The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-23 00:00:00

THE TV.RECS OF THE QUEEN VICTORIA.

The following is the report of Captain Walker, who
was ordered to hold an inquiry as to the nature, circum-
stances, and causes attending the late wreck of the steam-
ship Queen Victoria, of Dublin, by striking on the rocks
off Howth-head, in the county of Dublin, on the morn-
ing of the 15th instant, on her passage from Liverpool to
Dublin :

" TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORDS OF THE COM3IITTEE OF
PRIVY COUNCIL FOR TRADE.
"My Lords,—Pursuant to your Lordships' warrant of
the 16th of February, directing me to hold an inquiry into
the causes and circumstances attending the wreck of the
steamer Queen Victoria, belonging to the City of Dublin
Steam-packet Company, I proceeded to Dublin, where I
arrived on the 20th instant. On the following morning
(Monday) I called on the Collector of Customs, Samuel
Price Edwards, Esq., who kindly gave me a room in the
Custom-house to conduct the investigation.
" I found that the managing director of the company,
Mr. Watson, had arrived from London, and I apprised him
of the purport of my visit to Dublin, and mentioned ttie
persons belonging to the vessel I should wish to examine.
He cheerfully offered. every assistance and information he
could give me. In consequence of the mate and part of
the crew being summoned to Kingstown, as witnesses be-
fore the coroner's jury, I was obliged to defer my investi-
gation until the termination of the inquest. Considering
that I should be carrying out the wishes of your Lordships
by being present at the examination, and collecting evi-
dence which might elicit every particular as to the loss of
this unfortunate vessel, I accordingly proceeded to Kings-
town, and have to express my obligation to Mr. Davis, the
coroner, for giving me a seat on the bench, with permission
to put any questions to the witnesses which I might think
necessary, and which I occasionally did, through him. For
three successive days I attended this inquiry, until its ter-
mination on the evening of the 23d.
"At 10 o'clock on the following morning I commenced
my duties at the Custom-house, and took the depositions
on oath of the following witnesses, whose evidence is an-
nexed hereto :
" Thomas Davis, the mate, who had charge of the watch
when the vessel struck.
" Lieutenant Sarsfield, R.N., marine superintendent to
the steam-packet company.
" Phineas Howell, secretary to the company.
" Henry Vereker, ballast-master, and for many years
secretary to the Corporation of the Ballast Board of Dub-
lin.

" Charles Ralph, Patrick Darcey, and Matthew Maguire,
passengers ; and
" Andrew Robertson and John Jackson, seamen belong-
ing to the vessel.
After the investigation was concluded, the Dublin
Steam-packet Company kindly furnished me with a steamer
to visit the scene of the accident, when I found the wreck
of the unfortunate vessel lying in 12 or 13 fathoms water,
with a portion of the broken mainmast a few feet above
the water, about 150 yards from the point whereon the
Bailey lighthouse is situated.
"Having elicited the particulars attending the loss of the
vessel, and carefully considered the evidence, I have now
the honour to report, for your lordships' information, that
the steam-ship Queen Victoria, belonging to the City of
Dublin Steam-packet Company, of 337 tons register, and
propelled by engines of 250 horse-power, left Liverpool for
Dublin on the afternoon of the 14th of February, at about
3 o'clock, and passed the N.W. Light-ship at 23 minutes
past 4, with the wind moderate from the N.E., and the
weather fine, but cloudy. The crew consisted of 24 per-
sons, including the master and three mates, and there
appears to have been 12 cabin and 75 deck passengers, be-
sides the stewardess, making a total of 112 persons. The
ship was properly equipped, and, in addition to what is re-
quired by the Steam Navigation Act, she had an extra life-
boat and 90 cork jackets placed in boxes on the quarter-
deck under the seats. The officers had the character of
being careful and experienced men. The master had been
25 years in the service of the company.; Mr. Davis, the mate,
28 years in the samo employ, 13 of which he had filled the
situation as first mate. It appears by the evidence of Davis
that the two quarter-boats would each contain 20 persons,
and the two life-boats would hold double that number, but
unfortunately- these boats, instead of being suspended over
the side, were placed upon chocks on board, and it was ne-
cessary to raise them about three feet, and reverse the
davits, before they could be lowered into the water—an
operation easily performed by a practised and well-discip-
lined crew, but a work of time in a vessel with a large num-
ber of passengers in a state of confusion. The instructions
issued by the company to their officers direct the com-
manders not to go at full speed in thick or foggy weather.
I regret those orders were not attended to. After leaving
tiSe N.W. Light-ship, the Victoria shaped a proper course,
and at 8.30 sighted the Skerries-light, the weather still
continuing moderate. At 50 minutes past midnight the
Bailey-light was seen right ahead, or a very little on the
starboard bow, and about two o'clock a.m. the lights on
the Kish were also observed. About this time a snow
shower came on, which obscured everything, and in less
than half an hour the vessel ran with the speed of eight or
nine knots upon the rocks. The engines were reversed,
and in a few minutes she sunk in deep water.
"In accordance with my instructions, it now becomes
my duty to refer to the evidence, and to submit to your
Lordships' attention the conduct of those in charge of the
vessel.

