The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-28 00:00:00

pensed with, the whole of the manoeuvres were con
fined to two hours.

An inquest has been held at Aldershott before
Mr. Spencer Clarke, tho Coronef for North Hants,
on the body of Private John Williamson, of the 92d
Gordon Highlanders. It aKneared that a few even-
ing ago two men who occupied the same quarters
with the deceased retired torest, and left him sitting
up in the hut with a candle burning. They were
shortly awakened by a loud report, and on jumping
out of bed, they saw Williamson lying dead on the
floor in a pool of blood. From the position of the
unhappy man it seemed that he had sat on the end
of his bed, placed the muzzle of his loaded rifle to
his mouth, pulled the trigger with his left foot, and
discharged the contents through his brains, causing
immediate death. The deceased was 26 years of
age, and about a year ago, when confined for an
offence, made his escape from the guard-room by
jumping over the rock at Edinburgh Castle ; since
which, according to the concurrent testimony of
several witnesses, he had exhibited frequent
mental aberration. The jury were for some time
divided in opinion, but ultimately an open ver-
dict was returned by 12, to the effect that the
deceased shot himself ; but, from the evidence
adduced, they were unable to say what state o
mind he was in at the time of committing the act

By the death of Major-Gen. Terence O'Brien,
late Commander of the Forces in Ceylon, a good
service pension, value £lOO per annum, is placed in
the gift of his Royal Highness the Field-Marshal
Commanding-in-Chief. The gallant General
entered the army as Ensign of the 87th Foot,
April 22, 1813, and has served about 50 years on
full pay, 32 years regimentally, and about 18 on
the General Staff as Deputy-Adjutant-General,
Deputy-Quartermaster-General, Assistant-Quar-
termaster-General at Cork, and commanding the
troops in Ceylon. He served 19 years in the tropics,
and was present in the West Indies during the
epidemics of yellow fever in 1848, 1851, and 1853.
He had obtained the first-class certificate in the
senior department of the Royal College.

The Loss of the Angela Burdett Coutts.

OFFICIAL REPORT.

Masulipatam, June 7, 1865.
From G. Thornhill, Esq., and Capt. J. W. Maiden, com-
missioners appointed under section 100 of Act 1 of 1859,
under the order of Government, dated May 17, 1865,
No. 104.
To the Hon. A. J. Arbuthnot, Chief Secretary to Govern-
ment, Fort St. George.

