The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-16 00:00:00

The Wreck of the Stanley.

The following is the report addressed to the Board
of Trade
:
TO THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF PRIVY COUNCIL

FOR TRADE.

My Lords,—We have the honour to state for the infor-
mation of your lordships that we have held an official in-
quiry into the circumstances attending the loss of the screw
steamship Stanley, which occurred on the evening of the
24th November, on the Spanish Battery Rocks at the en-
trance of the river Tyne.
In this investigation we have had the able assistance of
Captains Harris and Baker, the Nautical Assessors of the
Board of Trade, and we now beg to submit the following as
our report.
The Stanley was built of iron at Hartlepool in the year
1858, and registered at Aberdeen: By her certificate of re•
gistry she is described as being in length 193 9-10 ft, in
breadth 27ft, and in depth 1411. ll3r gross tonnage was 552
tone, and her registered tonnage 376 tons, She was owned
by the Aberdeen Steam Navigation Company, and was em-
ployed in the coasting trade between that port and London.
The vessel was propelled by two engines of the combined
power of 110 horses. The crew consisted of 29 persons all
told, and it is stated in evidence that she was in good con-
dition and properly equipped for her intended voyage.
The Stanley left Aberdeen at 9.25 p.m. on the 23d No-
vemLer, under the command of Mr Thomas Howling, who
held a certificate of service, which was lost in the ship.
She had on board, as far as can be ascertained, 31 passen-
gers and an average general cargo. In addition, there were
on deck 47 head of cattle secured in pens, and 30 sheep, and
when the vessel left the port her draught of water was 13
feet aft and 9 feet forward.
On leaving port the weather was fine, with a moderate
breeze from SSW. Nothing of any moment occurred till
the following morning, when the wind veered to S, and at
9 a.m. it drew round to SE, blowing hard, with a high sea
getting up, and increasing rapidly. At 2p m. it was blow-
ing a hard gale with a very heavy sea, and the ship laboured
so heavily that the cattle pens gave way. The weather hav-
ing now assumed a very threatening aspect, the master held
a consultation with his mate. They referred to their chart,
and finding Tynemouth bore about west, and distant about
25 miles, they deemed it more prudent to run for that har-
bour than the Firth of Forth, as both the wind and sea were
more favourable for reaching the Tyne.
Accordingly a course was shaped to make the entrance of
the Tyne. At 4 30 p,m. they made Tynemouth Light, bear-
ing about Wby N. On approaching the harbour rockets
were fired in the hope of obtaining a pilot, and the ship's
head was turned to seaward, awaiting the result of their sig-
nals. Night coming on, and the ship making very heavy

weather of it, with hardly steerage way against the heavy

sea, the captain held a further consultation with his mate,
on the propriety of entering the Tyne without a pilot orthe
guidance of the harbour lights. The mate had considerable
experience of the navigation of the Tyne, and the master,
feeling the urgency of the case and knowing the dangerous
position in which his vessel then was, deterthined to run in
for the safety of ship and all on board. Having thus decided,
and considering further delay dangerous, the ship was steered
for the harbour. A small pilot steamer, which had been out
seeking for vessels, was driven in by strass of weather about
a quarter of an hour before the Stanley entered, and the
Stanley, in her then dangerous position, was left to her own
resources. She entered between the piers in safety, and
while proceeding at a rate of eight knots an hour, three tre-
mendous seas in euccession struck her aft, a little on the
starboard quarter, broaching her to against her holm (then
hard a-starboard), and before the ship could recover the
proper channel she grounded on the rocks below the Spanish
Battery, at about half-past 5 p.m., and ultimately became a
total wreck, with a disastrous loss of life.
A communication was established by means of the rocket

apparatus, but, in spite of the repeated commands of the
master to taka the hawser to the masthead, it was made fast
so slow that after three lives had been saved it became en-

