certain search
being made; lam commanded by my Lords Commis-
sioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you that their
Lordships will apply to the Foreign-office without de-
lay, for the purpose of communicating by telegraph with
the Minister at Paris, and requesting that an inquiry
may be made at the different ports on the French coast
for any intelligence respecting the survivors from the
wreck of the Amazon.

" I am directed to add that the Fury, which is now
destined for the Mediterranean, and will sail without
delay, shall be directed to call at Bilboa and at Corunna
for the purpose of ascertaining whether any information
has been received; and their Lordships will also suggest
to the Foreign-office that a commnnication should be
made to the Spanish Government to obtain and commu-
nicate any information which can be procured on the
subject. " I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
W. B. HAMILTON."
The Rev. Gentleman concluded by saying that no direct
communication had been made to Sir John Ommanney
by the survivors of the Amazon, and that, although he
no doubt should have sent out a steamer at once, yet
that be bad received no precise information. He had
sent Captain Kennedy to ascertain particulars, and by
that time all the men had left Plymouth, and were not to
be found. The Rev. Gentleman, therefore, blamed them
more than the Admiral.

Mr. ELDISMERE gave evidence that the decks of the
Amason were constructed of the materials used in the
best class of shipbuilding; that the pine employed was
from Dantzic, and was not pitch pine, as had been stated.
Captain CHAPPELL mentioned that the Rev. Mr.
Blood had applied for and received pecuniary aid from
the company. He and the other passengers who were
saved had been invited to attend and give evidence, if
they wished to make any statement, but none of them
had availed themselves of the offer.

The CHAIRMAN considered it unnecessary to continue
the investigation further, as it had been taken up by the
Board of Trade.

The proceedings terminated by an acknowledgment of
the exertions made by Commander Kennedy, of the
Coast Guard, to afford assistance in the search for sur-
vivors from the wreck.

The following is a correct list of the passengers who
were lost in the ill-fated ship:—
Rev. Mr. and Mrs. De Winton, Mr. De Pass, Mr.
Delgado, Mr. Fellowes, Mr. Joel, Mr. Anthony, and
Mr. D. Hamilton, for Jamaica; Mr. Best, accompanied
by a male servant, Mr. Callender, Mr. Sterling, and Mr.
Alleyne, for Barbadoes ; Mr. Johnston, Mr. Burnett,
and Mr. and Mrs. Scotland, for Trinidad; Mr. M'Clen-
nail and Mr. Hick, for Demerara ; Mr. Eliot Warbur-
ton, for the Round; M. and Madame Lucombe and child,
Mr. Gerand, M. Kersabor, M. Cima, and M. Debelle-
man, for Chsgres; M. Martinez Del Rio, M. Trenear,
Miss Grace Hoare, Miss Margaret Fitzgerald, M. Sor-
rier and M. Granier, for Vera Cruz; Mr. Cuming and
ito
ukt M. C; aarndde nas,
Lieutenantfor St.
M. Crereemou. rLt,ef le,rayS Thomas's;
Faye, for
feTrhGeasad'sp aR.N., in charge of the Admiralty mails. One
Brady,Martl;
gentleman, who bad selected his berth and paid his pas-
sagewas prevented joining the ship at the last
mom moment, money,
Ynd thus escaped the fearful catastrophe.
d, Mr.
iEss aAwkensai
Mr. Sisley, Mrs. E. R. n
The names of the passengers saved are—Mr. Neilson,
Lieutenant Gry lis' R
M‘ N"CRleenv.naWn.aßndlo,cohdil,
Maria Smith, Mr. F. be
Glensntiye,Ms, Mr. P. K
r.Berntaredoiolfakßeeelariry, officers
anasnecid
Mr. W. Evans, M. Jean
M. S. J. C. Cime.
The following is a numerical list of h
crew
eof the Amazon, with the proportions lost and
ea

Captain
Mates ... ... •••
Surgeon
Purser ••• •••
Purser's assistant ...
Midshipmen ... ...
Seamen ... ...
Boys ... ... ...
Engineers ...
...
Boiler-maker ..
Firemen ..•
-•
Coal-trimmers •••
Lamp-trimmer •.,
Stewards ..
•••

Number.
••• 1
••• 4

••• 1

••• 36
••• 6
••• 6

••• 21
12

Saved.