"As regards Captain Church, the master of the Queen
Victoria, whose character up to the time of the loss of the
vessel appears to have been praiseworthy, and whose expe-
rience from having been so many years in the service ofthe
steam-packet-company must have been considerable, I re-
gret that it is my painful duty to condemn his conduct
most strongly. Having been called at 50 minutes past
midnight, and told that the Bailey-light was in sight, and
having been again told at ten ,minutes before two o'clock
that the weather was so thick from a snow shower as to
obscure the lights, and to prevent objects from being seen
the length of the vessel, instead of giving orders to slow
the engines, or going immediately upon the deck, he said
to the mate, ' There is no fear of the land, the danger is
from meeting vessels.' About two o'clock he appears to
have gone on deck; but the evidence upon this point is
conflicting. Whether he did so or not, it is proved that
the ship was then going at 8 speed of eight or nine knots
an hour, that the Kish-lights had been seen a few minutes
before, bearing a point or two abaft the beam, which
with the Bailey-light W.N.W., would place the vessel
within three miles of the shore, and the course steered was
directly for it. Captain Church was not heard to give
any orders. He had lead and log lines on board, but he
neither sounded nor ascertained how fast she was going,
nor did he slacken speed, or adopt any precaution to pre-
vent the fearful accident which took place. After the
vessel struck, his presence of mind seems entirely to have
deserted him. He ordered her to be backed from the
rocks : but it was soon found she was sinking. The
snow shower had passed over ; the morning was fine, and
the water smootat ; the boats might easily have been pre-
pared, and the lives of the people saved; but no directions
were given. One quarter-boat succeeded in getting away
with 17 passengers, and reached the shore in safety, not a
sailor belonging to the steamer being in her. The other
quarter-boat was improperly lowered, and the people in
her precipitated into the sea, and drowned. The two life-
boats, which ought to have saved the lives of so many, ap-
pear to have gone down with the vessel. The result is,
that thus the lives of 59 persons, including the unfortunate
master, have been sacrificed for want of proper care and.
attention. If, when the thick weather came on, the di-
rection of the steamer's head had been altered, and the
engines slowed, the disaster would, in my opinion, not
have taken place.
"The conduct of Thomas Davis, the mate, was greatly
to blame. He acted in obedience to his orders in calling
the master when the Bailey-light was first seen ; also when
the change took place in the weather. He states that he
ordered four bells to be struck (2 o'clock), and told the men
to ' keep a good look out,' for that the captain was not
upon deck ; but that he had seen the Kish-light a point or
two abaft the beam, and ought to have known he was close
to the land, and he should then have stopped the engines,
and have informed the master, and I consider him very cul-
pable in not having done so. In his evidence he states that
after she struck, he appointed persons by name to prepare
the boats ; but none of the Witnesses hoard these orders
given to any individual in particular, and they do not ap-
pear to have been acted upon. Mr. Davis considers ho
would have been guilty of a breach of discipline in stopping
the vessel without the orders of the captain, and he ap-
pears to have been vigilant in watching the men on the
look out from the time of his coming on deck and after the
accident he made signals of distress, by which the position
of the wreck was denoted to the steamer Roscommon on,