tangled in the rocks, and was rendered useless. The rising
tide and heavy sea prevented the Coastguard and those on
shore from making any further efforts at that titco to cm-
utunicate with the ill-fated ship. Prior to this an attempt
had been made by one of the crew to lower one of the ship's
boats, but the davit breaking five lives were lost, and shortly
afterwards the whole of the remaining boats were washed
away, About half-past 6 p.m. the Tynemouth lifeboat Con-
stance put off, but was recalled in consequence of an un-
founded impression that the crew and passengers had been
saved by the Shields lifeboats. It was subsequently ascer-
tained that the Shields lifeboats had been uusnecessful in
their attempts to reach the wreck, and at about 8 o'clock
the Tynemouth lifeboat again put off and made a gallant
effort to reach the ship, and had nearly succeeded when an
overwhelming sea washed over the Stanley's bow, and
falling upon the lifeboat broke all the cars from the rollocks,
and washed overboard all but two of her spare oars. In this
disabled condition the sea carried her into the rigging of a
schooner stranded at a little distance ahead of the Stanley.
By this mischance four of the boat's crew were thrown out,
two of whom unfortunately lost their lives. After this the
lifeboat was rendeted useless, and she drifted up the river.
While this fruitless effort was being made to relieve
the sufferers, the Coastguard had proceeded with the rocket
apparatus to North Shields, from whence they put off in
a ateamtug to the scene of the wreck, but the sea was so
terrific that they were unable to reach the voesel, and were
compelled to return.

About 10 p.m. the ship broke in two, the same sea sweep-
ing away the deckhouse, on which most of the passengers
had taken refuge, and washing them overboard. At this
time the greatest sacrilhe of human life took place. The
fore part of the ship swung round to the wind and sea, and
one of her anchors having been providentially washed from
the cathead, the chain attached to it held her in position, or
probably we should have to record a still greater loss of life.
The Coastguard, whose 1 audable exertions cannot be too
highly commended, returned to the scene of the disaster,
and the tide having fallen, succeeded in again establishing a
communication with the ship at about 6 o'clock km ; by
this means the remainder of the crew and passengers, some
33 in number, were .eventually rescued, 26 having met with
a watery grave.

Such is the narrative of tho loss of tho Stanley, as extracted
from the evidence before us.

In commenting upon these avents we would direct the
attention of your lordships to certain facts elicited during the
lengthened and searching investigation in which we have
been engaged, in the hope that measures may be taken to
prevent, if possible, similar disasters in future.
A review of the evidence will show that the Tyne Im-
provement Commissioners, by removing the old bar and
deepening and widening the channel, have vastly improved
the entrance to the harbour, and have rendered its naviga-
tion comparatively safe ; but the full advantages which
would have resulted from this improvement appear in some
measure neutralised by the absence of buoys and beacons to
indic tte the deep water channel.
The valuable evidence of Mr lire, the enineer-in• chief
of the Tyne Commissioners, will be read with groat atten-
tion. All that seems to be required to render the Tyne
available for vessels of considerable draught of wafer in all
weathers and at all periods of the tide is a proper system of
lights and buoys, and the enneurrent testimony of nearly all
the witnesses examined before us,,speaks to the necessity of
keeping the guiding lights exhibited at all times of the tide,
instead of extinguishing them, as is now the practice, at
half-ebb.. and re• lighting them as soon as the flood has made
in the harbour. In the present a'ate of the river, had the
lights been exhibited throughout the night we might not
now have to deplore the numerous wrecks and the fearful
sacriflos of lifa that cccurred on the night of the 24th of
November last.

Another point to which we would direct particular atten-
tion is the difficulty the Stanley experienced as to obtaining
a. pilot, It is the practice of the screw stoamere frequenting

the Tyne to retain the services of a pilot, specially selected,
and who is expeettel to await the ship's arrival ; when this
takes place. during the night, the ship discharges a rocket
as a signal, and this is now of such frequent occurrence that
a rocket signal is not heeded, except by pilots specially re.
tained by vessels then expected. Thus the Stanley, arriving
off the port and seeking shelter, found her signals totally
disregarded. 'I he pilot's 'steamer which was outside the
harbour saw the Stanley, but, taking her for one of the
screw steamers frequenting the port, and presuming that
she would have a pilot awaiting her arrival, did not go near
her; and the pilots in their evidence state that they have
been so frequently disappointed, end their services so con-
stantly refused, that they have ceased to communicate with
this class of vessels. We venture to suggest that this state
things should le remedied, so that a stranger arriving off
the port troy rely upon obtaining the services of a pilot.
. . .

