The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-29 00:00:00

THE GALE OF LAST WEEK.

SUNDERLAND, Nov. 27.
A coroner's inquest was held this forenoon in the Lif--
boat Inn, at the lower part of the town, to inquire into
the circumstances of the loss of the bark Mary Graham
and 22 of her crew on the Stone Heads, near to the
south pier, on Thursday morning.
The bodies of the following persons have come ashore :
—Humphry Elliott, clerk to Mr. Thompson, the owner;
James Thompson, the o•wner's brother ; William Hod-
ion, North Sea pilot ; Thomas Hunter, mate of one of
fir. Thompson's vessels.; William Perry, shipwright ;
J. M'Donald, ditto ; P;obert Harting, Robert Shawl,
Robert Coney, Michael 'Welsh, John Sherwood, William
Burdis, William Whaley, and George Wear:youth, sea-
men. The bodies of two' seamen have been picked up at
Seaham, and one at Ryhcipe, but they have not been
identified.
Edward Downs, a seaman residing in Sunderland,
having been examined,
Thomas Bolton, lighthouse-keeper of the South Pier,
was next called, and said---At a quarter to 2 o'clock on
Thursday morning he w-as going down the pier ; the
wind was from the east, and both wind and sea were
tremendous, when he observed a flash-light close to the
harbour from a vessel asthore. He ordered the watch-
man to go and get all the assistance they could, and fetch
the rockets down to the pier. Two men came, but they
could not get the rockets, as the storm was so heavy.
At that time it might be about 3 o'clock. The ship then
seemed to be on the Stone Heads, drifang in towards
the land. The sea at that time was going over both
lighthouses. The crew- of the vessel were observed
burning flash-lights every two or three minutes.
They were signals of danger. About a quarter to 5
the lights and vessel disappeared, and he saw no more
of them. The people on the shore had tried to get
the lifeboats out ; he saw that by the lights ; but, on
account of the violence of the storm, it was impos-
sible for rockets or life-boats to be of any service. Ho
had seen the vessel, the Mary Graham, go to sea on the
previous night. She struck as she was going out, and
had to be towed off by four steam-boats. He could net
see if her rigging was incomplete as she went out. It
was the case sometimes for vessels to go into the roads
before they were quite ready to proceed on their voyage,
but more so in summer than in winter time. The wind
was north-west as the vessel was going out. The weather
was threatening at that time, but he could see the storm
coming on Wednesday morning. The wind was favour.
able for the vessel to go to sea, but it veered to the east-
ward about 8 o'clock at night, and then blew from the
east-north-east.
William Davison, the master of the life-boat, deposed
to the impossibility of getting her out to the assistance
of the Mary Graham, the sea was so very fearful. As
the pilots could not get off they went along the shore
with lanterns, in case any of the crew of the vessel
should come ashore. They picked up Downs.
After some more evidence had been taken with regard
to the finding of the bodies,
The Coroner summed up ; and,
After a brief consultation, the jury returned a verdict,
"That the unfortunate men had been accidentally
drowned by the vessel being caught in a violent storm."
The gale last week burst in one of the cofferdams at
the south entrance of the docks, and has done a good
deal of mischief to the works in progress there.
Portions of the wrecks of two strange vessels, one
supposed to be a foreigner, have come ashore to the north
of Hartlepool, and there is reason to fear that both their
crews are drowned. A body has drifted up.