her way from Dublin to Liverpool, and the lives of several
persons saved in consequence.
" I now beg to refer your lordships to the evidence of
Mr. Vereker, ballast-master, and for many years secretary
to the Ballast Board of Dublin, from which it appears
that, in consequence of a steamer called the Prince, be-
longing to the same company, having struck her bowsprit
against the rocks under the Hill of Howth in 1846, a cor-
respondence took place between Mr. Howell, the secretary,
and the corporation, the former suggesting, and the latter
admitting the necessity of having a fog-bell on the Bailey-
lighthouse, and that a resolution to have one there was
passed at a board meeting, and was entered in the minute-
book • that a bell was procured from London and forwarded •
to Dublin, but that it had not been put up, in conse-
quence, as he stated, of matters of more importance in-
ducing the inspector to, postpone its erection ; but, he
added, it is now the intention of the corporation to have
it put up with as little delay as possible. Your lordships
will, however, perceive that upwards of six years have
elapsed since the Ballast Board admitted the necessity of
having a bell on the Bailey, and up to the present time it
has not been put up ; and Lieutenant Sarsfield, R.N., Mr.
Howell, the secretary of the steam-packet company, and
Mr. Davis, the mate, are all of opinion (with which I con-
cur), that had there been a bell to have given an alarm,
the vessel would not have been lost, and it is to be hoped
that no time will be lost in placing ono in that situation.
Having attended the coroner's inquest, I cannot refrain
from remarking on a portion of the evidence, by which it
appears that four hours before the Victoria struck there
was no person 'on watch in the lighthouse—the person in
charge awoke by hearing the cries of the shipwrecked par-
ties on the rocks-41nd that one of the keepers, from in-
firmity of age, being between 70 and 80, could scarcely be
expected efficiently to perform the duties of his station.
"It now becomes my pleasing duty' to bring to the no-
tice of your lordships the conduct of Patrick Darcy, the
young seaman who, by his presence of mind, in putting his
finger in the plug-hole of the boat, and by unremitting
exertions, prevented her from sinking, and in company
with the two other passengers (Ralph and Kerb succeeded
in landing 14 persons, and, on going a second time to the
wreck, in saving four others who had taken refuge in the
rigging of the vessel when she went down.
"To conclude, the result of my investigation is as fol-
lows :
"1. The Victoria was lost through the negligence of the
master in not sounding, stopping the engines, or taking
proper precautions when the shower came on.
the 2• The
was
er
conduct of the mate was to blame. He sup-
posed the master was below, and ought to have known that
taminent and should have stopped the
speed of the vessel.
"3. The steamer was well found in all respects, with
the exception that the boats were not so placed as
to be
ready for immediate use.
"4. Had there been a fog-bell on the Bailey-light it is
probable the accident reighehave been prevented. 5. That the lighthouse wag not properly att9inl ed to.
" The question of the fog-bell and the condition of the
lighthouse and its establishment are for your Lordship's
consideration. With regard to theb
etsi;
tlhedpereemsenitt
anmyd
state my opinion, founded
former tercoases of accident, and to suggest that it would be
very desirable if in all cases the boats of steamers were so
placed as to be inimediately ready for use, and if the
officers in charge were instructed to station portions of the
crew io the boats, and to hold them responsible for their
use and efficiency when required.
"I have, &c.

"w. H. WALIi.ER,