The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-22 00:00:00

7HE LOSS OF 711 E BRIG .REGARD•

OFFICIAL REPORT.
15, 180.
Sunderland, Dec.
To the Lords of the Committee for Privy Council for Tr%di:.
My Lords,—ln obedience to your instructions, We' ibet
undersigned, two of her Majesty's Justices of the Peit...,e6'
this borough, assisted by Captains Harris and Baker, ;It
tical Assessors to the Board of Trade, have held an otfic)lo,
inquiry into the circumstances attending the loss of the b'r
Regard, and we have now the honour to report : Thetb 111 the,
Regard,
brig Regard, of the burthen of 291 14-100 tons vrite .0
at Hylton, in the county of Durham, ire November of t1;10
present year, and registered at the port of Sunderland
was owned by Mr. Robert Cropton, of this port, ehd:d,
commanded by Mr. Thomas Parker Marshall; //he tril,
certificate of competency as Master, dated the 13th f
1859. The Regard sailed from Sunderland on them .°lll-,,:g °
the 12to November last, bound for Barcelona, with te.
of coals. The crew consisted of 10 hands, all told. Ntit4,bl .11
of any moment occurred until 2.40 a.m. of the `-.1,18
of the same month, when Orfordness Light was seen on
starboard bow, at a distance of five or six miles, the whi,,cl:,
that time being from the N.N.8., and the course steeret:D
to nearly the period of the wreck was S.W. and by S., as
the ship's speed was represented to be about eight knote.h
hour, with all plain sails set. At 3.30 a.m., the Shirirbp
Light is stated to have been seen bearing N.W.
an
N., at a distance of about five miles, and the same ce.'"Bo
was continued till 4 a.m., at which time the
Light was represented to bear when brought down ll' 5
the rigging due north, and the distance at that time Ivo%
computed to be about eight or nine miles. During
four hours it was flood tide, and the mate, who was hi etfra;
of the watch, was aware that it was setting to the west° to
nevertheless, no precaution appears to have been take
guard against this westerly set, for the same course ;0
still pursued. At 4.15 a.m., the master relieved the
till'
and they went down below to consult- as to the ~P:a•
tion of the ship, and they appear to have eadsfied t'-the
selves that the ship was in a proper position, an'tl thfoile
course then steered would carry the ship a rail, °r
b
and a half to the eastward of the Kentish Knock Wseen
assumption which, on reference to the charts, will bed
to be totally unfounded. Even assuming that they P 706
the Shipwash Light at the distance of five miles, the el)"
ide)
steeredwould (supposing they had no westerly set of the 1.103
have taken the ship on to the Kentish Knock Saud; ~, the
culpable negligence in shaping a dangerous course 'fv-i•tb/
Shipwash Light, without verifying their distance frc°4,oo
a proper cast of the leadz naturally resulted in the lose lid
ship. From the evidence, it would appear that the hellimivbe
was hove occasionally. The lead was stated to have been )10
in weight ; but the ship's way was not stopped, nor l'ffie.:oo
rounded to, and the speed being about eight knots, it ee'eety
very clear to us that no correct soundings could have the
taken, particularly when wo notice, on reference
ll
chart, that the depths of water would be from 14 flea'
fathoms. Taking all the evidence into our considn-olt
we are of opinion that the Regard was lost by the de-or
of the Master. We have, therefore, deemed it to be
painful duty to suspend the Master's certificate of Otte,
tency for the period of 12 calendar months from dile -
°
eta ,
We beg to forward the Master's certificate of contP
together with a copy of the evidence taken before tte,ger
also a statement in writing voluntarily put in by the,, after
ter at the close of the examination of witnesses, en''' Fe'
he had been cautioned that he was at perfect liberty to
r.
frain from making any statement if he thought Props
We have, &c.,

.11.
JAMES WIRTLE (1 )
JOHN CANDLISO
We concur in the above report. rs.
HY. HARRIS,
} Nautical
RT. BAKER,