Taking into consideration all the circumstances of the
case, the state of the weather, and what was requisite for
the safety of the ship and of the lives and property in-
trusted to the care of the captain, we hove decided, with
the concurrence of our assessors, that he was justified in
making for this port; and that, having been unsuccessful
in obtaining a pilot, and being then on a lea shore, with an
unusually heavy sea, and knowing that there was a suffi-
cient depth of water on the bar, he was also justified in
running in, assisted as he was by tho local knowledge of
the mate. And we are further of opinion that the loss of
the steamship Stanley was a- misadventure caused by the
overwhelming sea, the absence of leading lights, and by
other circumstances beyond the control of the master. We
have, therefore, adjudged that Captain Thomas Howling is
entitled to a renewal of his certificate.—We have, ice.,

JOSEPH SPENCER J.P.
ALEX. S. STEVENSON, J.P.
We concur in the above report,

IL HARRIS, I Nautical Assessors.
R. B Beim,

Tynemouth, Dec. 13.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TatEs.—The Grand Jury is, in theory, the most
wise and necessary institution that any county can
possess. The Grand Jury is supposed to see that
every public matter goes on right. It is to the
county what the housekeeper is in a private eeta•
blishment, what the secretary ii in a public depart-
ment, what a bishop is in his diocese. It is bound to
bring together a complete knowledge of all matters
within its area of jurisdiction, and to see that every-
thing is goiag on quietly, that every ono is doing
his work, that every one, as the Chinese say,
"sweeps the snow from before his own door," and
that nothing happens that ought not to happen.
Thus, if there be a murder committed, or a truck
standing before a chandler's shop in a narrow street,
or if Billingsgate be growing louder than accustomed,
or the Thames rise above the usual stench mark, or
loitering cabs render the street impassable, or
there be a further invasion of apple stalls, the Grand
Jury is the constitutional remedy. Pickpockets,
barrel organs, and scarlet fevers; tumbledown
house, income taxes, overdriven horses, and public
indecencies; mob orators, wandering lunatics, and
encroachments on the public parks; libels, pigsties,
and stage plays; nuisances of all kinds, offences of
every nature, disagreeables of every description—all
ought to b 3 abated by the Grand Jury, who, accord-
ing to the system as it existed in the time of King
Alfred, ought to do all that Magistrates and Corn
missioners of Police, and Inspectors of Nuisances
and District Surveyors, Highway officers and Local
Commissioners and Metropolitan Boards of Works
have been found by no means too much to do in
these latter days. All this, we will try to believe,
the Grand Jury did in good King Alfred's time ;
bat if this ever were so they have long since given
up all idea of any such usefulness. The only whole-
some exercise we have known in modern times of
their ancient jurisdiction is that exhibited the other
day by the Grand Jury of the City of London, who,
awakening to a sense of their old responsibilities,
have come into court and presented themselves as a
nuisance, The Grand Jury of the county of the
City of London—for London is a county as well es
a city—take unnecessary pains to prove that they
have long shown in themselves an egregious in-
stance of the nuisances that ought to be forthwith
abated. In the first place, there is no single duty
which they are supposed to perform which is not
already assigned to special cfficers, who, if they do
their work, leave nothing for a Grand Jury to do,
and, if they do not do their work, leave nothing
undone which a Grand Jury is ever likely to do.
In the second place, there being nothing to do,
people who have a great deal of work on their hands
are taken from their own business in order to do