Sir,—We have the honour to submit our report on
:he investigation into the circumstances connected with
he stranding and loss of the ship Angela Burdett
Coutts, held by us at Masulipatam, as directed in the order
of Government, No. 104, dated May 17, 1865. On the re-
ceipt of your telegram, dated 17th ult., directing an inves-
tigation to be held, notice was at once sent to the captain,
officers, and such of the men as remained, directing them
to hold themselves in readiness to attend when the specific
instructions of Government should be received. The order
of Government, embodying the opinion of the Advocate-
General, was received on the 22d ult., and summonses were
issued for the attendance of the captain, first officer, and
seven witnesses before the commissioners on the 23d tilt.
At the same time copies of Captain Maiden's letter to the
Superintendent of Marine, and the latter officer's report to
Govesnment recommending an investigation, were fur-
nished to the captain and chief officer. On the day named
Captain Candlish and Mr. R. Williams being present,
statements were taken on oath from the seven witnesses
named in the margin (Job Evans, Thomas Lloyd, William
Robinson, Hugo Banholf, C. W. Blackman, W. J. Heb-
den, and W. Taylor.) Their statements, except in a few
minor points, corroborated one another, and are in accord-
ance with the entries in the ship's log, and from them the
facts which preceded the wreck appear to have been as fol-
lows :—On the 22d April, by observation at noon, the ship
was Lund to be in lat. 15 31 N., the longitude by account
being 81 56 E. Her head was put towards the shore, and
land was sighted about sunset. She stood to the eastward
from 5 p.m. to 6 30 p.m., at which hour they tacked and
stood in-shore during the remainder of the night, and the
deep-sea lead was hove every hour by order of the Cap-
tain. No bottom was found with 40 fathoms out until a
a little before 4 o'clock in the morning of the 23d. This
happened during the watch of the second mate, and the
lfght on Point Divi was then clearly visible from the deck.
The chief officer had been on watch from 8 till 12 on the
night of the 23d, when ho was relieved by the second
officer. He was called again at 4 a.m. of the 2dd, and
took charge of the watch. The captain had been on
deck all night, as well as the whole of the preceding
day. On the chief officer assuming charge of the watch
at 4 a.m., the ship was steering west, with the light
on Point Divi bearing W.N.W, or thereabouts. The
course was twice altered by the Captain between 4 o'clock
and the striking of the ship, first to W. by N., and then
'to W.N.W. ; but although soundings had been obtained a
little before 4 o'clock with the deep-sea lead in 18 fathoms,
and the ship had been steering straight on shore at a rate
of about four or five knots, no orders had been given by
either captain or first officer to heave the lead again, and
the consequence was that the vessel ran on shore with the
lighthouse in sight, with a leading wind, and in perfectly
fine weather. The sailing directions for the port are quite
distinct and simple, and it is perfectly clear that the omis-
sion to use the lead regularly after soundings had been
struck led to the stranding and loss of the ship. The next
point to consider, then, is, by whose negligence was this
omission caused. Captain Candlish, an old and experi-
enced officer, who had commanded vessels for upwards of
40 years, had clearly been on the alert all night. He
had been aloft more than once during the night, and yet,
when he found the vessel nearing the land, in the most un-
accountable manner he failed to order soundings to be
taken. It appears from Capt. Candlish's statement that he
expected the chief officer to undertake that duty ; but how-
e'ver much we may blame the chief officer for his negli-
gence, it is impossible to deny that the captain was equally
culpable for omitting to see that the ordinary precautions
on which the safety of a ship depend were observed. We
see no reason whatever to suspect that the act was wilful,
And can only account for the omission on the supposition
that the captain was worn out by fatigue, and, having
fallen asleep once or twice during the morning, was un-
conscious how near to the shore his ship really was. With
regard to the share of blame attaching to the chief officer,
it would appear that he had been at variance with the
commander throughout the voyage. It was not within the
scope of our inquiry to investigate the causes which led to
such a state of affairs ; but the result appears to have been
that the chief officer took no interest whatever in his duties,
and contented himself with simply obeying such orders as
were given him. In his statement he shows that he had
been unable to provide himself with a chart of the coast, and
had no access to the captain's charts. He acknowledged
that he was informed by the second mate, when he came
on deck that soundings had been found in 18 fathoms, but
stated that, as the captain was on deck, he considered it-
was not his duty to order a man into the chains,oreven
to
suggest such a step to the captain. Ire said he observed
that the ship was running rapidly in for the shore,
but
that he believed the captain knew where he was going,
and he thought it was probable some shoal lay off the
shore, and that the captain was standing on in order to
get into a
be-
tween the land and the shoal. It is quite evident that the
position which would enable him to run up
chief officer was fully aware there should have been a
hand in the chains, and, as officer of the watch, we cannot
for a moment doubt that it was his duty to point out the
want to the captain, and take his instructions on the sub-
ject. We can only conclude that he allowed his feelings of
animosity so far to get the better of him as to blind him to
a sense of his duty. When the ship struck, the captain
evidently acted to the best of his judgment in his endea-
vours to get her off again. As will be seen, however, by
the accompanying memorandum by the nautical member of
the commission, it is doubtful if those measures were the
best that could have been adopted ; still, we are of opinion
that the errors, if any, were simply errors of judgment, and
we impute no negligence at this stage. We also believe
that everything was done that could be done to preserve
the ship's stores. These were all brought on deck, and
kept in readiness to take advantage of any boats that might
be sent to the assistance of the ship. The captain, officers,
and crew all remained by the vessel as long as it was safe
for them to do so. On the morning of the 25th April they
found the ship rapidly settling into the quicksand, and as
no good could possibly be attained by remaining longer on
board, they took to their boats and came to Masulipatam.
During the investigation insinuations were thrown out by
some witnesses that the ship had been wilfully lost by
the chief officer, and that officer in his own statement did
not 'hesitate to make similar insinuations against the
captain. We see no cause whatever to credit either the
one or the other. We have, however, been much struck
with the evil effects which have arisen from want of har-
mony between the captain and his chief officer. There
can be no doubt that had even ordinary good feeling
existed between these two officers, the ship would have
-
reached her port in safety. Taking all these circ
conclusions tanc e into consideration,ban
that
tb e s hwi
pe
hadcou bdeecnomloest by ton
no
the the
r
ne-
glect and default of the captain and chief
accordingly ordered that the certificatesf
months. Sen-
ooffifceblahn d
thesewe
six
officers be suspended for a period .?
tence to this effect was pronounced in open court, and in
the presence of most of the crew, on Saturday, the 27th of
May. In passing what may appear a light sentence, we
were influenced by the age and long service as comman-
der of a vessel, of Captain Candlish, as abov3 stated.
This officer has been in command of different vessels
for a period of 43 years. Having thus performed what
has been to us a most painful duty, we beg to forward to
his Excellency the Governor in Council, for transmission
to the Board of Trade, the two suspended certificates, to-