The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-29 00:00:00

The Late Fatal Collision in the Channel.

THE BOARD OP TRADE INQUIRY.
DOVER, Thursday.

The inquiry was resumed this day at the Town-
hall, before the Mayor (Mr. W. Nunnery), Dr.
Astley, and Captains Harris and Baker (Nautical
Assessors).
The first witness called was—
George Henry Suters, who said—l was on board
the Samphire in charge of her Majesty's mails on
the night of the 13th inst. I was formerly in the
Royal Navy in the capacity of carpenter. We left
Admiralty pier at 10 57 p.m. It is my practice to
check with the first mate of the ship the time of
arrival and departure. We were prevented doing
this on the night in question by the collision. After
I stowed the mails away I came on deck and walked
aft, and I noticed that the steamer's lights were
burning brightly. I heard the chief mate tell the
look-out man forward to keep a good look-out, as
there might be some herring boats about. On going
down the cabin on the night in question to check
the time with the chief mate I heard the look-out
man forward call out " A light on the port bow."
I immediately returned on deck, and the collision
took place instantaneously. I could then see the
sails of the bark and also a dim light on board. It
appeared to be a green light. I saw the bark's light
just before the collision took place. After the colli-
sion I hailed the bark ; I called, " Bark alloy !
Lower your boats ; we are sinking." I saw two
men drop from the bark's bows on to the deck of
the Samphire. I then went down the cabin to try
and save the despatches, but I did not succeed, for
before I could get at the bottom of the ladder I
was up to my chest in water. I heard some
screaming from the fore cabin. When the light
was reported off the port bow the captain called
out, " Port, port, hard aport ; stop her ; turn her
astern !" I then assisted in lowering the boats, '
and the passengers, who were panic-stricken,
rushed into them. I got into one of the boats
with some of the crew and a number of passengers,
and we were ordered by the captain to go after
the bark to ask them to heave to. We followed the
bark and hailed her. No notice was taken, though
I think she must have heard us, because of the
noise we made. I don't think we got nearer than
700 or 800 yards. We pulled ashore and landed
the passengers, after first rowing about the bay in
search of a tug. We had 20 persons in our boat,
including the crew. We landed the passengers at
the Admiralty pier at a quarcer to 2 o'clock. We
had four oars in the boat, but we could only use
three, because the passengers would not bale out,
and the first mate, who was in the boat, was obliged
to do so. The passengers were very troublesome,
and caused the boat to ship water. Among other
things my cap was used to bale out the water in the
boat. I noticed that the fore part of the vessel was
sunk as far as the fore " sponsor" when I left her,
and I should think that seeing this would induce the
passengers to believe they were going down.
Cross-examined by Mr. Fox—lt is my duty to
land the mails as quickly as possible. If the
steamer was going too fast in a dense fog or
foggy weather it would be my duty to ask the cap-
tain if he did not think they were going at too
great a speed. I have no instructions with regard
to the speed. lam instructed to land the mails as
quickly as possible. The Post-office authorities do
not say anything if I land the mails too soon, but

they do if lam behindhand. I did not think the

Sam phire was going at a greater speed than was
consistent with her safety. I did not hear any one
hail from the bark. I spoke to one of the men that
dropped from the bows of the bark. He had his
cap, guernsey, and trousers on, but no shoes and
stockings. He drew my attention to his bare feet.
Ile looked to me as if he had just " turned out."
The captain was cool and collected during the whole
proceedings, and did everything he could under the
circumstances. The passengers were more like mad
persons than anything else.
By the Clerk—When I heard the look-out man
call out " a light off the port bow," as I understood,
I was three or four steps down the companion-
ladder, and I was looking seaward.
Robert Whitbread, a boatswain of the shore party,
said he saw both the Samphire's lifeboats when she
left the harbour on the night of the 13th. They
were both uncovered. They are always left unco-
vered during the winter season in case of emergency.
Mr. O'Dowd here handed in the London Gazette
of the 13th of August, 1861, containing an order in

Council relative to the regulations of lights of the
United States vessels, and quoted the act of Parliament
by which the order in Council was made in evidence.
Thomas Hardy was recalled, and said when he
came from the engine-room after the collision, he
brought up three lamps alight—one was a globe lamp,
one was a half-globe, and the other was a semi-circle.
Cross-examined by Capt. Harris—The lamp-room
is at the bottom of the fore cabin companion, ex-
actly in the spot where the collision took place, and
it was smashed by the collision.
Mr. Knocken offered to produce the lamps of the
Samphire for the satisfaction of the Court, but Capt.
Harris said the Court was perfectly satisfied that the
lamps were in a proper condition from the evidence
of Mr. Barber, the surveyor to the Board of Trade,
and they merely wished to ascertain the facts of the
case to contradict some extraordinary statements
that had been circulated regarding the matter.
A Dutch pilot named John• D. Hondlohne was
the next witness called. He said—l am a North
Sea and Channel pilot. I reside at Rotterdam.
(The witness then handed in various documents to
show that he had safely piloted various vessels.) I
am a regularly acting pilot according to the prac-
tice of my country. I shipped on board the Fanny
Buck on the 10th inst. at Rotterdam to navigate
her to Cardiff. She was in ballast. I was em-
ployed to navigate the ship in consequence of the
illness of the master. The mate acted for the
master. The crew consisted of three Englishmen,
two Americans, a Swede, and one Prussian, and
persons of other nations to the number of 14. They
all could speak English. The captain was on board
the bark on the night of the 13th inst., but he was
below unwell. About 10 o'clock that night we passed
the South Foreland lights on our starboard side.
We went on the south side of the Goodwin Sands.
.The weather was clear on the sea, but towards the
land it was hazy. We could see small boats at sea,
for we passed several fishing boats that had no
lights. I think we were about five miles from the
Admiralty-pier. We had all plain sails set up to the
topgallants. The wind veered from the north to
north-west. We were steering sometimes west by
north, and sometimes west by south, according to
the wind. We exhibited all our lights, a green one
on the starboard and a red light on the port side. I
was on deck the whole evening. I saw the lights
myself, and they were burning clearly. I saw the
mate trim the lamps from about 10 to 15 minutes
before the collision took place. He took the lamp
from the screen into the pantry in the cabin which
is on deck. I saw him go into the pantry. I saw the
lights were burning better when he came up. They
were burning bright enough to be seen from a mile
and a half to two miles distant. They were ordinary
lamps. There was a man on the look-out at the
forepart of the vessel, one at the wheel, and I and
the mate were on the deck. The man at the fore-

castle sung out, " a light," and then we made out
the light on the steamer's masthead "in shore" of
us. I think the steamer was then three miles off.
We did not alter her course from that time until the
collision took place. As we approached we saw the
steamer's port or red light, and I then knew it to
be a steamer. This was about five or six minutes
after we first made out her masthead light. We
were going from six to seven knots an hour. The
steamer, so far as I could see, did not alter her
course. I did not see the green light until the
steamercame very close to us. The steamer ran into
us, and we ran into the steamer. (Laughter.) Two
men from our vessel hailed the steamer by way of
caution. It was a heavy shock, but the bark con-
tinued her course. When the steamer was put astern
I heard some persons on board call out for assist-
ance. We did not lend assistance because of the
damage done to the starboard side of our vessel,
which we had temporarily to repair, otherwise she
would have gone down. We took in our topgallant
sails and let down the jib. We got a sail from off the
bows, and threw it over the hole where the accident