that " nothing." It is all very well for country
gentlemen, who really do for the most part
thoroughly understand the wants of their neigh-
bourhood, to drive into the assisa town and listen to
the Judge's charge, and talk over what they shall
do about roads and bridges and the like at the next
magistrates meeting. But London Grand Jurors
' are altogether different people. They are men VG Ith
dingy counting-houses about the Bank, and ledgers
that seem disproportionate to the size of the closet-
like places in which they are uied. These Grand
Jurors are mercantile men, who are being pursued
all day long by telegrams from every part. of the
earth, whose countingahouses are rented at several
guineas per square foot, and whose time is worth a
guinea a minute. Suerly it is a dreadful cruelty to
bring these restless men unnecessarily away from
their own work and lock them up in a room,- to do
nothing with a solemn air of deliberation ? " The
Grand Jury of the December Session, 1864," have,
under these very natural feelings, presented them-
selves as a nuisance. They are, they say, an en-
cumbrance rather than a help to the administration
of justice, having no other practical office than that
of allowing prosecutors and defendants to compound
prosecutions; and inflicting a general discourage. 7
merit upon prosecutors by compelling them to at-
tend with their witnesses day after day in cold stone
lobbies, expressly constructed to exclude the light
and to admit cold 'draughts of air from every
quarter. We must confess that we think this
Grand Jury have taken a proper view of their
duties. After a London magistrate has investi-
grated a charge in open court, a subsequent secret
investigation interposed between the accused and
his nest open trial can but enable the defend.
ant, if he be at once rich, guilty, and unscru-
pulous, to buy off the witnesses who appeared be-
fore the magistrate. Again, when a prosecutor hes
undertaken, for purposes of public morality, or in
order to raise the value of his own property at the
expense of his neighbours, or in order to make a
parish bill of costs, or for any other motive, good,
bad, or indifferent, to set up one cf those slave-hunts
by which the most wretched of all our population
aro hunted to and fro from cover to cover in this
great jungle of houses, the Grand Jury affords the
opportunity for making terms of eviction with the
wretched fugitives. Or, if money is to be extorted
by a falie charge spinet an innocent man, the
Grand Jury, sitting in secret in the centre of their
windy labyrinth, are compelled to listen to the
slender, and a charge which would be blown away
by the first breath of public examination receives a
sort of ccuntenance by the Grand Jury finding a
trite bill on the evidence of the prosecutor alone.
So far as we know, it is only gamblers, and extor-
tioners, and rival proprietors
of infamous houses
who, in the present day, habitually prefer a bill
to the Grand Jury without going before a magic.
trate ; but there may, of Course, be exceptions, of
which both we and the Grand Jury who made this
presentment are ignorant. Why does this mis-
chievous absurdity still exist P Shall we answer
the question frankly P It exists by reason of the
ignorance and the cowardice and the indolence of
successive Law Officers of the Crown for many
years Now past. These are hard words, and we use
them entirely miiiori sensu, and by no means as
imputations upon any individual. An overworked
lawyer has a presentment of this kind placed before
him, and is asked by his chief whether a short bill
would not do away with this London Grand Jury,
and be very salutary and safe as well as popular.
The lawyer has not a moment to think or to read,
and his momentary impression is that a Grand
Jury is a very old tree, and you can't tell whither
the roots go, or what you may pull up with it. Here
is his ignorance. Then he imagines that if he were
to abolish this Grand Jury it might suddenly be dis-
covered that for want of some half-forgotten lune.
tion which a Grand Jury only could perform, all the
sentences might turn out to be void, or all the pri-
sons have to be opened. Here is his cowardice,
very excusable under the circumstances. The proper
course would be, no doubt, to read up the whole •
matter, and when he felt himself standing on firm
knowledge then to act without fear. This, however,
ho will not do, for he cannot afford time to do it;
and this is his indolence—indolence ad hos. All
this is very natural and vary pardonable in an At-
torney or Solicitor General or a Lord Chancellor,
who has a hundred times as many things to do as
he ever bas time to do properly, but still it ought
to bit done.

POST.—Ii has been observed for some time past
by those who have the privilege to approach the
Quen that her M.tjesty is happily regaining some
of her former elasticity of spirit, and that, however
much her great sorrow is always present to her,
nevertheless the Queen is now more ;able to attend,
not Only to those absolute duties which she has
always sacredly fulfilled, but also to the general
courtesies and social surroundings of her royal lifo.
These facts have given rise to sincere congratula-
tion in the efficial and courtly world, and to the
happiest auguries for the future. This has become
gradually and generally known. If a contemporary
who loves to prophecy with foreknowledge was
ignorant of it, his article of yesterday was ride and
overbearing. If, however, he wrote in pas.,n9sion
of the truth that her M jests is now gore dispo-cd
to take part in the outward ehowa and displays of j