Total, crew
Savect

... 10

••• 16

... 110
... 42

The proportion of
8
passengers . lost and saved stands
thus:—

Number of passengers ...
Saved

... 50

... 13

Lost ... ... ... ... 37
Imputations having been thrown upon the Royal Mail
Company on the subject of the crews of the ships form-
ing their fleet, and assertions of incompetency among
the sailors from want of a knowledge of this particular
kind of navigation having been made, it is right to state
that of the officers and crew on board the Amazon the
following had already sailed several voyages in the
company's ships:—The captain, the four chief officers,
the surgeon, the purser, two midshipmen, two petty offi-
cers, 10 seamen, 3 engineers, 13 firemen, 1 lamp trimmer,
seven coal trimmers, and 12 stewards.
The following extract from a letter addressed to the
Secretary of the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company,
and dated Plymouth, Jan. 19, 1852, is so creditable to
the parties concerned that we make no apology for
appending it:—
'° We take free to mention to you that the exertions of
Commander Kennedy, --, R m inspector-- of the coast
guard here, in sending out the Royal Charlotte revenue
cutter, in charge of Lieutenant Lilburn, deserves the
attention of the company
in writing him a letter of
thanks for his activity; and also Lieutenant Lilburn, in
his perseverance in beating to windward for three days,
under close-reefed canvas, with the determination to
search well-down Channel in search of boats from the
Amazon. Fortunately, Lieutenant Lilburn spoke the
galliot, Ilellechina, who was approaching the English
shore, not knowing his position,
having considered the
Ram Head was the Batt Head, and at once offered his
haveana
az receivedo
nwhich
services, sent one of his officers on board, and conducted
the galliot safe into this port,
perhaps more." saving at least one day,
that a portion of wreck had
PLymourn, JAN. °Q.—Messrs. Fox, the agents of the
West India Mail Steam-Packet
passoed %reafAt. It is still
newa_to-day from Mr. Balkwill, their agent at Pool,
near Kingebricige, stating
with lsi po
nars Company,
attached,
floated past the harbour
had apparently formed whorh
thought that the barque
Mr. Bloodand his party ,be-
tween
in which
the boat ,
easse party were,
has picked up some
.obf Mt I: .ogers, and that from the
whiteness of the sail ' i s supposed that. she was an
American liner, and that she may have
taken them on
to New York. ,

Trig OMNIBUS PROPRIETORS AND THEIR SERVANTS-
-It is stated that some disagreeable differences are likely to
arise between the omnibus proprietors and their men, in
consequence of the movement which the latter have made to
The lcessation from labour on every alternate Sunday.
ivers and conductors have recently formed a bene-
v°'obhlteeanit institution for the purpose of providing against sick-
ness and other unavoidable misfortunes. This society has
taken part in the above movement, and it is said that several
of the members have in consequence received notice of dis-
charge from their employment. If this determination be
acted upon the probability is that some serious " opposi-
tion" in the shape of competing omnibuses will be started
by the men.

EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY AND
STRATFORD MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.
The first public meeting of this recently formed
society wes held on Thursday evenint.,. in a large room
connected with the railway works at Stratford. Mr.
D. Waddington, M.P., presided, and was supported
by a number of gentlemen connected with the rail-
way and the town of Stratford. The room was
elegantly decorated for the occasion with flap,
banners, and evergreens, and was brilliantly illumi-
nated with gas in various devices. The report of the
committee stated that there were now 241 contribu-
tors to the funds of the institution, including 20
honorary members, at the head of w ho m were Mr.
Waddington, M.P., and Mr. Peto, The com-
mittee were indebted to the directors of the railway
for the use of a temporary building, in which the
reading-rooms and library were conducted. These
had been opened on the 28th of November; the ave-
rage number of persons using the rooms had been
between 30 and 40 per daY ; the average
number of volumes in circulation from the
lending library was 100. The library contained 960
volumes. Three rooms of the building were devoted
for reading-rooms, which were well supplied with
daily and weekly papers and periodicals. Already 48
persons had given in their names as wishing to join
classes of instruction; those for drawing and writing
were in operation; others were about being coin-
menceel for dramatic reading and music. The
Chairman, after remarking on the value and
importance of literary and scientific institu-
tions generally, said it was most essential at this
moment that correct views should be disseminated
amongst the working classes on their duties to
themselves, their families, and their neighbours. Their
duty was not to combine for the particular benefit of
this or that class, bat for the general welfare of all.
As Ilkley advanced in knowledge, which the facilities
held out by this institution would enable them to do,
their views on these questions would become clearer and
more defined. Now that an agitation on the question
of labour was spreading through the country, he
thought it right to remark that it was the duty neither
of the employers to combine to deprive their men of
employ, nor of the men to combine to take em-
ployment from others. It was the right of both
clams to make the best bargain they could for them-
selves. There was a spirit abroad calculated to in-
terfere with the rights of labour, and, by conse-
quence, with the duties which a man owed to his fa-
mily. This institution was eminently calculated to
promote peace and goodwill amongst them all; for the
cultivation of science andliterature was eminently con-
ducive to Coil end. The committee of the institueien
were chiefly working men, who bed no end in view but
the promotion of their own and their fellows' welfare.
By their exertions a new building would probably
soon be raised for the institution, in which object he,
as chairman of the Eistern Counties Railway, should
be happy to aid. Sill the success of the society
must depend on the exertions of the members
themselves. Let them recollect the brilliant ex-
ample of George Stephenson, once in as humble
a position as tbeinselves, who, by his stupen-
dous engineering works, had earned for himself
imperishable renown, and shed an unfailing Instro
on the mechanical class at large.—(Cheers.) The
Rev. Mr. Holloway briefly addressed the meeting.
Mr. W. B. Adams (who was stated to have made a
donation of 867 valuable books to the library) said he
had always been EICIIOII3 that every workman should
have a fair day's wage for a fthr day's work, and that
his workmen should possc-.;53 the means of r.cquiring
bALving they vv,1214 be all the
better for it. The hooks he had presented
to this institution had been need- by his
own workmen up to the time of his establishment at
being broken up; and considering that he only
held them as a trustee, he had handed 'them over to
this institution, whose objects were similar. He

tru?,t2d :,ee the day when'employers and employed
would be avowedly what they intrinsically were—
aidera and a...sisters of each other.—(Cheers.)
A cncert of vocal and instruments: music followed.