The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-25 00:00:00

THE BOARD OF TRADE INQUIRY.

The Board of Trade inquiry into the circum-
stances of the collision between the mail packet
Samphire and the barque Fanny Buck, off Dover,
was resumed on Saturday last before the Mayor of
Dover and Dr. Astley, magistrates ; Capt. Harris
and Capt. Baker, nautical assessors ; and Mr.
O'Dowd, of the Board of Trade.
Mr. Fowler again appeared for the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway Company ; Mr. W.
Knocker for the Mail Packet Service ; Mr. T. Fox,
for Captain Bennett ; and Mr. J. Edwards, for the
owners of the Fanny Buck.
Thomas Hardy, sworn, deposed--I am chief en-
gineer of the Samphire, and hold a first-class certi-
ficate of competency, dated 13th October, 1865.
Before I had had that I had a second-class certifi-
cate. On the night of the 13th inst., after we had
left Dover about twenty minutes, I received from
the captain directions to " stop her" and " turn
astern." The vessel was then going about twelve
knots an hour. I obeyed those orders immedia-
tely. After I had received the orders I felt a vio-
lent shock from the collision. I stood by the en-
gines from the time I stopped her till when we
turned astern. The second engineer and the stokers
ran on deck, leaving me alone. I waited a minute or
two, and receiving no orders I went on deck. I
thought she was 'going down at the head. I then
went down into the engine-room with the second
engineer and one stoker to see after the boilers. I
put the donkey-engine on to pump water into the
boilers to avoid an explosion. Returning to
the deck, I assisted in getting out the boats.
I saw the Fanny Buck. I observed a dim light, and
a dark object. It was not a red light, but I cannot
say whether it was a green or a bright light. The
barque passed on my right hand side as I stood at
the stern. We were going at an ordinary speed—
we can go 16 knots an hour under favourable cir-
cumstances. When it is very thick weather we gene-
rally slacken the speed ; we have gone as low as five
knots an hour. It was dark low on the water that
night. I did not leave the vessel until she got into
the mouth of the harbour. An hour after the colli-
sion I found a little water coming into the engine-
room, and as soon as there was sufficient I put on
the bilge injection. I kept the engines going astern
easy until we sighted the Varne lightship, and then
put them on to clear the light-vessel. The Belgique
then came the second time to our assistance. I had
no fear of the Samphire going down while the Bel-
gique took the passengers ashore.
By Mr. Fox—l have been in this service 3i years
and was before that in the mail service between
Holyhead and Kingstown. On the night of the 13th
the atmosphere was dark, but the water was smooth.
The vessel went astern directly I reversed the en -
gines. The second engineer was knocked down by
the collision. Shortly afterwards I told the captain I
thought she would keep afloat, and advised him to
let me turn astern. The water flowed over the bulk-
head into the engine-room. There were sluice-valves,
and the bulkheads were intact. The depth of the
bulkheads is 12 feet. Capt. Bennet gave me orders
to blow out the foremost boiler to lighten the ship at
the head. We were able to keep the aft of the vessel
and the engine-room quite dry. I saw the port quar-
ter boat lowered. I also saw Capt. Bennett over-