_gfri
royalty, then:his leader was very unjustifiable, fo'r
surely nothing can more shock good taste and
sense of propriety than to make the Sovereigns
efforts to set aside her own trouble and to satisfy
and please her people appear to proceed only fro 3,
-the dictation of a bold and irreverent prefia
The nation will learn with more than emazise:
meat that the anniversary of the death of teu,
Prince Consort has been made the oc2asion for
urging her Majesty to "think of her enbjects' clain3t.
and the duties of her high station, and not to POS,.
pone them longer to the indulgence of an
ing grief." The Queen is entreated to rernesne_
that it is not a matter of indifference whether try
Sovereign should be seen and take part in Public
affiirs, and that no reigning House can afford t
confirm in their views those whb suggest that the
Throne is only an ant'quarien relic and ItoyaltS
tines%
itself a ceremony. It is admitted that, "
for the interests of royalty," the English peePle et"
not of this opinion ; but the balance of the cons"'
tution depends, it is said, or. the Sovereign heirt
able on certain occasions to rise superior to Pe/
suggestions and stand as the representative of the
nation and the guardian of the executive. This
subject has been adverted to before in the same
specter, and there can be no doubt that bee Mre
jesty's seclusion has been universally deplored. -1-5'
is true that it was hoped and desired that the dale
of mourning, which. have deprived the people of the
royal presence, would ere now have been considered
as past; but at the same time her Majesty's tub
jecta can never forget that the Queen has sustained
no common bereavement, and the language to which
we are adverting is assuredly wholly averse from
the sentiments of loyalty and devotion they fer-
vently entertain. Even if it was thought desirable'
to give expression to the sense of disappointment
that is experienced—which, bearing in mind the
touching and impressive answer that was gracionsii
returned to a similar aeal, seems exceedingli
doubtful—it might surety have been done other;
wise, without exaggerations which are patent, an,,,
without arguments which are supererogatory, not to
say offensive. Above all, the time is, we must thirllc'
most ill chosen, Her Majesty has just visited. th!:
royal mausolcum,and when the people were prepared
to sympathise with the emotion they can apprEclatet
for it may be seen every day iuour cemeteries, thil!
severe remonstrance is poured into the national
ear. We feel, therefore, that we should not he
fulfilling our own obligations if we did not protest
against such an interpretation of public opinion;
Theme is something unspeakably abrupt en
`a
startling in the statement that "it is impossible
for a recluse to occupy the British throne with:
out a gradual weakening of that authority whin;
the Sovereign has been -accustomed to assert ti
but it is happily not necessary to discuss the veal;
ter upon en entirely irrelevant assumption.
may be affirmed, without the least hesitation,
that during the past three years, though suffering
acutely, her Majesty his never neglected the detiee
of sovereignty, nor ceased to bold that intercourse
with the ablest and most respected persons in the
land which is rightly said to be essential to the ad-
ministration of constitutional government. What
the effort has cost the Queen may be better' eon:
ceived than expressed ; but her Majesty has :0'
spared herself, and we are satisfied that if this sub°
ject could be referred to in the House of Lords, the
noble leader of the Opposition would vie with the
Ministers of the Crown in vindicating the Sovereign'
It is greatly to be regretted that the sorrow of the
royal mourner hasnot.yet been sufficiently alleviatedf
to admit of the performance of many social note ea
courtesy and condescension, and it must be °wile,
that, worthily as her Maksty has been represented
by the Prince and Princess of Wales, there are per`
vileges which cannot be conferred by any delegation
of the royal authority; but to infer that the preroo
waives of the Crown have been thereby weakened'
or that republican theories are consequently gain
ing strength, is libelling the loyalty of the Eng°,
nation. More opportunely, and in quite /tooth'
tone, the people of this country would have been
pleased to see their wishes expressed and explained.
They cannot but desire that their beloved Sovereign •
should come again amongst them, and they mai in
permitted to think that the exertion would eve"
tually conduce to the Queen's personal welfare,
which must always be their first consideration-
But this tone of upbraiding they will, we are sure'
disclaim altogether, as entirely failing to convey
any proper description of their feelings, and ascot"
pletely misapprehending the view they take of the
Queen's retirement. British loyalty cannot he
affected by the circumstances which are most dwelt
upon. A Knight of the Garter may be made hi
proclamation, and a levee may be held by deputy,
without in the remotest degree diminishing the
faith of the nation in its form of government. We
are not so given to change. Ours is not a sot'
in which ideas of innovation take root so reedilY•
The fundamental principles of the constitution are
not to be shaken like a reed before the wind. Not
are we likely to be fascinated by any visions of re"
publican simplicity. In seclusion or in sccietyt
Queen Victoria will reign in the hearts of her 00"
jests; and, while they would humbly and respect'
fully beg of her Majesty to endeavour to overcome
a great grief, they 'would urge their prayer suitable'
and in season, at the same time heartily and grate.
fully acknowledging that all the essential duties
of the Crown have been faithfully and religiously
fulfilled.