The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-12 00:00:00

THE BIRKENHEAD.

(From the Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette.)
It is with sorrowful feelings and with a heart full
of sympathy for those bereft of friends andup
pkuinrdpreend
for
ke
some in-
formation, the
commentdr dread d
uponstroke t
h eof
ruefulfate andtil a t
anawe tiai
loss attend-
ingthte
ehwtraesckk, obfutlltire .S.
serviceß i rkleonohke at
o us
Birkenhead. Fain would we
shun
and we have gone to some trouble and ex-
pense in the endeavour to show a desire to fully meet
their wishes, as our supplement will amply testify.
The loss of the ship is accurately and circumstan-
tially detailed in the morning papers, therefore it is
unnecessary we should recapitulate those details.
But we are in pass:Ban of da.a touching the cha-
racter of the Birkenhead which the daily journalists
are not, and can assist in doing that which the me-
tropolitan press has taken but a partial view of in at-
tempting to establish, viz ,—a cause for the happen-
ing of the harrowing disaster. Most of our brethren
journalists have, with more or less precipitancy,
placed the blame on the Master COmmanding
(Mr. Salmond), and attach the cause of the catas-
trophe to his supposed hugging of the shore to save
time and distance in the discharge of his important
duty. We do not believe such to have been his cul-
pability. We know the Birkenhead to have ever
been a most dangerous vessel to steer, in consequence
of which vital fault she had been very nearly lost on
more than one occasion previously. We know from
the best of evidence personal acquaintance—
that her .compasses would not not under the com-
monest circumstances, and were always, or nearly
always, in error ; we know the Birkenhead has been
swung round the entire circle at Spitbead three times,
and her compasses have never showed the shadow,
even, of a movement! We know, further, that on
another occasion, whilst at sea, so utterly impossible
was it for the aster to navigate the ship owing to
the attraction of the iron upon the compasses, that
the Master was compelled for safety to take them up
into the wizen top to endeavour to steer the ship by
them !

- With :such facts as these (for they are facts, and
have all been duly reported to the proper authorities
at the time) staring us in the face, and many more
which we could adduce in support of our reason
quoted from the Shipping Gazette, in another
" G. H. G. " and a paragraph
[See thefolrettbeerlieoyfing
column] there was something wrong
with the ship more than with her commander, we are
inclined to put a very mitigated construction upon the
reports of others as to the apparent want of discretion
on the commander's part in the matter of the route
steered.

it is impossible to describe the sensation this
has occasioned in this port, to
melancholy event
which nearly all the
caaererwa stboafeala
10
manyngfreidg.
heartrending The
d o c k -
ya exhibitions
pape
iiioahtaisonsb efooefrn
grief,
informationth ea
The - Port-Admiral and numerous
by widows and orphans.
numerous have been the
have evinced the utmost
render all the inforrnatiaonnad
calamity. Admiral-Superintendent
The u i
rlen -
anxiety and readiness to
alle-
viate as far as in their
sioned by this unlooked-for
in their power, and to
ility lies the distress occa-
-foressel, of 1,400 tons, built by
Birken-
head was an iron steam,
could not carry her coals Y a
Laird, of Birkenhead
from being enabled to
!waswhich character
consequently converted
Retribution battery of guns,bat a
she
character she never en-
joyedaina
it
sailed
da
antnrgodooophde-slrdheipappu,
ptiaontiinotnn;enast
many officers who have
:fin her can testify. She
left this port last on the 2d
service January, on whi chd
complementday
sisimoncin complement being 131.
_ranked among the most
slh2e, victualled
persons,
heras abperpoerwtino troopne
al Navy. His latter
sAkilfaunl aovfigthaetol4rlMastrers of the
services were in the
the Vengeance, 84,, under cation steam-frigate, and
the Earl of Harwicke ; thenaptains Lushington and
Woolwich, from which ship the Fisgard, 42, at
command of the Birkenhead he was appointed to the
1851. on the Bth of February,
The melancholy intelligence
Tuesday afternoon, and cause was published on
spread over the port, as Master-Commander a sudden gloom to
Salmond and Mr. W. Brodie R.
were well known and
green , the additional master,
vice. Mr. W. Brodie had beenYresped in the ser-
to a sister of W. BuonetN Es
but recently married
Portsea. Mrs. Salmond is residing of the Bank, Hard,
grief we will not attempt to intrude
at Gosport. Her
engineer, Mr. W. Wyndham,
tarude upon. The chief
neers, were also known to manynd the assistant-engi-
neers,
of the officers who were in this quarter.
known to the officers of the drowned were well
gala.'
Rolt, of the 12th Lancers, was the son here. Cornet
Esq., the contractor, who has b.: acal of Peter Rolt,
the borough of Woolwich, and nil a candidate for
• n feel
loss he has sustained. deeply for the
Although no amount of pecuniary b
compensate for the loss society and ths country has
benevolence can
sustained by this frightful accident,
the noble spirit manifested by the ..!1t we rejoice at
guished in the service, in their eb.aiib: 'ant and disci
manifested to alleviate by their so spontaneously
purses 8
poignant distress which is the natural c some of the
, such a large bereavement. On Wedn,,..e,lisequence of
day the dire news was officially ay, the very
Admiral Sir Thomas Briggs, 0r.3;, confirmed,
Commander-in-Chief at this 'M.G., the
Port
and his views were most warm,' proposed,
by Rear-Admiral-Superintendent Presjtt espoused
they, together with the captains, officers , C. 8., that
companies of her Majesty's ships and Ire, , and ships'
head and in Portsmouth harbour, should
se.ls at Sips'
head
of their deep regrets t the loss of
thein demon-
Birken-
head, subscribe one days PY towards the
relief of the widows and orphans of the seamen pecniary
marines who perished on that melanehole and
We are proud to add this call has been Y occasion.
acknowledged by all the officers and most
or readily
fleet at this port, in a most eager and 8 crews of the
manner, and we hope the " good intent" vpliolntaneous
not st
here, but that every inhabitant of this port op
will contribute their mite also toward , at least,
8 the same
object.

from
a letter I
will tend to
TO Till EDITOR OF THE PORTSMOUTH TIIIES AND
NAVAL GAZETTE.
havSeir,—
throw some light on the cause of the late disastrous
loss of her Majesty's ship Birkenhead :—.
justl begrec e
itvoe
ds send o
my you
the a
Cape,
apextract
e, ns it
" It is supposed that the compasses were much out,
the weather being very unsettled, and the atmosphere
surcharged with electrifits• Other iron ship, 10 the
bay (Table Bay) experienced a great variation in their
compaeavo. The captain or the mall steamer says his