The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1864,

put in as evidence the report of Mr. Fibbs, the deputy
receiver of wrecks at Galway,

Mr. O'llowd said it WRi not usual to produce the reports
so made to the Board of Trade, but, with the consent of the
Court, he would undertake to do so.
Mr. Traill said the real question to be decided was, had
Captain Prowse acted judiciously in proceeding on the
voyage w•i!hout th- h trbour or port pilot, and, if he had
acted judiciously, whether he had acted skilfully.
It being now nearly five o'clock, the inquiry was ad-
journed.

The inquiry was resumed yesterday.
Capt. Nicholas l'rewse, having tendered hiceselZ for exa •
minatign, said—l was captain of the Anglia on her voyage
from Liverpool to Boston, on Nov, 7 last. I hold a certifi-
cate of competency as master from the Board of Trade, dated
June, 1852. I have made 80 passages across the Atlantic,
and have been is times in and out of Galway Bay. I have
on three occasions passed through the bay successfully be-
tween the shoals, steering the same course as on Nov. 10
viz., E N. Mutton Island Light is the only guide to the

roadstead. The tide flows east and west, or nearly so. The

two dangers are the Black Rock, to the northward, and the
Margaretta Shoal, to the southward. All vessels entering
the bay pass between these two dangers, the distance apart
baing three-quarters of a mile. Mutton Island light is the
only light visible in coming through these dangers, and
affords only one bearing. Black Rock lies on the port side of
the vessel entering the roadstead. At high water that danger
is covered, but it shows considerably, perhaps to the extent
of five feet, at low water. It commences to show itself at
half ebb of the tido. The Margaretta Shoal is on the star-
board side of the vessel, and is always covered, but there is

a buoy to indicate danger. The signal of danger on Black
Reck is a perch, something in the shape of the mast of a
fishing vessel with a cross at top. The land by night over-
shadows this perch, or beacon, and at night, as also
by day, it is very difficult to see it until very near to it. I
always understood that the pilot's boundary extended to the
Arran Islands, and also that the compulsory pilotage was
between the roadstead and the rock—but nevertheless I was
always anxious to take a pilot whenever one coull be found
outside, and was always on the look-out for one. On two
occasions, having the Mutton Island light direct ahead,and
steering Et N, I thought this course took me somewhat too
near Margarotta Shoal, and I made a report to Capt.Thomp-
sou upon the subject. During 7 voyages since that time I
have invariably steered E IN, and found that course to
carry me in a good fair mid channel. I have steered this
course on two occasions in the Anglia, and with the same
compasses I had on board at the time of her stranding on
Black Rock. I expected to find a pilot at Black Head, but
the pilotage regulations of the harbour are miserably car-
ried out, On two previous occasion I had to go into the
roadstead without a pilot, once by day and once by night.
The great necessity is to take a pilot outside of danger,
where they can be of use, but I have had to take him on
board on several occasions when within danger, and, sup-

