The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-03 00:00:00

The Prince Consort in a Gale,

This ship, as already known, was, on Tuesday
last, suddenly manned and provisioned, and Capt.
Vesey, late of the Royal Adelaide, having been
placed in command, she passed from Devonport
Harbour into the Sound. Oa Wednesday, having
embarked powder and had her compasses adjusted,
about one o'clock p.m., she left the Sound for Holy-
head and Liverpool. From Plymouth Sound until
she had passed the Seven Stones the Prince Consort
had fine weather. Early on the morning of the
29th the weather was, in seaman's phrase, "dirty
looking," and there was every indication that a gale
was coming on. These indications were soon rea-
lised, for by ten o'clock the wind from N.W. to
W.S.W. had increased to a gale. The vessel was
no sooner in the gale than she proved herself to be
a very poor sea-going ship—she laboured heavily,
tearing herself to pieces. Things became so bad
that at four p.m. it was decided to be unsafe to at-
tempt to make Holyhead, although it was then but
about a dozen miles distant, and the ship was put
head to sea to seek shelter on the Irish coast. The
topsails and canvas were with much difficulty taken
off. When about twenty miles from the South Stack
Light, at about six o'clock, the chief engineer, Mr.
Sampson, reported to the captain that there was
three feet six inches of water in the ship, and he soon
afterwards reported the water was within six inches
of the fires, and he oould not keep her clear with
the engines working at full speed with all the
boilers. On receiving this report the captain had
all the pumps in the ships rigged and sot to work ;
but although they were incessantly worked for 10
hours, throwing out 200 tuns of water per hour, the
water in the vessel slowly but steadily increased.
Daring this time the vessel was like a half-tide
rock, the officers and men on her decks—upper,
main, and lower—were up to their knees in water,
and frequently the seas would make a clean sweep
over all. Ail the ship's head gear was washed away,
the cutter and gig were stove in, the latter very
badly. Things looked very serious; with the ut-
most strain on the pumps it was as much as ever
the ship could be kept afloat. At one time the water
in the after stokehole was nearly up to the fires,
and had it put the fires out the chances are the Prince
Consort would have come to a sad and untimely end.
It would have been hardly possible to have made
sail on her in the face of the gale, and her storm
sails had blown away. Mr. Sampson, the chief en-
gineer, during this trying time, was indefatigable.
He had not left the engine-room five minutes at a
time since she left Plymouth; and his exertions
after the water was in the ship were above all
praise. Soon after things were at their worst the
Railey light was sighted, to the great comfort of
everyone on board, as it showed that shelter was
❑ear. At 11 p.m. Kingstown lights were visible,
and between 12 and 1 the vessel was brought to an
anchor off Howth. The ship's company, assisted by
men from her Majesty's ship Ajax, then worked for
two more hours at the pumps, the water neither
gaining nor losing. The steam pump was by that
time put in order and set to work, and the exhausted
men had two hours' spell. The steam pump steadily
but slowly gained on the water, and by 2 p.m. on
Friday the ship was nearly free from water. Daring
the time the ship was labouring in the gale several
men were injured. One man had his leg broken,
and ten others sustained contusions, more or less
severe, and moveables in the ship were smashed.

The Prince Consort is the first of her class to ex-
perience a heavy gale, and from the above narrative
it will be seen she had a very narrow escape. It is
said her great fault was a want of buoyancy. She
was too much like an overladen and fatigued beast
of burden; in sea phrase, she had no life in her, and
did not rise to the sea. The consequence of this
was that the water on the lower deck never found
vent at the scuppers. She shipped " green sea" after
"green sea," and from her labouring and straining
her ports leaked like sieves. The opinion of the
officers and men on board is that no ship could have
behaved worse in a gale than the Prince Consort did
in that of Thursday, and they all hope never to be
sent to sea again in an iron-cased ship.— Western
Morning News.