posing the wind to be blowing a gale from the westward I
do not think it would be possible, with any amount of wait-
ing, to get a pilot outside the entrance. (Captain Prowse here
read the entries made in the ship's log of the voyage from
Liverpool, and which is contained in the evidence of the
chief officer on the first day of inquiry.) Had the weather
at 6.45 p.m. of the 9th been as clear as it was at three
a.m. of the 10th, I should have gone into the har-
bour, notwithstanding there was no pilot on board,
as I considered there was not the shadow of an excuse
for remaining any longer, and I should have expected
to be severely censured by my employer for losing
valuable time had I done so. Had I remained at anchor
under Black Head until daylight I should not have been
in the roadstead until between nine and ten o'clock.
Mr. Traill—Can you account for the vessel being
stranded on Black Rock, the light at Mutton Island being
ahead of you ?
Capt. Prowse—lt has been given in evidence that the light
bore E I N, and, if this was so, I cannot account for it; but
I think that the engines, being worked at " dead slow" the
compasses must have been attracted by the land.
By Capt. Harris—l have never noticed in passing slowly
through the roadstead whether the compasses have been
affected or altered by attraction of the land. On two previous
voyages the same compasses were used, and were then found
correct; and at .lway, after the stranding, they were
found not to be affected, having corrected themselves,
Mr. Traill—lt would be an impossibility for the compasses
to have corrected themselves as you mention.
Mr. Valiance, on behalf of the company, said—As that
was all the evidence proposed to be taken, he wished to hand
in for the use of the Court a copy of the regulations issued
to commanders of the company's vessels, one of which regu-
lations was as follows : —" You are aware from the nature
of the engagements of the company with her Majesty's Go-
vernment, it is of the greatest importance that your passage
should be made with the utmost possible rapidity ; but I
am directed to impress on you in the strongest manner,
that even that mast essential object should be regarded as
subservient to the safety of the ship and passengers. You
are expected, therefore, never to incur any danger for the
sake of effecting a rapid passage, and I cannot too strongly
express the importance of tne utmost possible caution when
you encounter fog or ice; and if darkness or the weather
should indicate danger, that you should rather lay to and
await daylight or improvement of the weather, than pro-
ceed under manifest risk, You will enter in the fullest
manner in your logbook all the facts and reasons of your
conclusions. You will, of course, at all Limes ascertain your
true position, giving due consideration to the effects of cur-
rents and variation of compass, and in nearing land you
will keep a most careful and constant look-out, and the lead
continually going."
Mr. Sharkey then addressed the Court on behalf of Capt.
Prowse, cent, nding that he had used every precaution and
discretion under the circumstances in which he was placed,
and handed in several letters bearing testimony to his high
professional character as a nautical man.
Mr. Traill said there were two points for the Court to
consider, viz., whether Capt. Prowse was justified in mak-
ing the entrance to the harbour without a pilot ; and
secondly, if so, whether such entrance should have been
taken et so eat ly an hour as 3 o'clock in the morning with-
out such pilot.
Captain Harris said the whole fact appeared to him to be
simply whether it was prudent or imprudent for Captain
Prouse to enter the harbour at the time stated. From the
facts as he gathered them, the vessel was duo in Galway at
4 p.m. of the oth, and Black Head was made at 5 30 p.m.,
or very near the proper time. At the time of finding the
weather thick he thought Capt. Prouse had acted prudently
and properly in putting back for the night, having fired
guns and used blue lights, as a signal for a pilot, and no
pilot coming oa board. On the Admiralty chart the light on
Mutton Lilacs,' was marked as bearing E by N, and not E A
N In
such
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theenteringleawaste h
chaarrrbi
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ptieoan;ed they had been groping about at night fur a buoy,
about which there wasno need to care, if the light was visible
and ahead. It must also be taken into consideration that
the passage was very narrow, the angle not being more than
10 deg., and that it required great nicety in navigating at
night time. He could not, therefore, help thinking that
Capt. Prouse was hardly justified in running in before day-
light, and as a prudent commander he would not have done
so himself. There was en Admiralty agent on board, and his
advice was that this individual should be consulted under
such circumstances, and if he testified to what was being
done as correct as entered in the leg, all responsibility and
blame would be taken from the company. His own opinion
was, and he was sorry to have heard the blame put upon
the compasses, that the error lay in running the vessel on
E N, with the tide on the starboard side of the ship.
Mr. Traill, in expressing his concurrence in these obser-
vations, remarked that it was \tith pleasure the Court had
arrived at the conclusion of delivering up to him (Captain
Prouse) his certificate.
Captain Prouse having thanked the court, the proceed-
age terminated.

PEN AL LEGISLATION IN SERVIA.—The different
modes of punishment specified in the Sery inn code
are death, hard labour, imprisonment, dismissal from pub-
lic functions, fine, the bastinado, civil degradation, a prohi-
bition to exercise certain trades, and lastly, expulsion. The
persons condemned to death are shot; they mad', however,
dispose of their property by will. The punishment of
hard labour is for peripc:s of from two to 20 years. The
convicts are employed in
prison or in the fields, and wear
chains varying in weight from five to ten pounds, aceara •
ing to the judgment of the tribunal. Women do not
work outside the prison, and are never charged with chains.
Persons condemned to imprisonment aro put to some em-
ployment, and in certain cases this punishment may be con-
verted into hard labour, eight months of the latter punish •
ment being counted as equivalent to one year's imprison-
ment. Fines cannot exceed one-third of the fortune of the
person condemned ; if that proportion is exceeded, the sur-
plus is converted into an imprisonment, at the rate of one
day in prison for every 10fr., to the amount of 1,500 fr., and
beyond that sum, of one day's
imprisonment for every 15fr.
The bastinado is only applied to servants, apprentices,
workmen, and thieves or vagrants, and never to persons
who have attained their fiftieth year. In the latter case im-
prisonment is substituted for the bastinado, according to a
fixed scale, the minimum of the bastinado, or ten strokes,
being converted into three or 15 days' imprisonment, and
the maximum into from three to six mk.nths' imprisonment.
Civil degradation is pronounced for periods of from one to
five years. The prohibition to exercise a trade is applied
to such persons as have been guilty of a crime through the
medium of that calling. It may be perpetual or for a
limited period. Expulsion from a certain locality with
forcqd residence in a certain place is limited to a maximum
of two years. Foreigners alone can be banished from the
country. The regime of the prisons is mild, and the labour
imposed on the convicts far from excessive. The food,
which consists of two pounds of bread and three ounces of
meat, or a portion of beans daily, is wholesome, and the
clothing good and sufficient. On New Year's Bay and on
the Princes' fete day, a certain number of pardons are
accorded to convicts who have served one-half of their
time, and whose conduct has been without reproach. The
two principal prisons in Servia are those of Topchider6,
near Belgrade, for prisoners under sentence of hard labour,
and of Tchupria for persons condemned to simple imprison-
ment. Each of them has accommodation for about 500
prisoners,