The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-25 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE GOVERNOR

FENNER.

The following is the account given by the mate Carter, of
the dreadful collision between this vessel and the Nottingham
steamer :
AfLer corroborating the Captain in his account of his sailing,
&c., about five minutes past two o'clock on Saturday morning,
he says, We saw the lights of a steam-boat. It was my watch
on deck, and I immediately called the Captain. The steam-
boat came up at about a point and a half on our weather-bow,
we haying at the time our larboard tacks on board. We
thought she was corning on head to us. We had no light but
that of the binnacle on the quarter-deck ; and, I believe it is
not considered necessary or prudent for sailing-vessels clear of
the land to carry a light. sVe waited as much as five or aix
minutes, to find out what way the strainer was really coming,
and then the Captain ordered the man at the wheel to put the
helm hard a-port, so as to give her a clear berth. If the
steam-boat had done the same we should have gone clear
of each other a long way—perhaps a mile. The Captain,
as soon as he ordered the wheel io be put up,
tt ent forwards to look out. I then looked over the larboard
side, abaft the main rigging. and saw the whole bulk of the
Steamer. I said to tho man at the helm—" She is on board
of us." This was about a quarter past two o'clock. The
vessels came in contact, notwithstanding our ship paying off.
When the crash took place I heard the Captain call out several
times—" For God's sake save yourselves, the ship is sinking."
The jibboom of the ship struck the funnell of the steamer, and
her bowsprit afterwards rested upon her. On the third surge
she gave, I believe, down she went, bow foremost. The taffrail
was the last thing we saw of her. She filled very quickly. She
had on board a heavy cargo, including a quantity of iron and
other heavy goods. The watch on the deck at the time con-
sisted of seven men, the Captain, and myself. All the others
on board were asleep below. The Captain also sang out to
the man at the helm to leave the wheel. His name was Mun-
roe—he was formerly mate of the Belvidere, came on board
to work his passage to America, and we intended to make him
second mate of the ship next day. All the men at first
went forward with me to the Captain, who was standing
between the night-heads, but they afterwards went aft as
the ship sunk, to be, as I suppose, on the higher part of het
hull. I stood some time, and attempted to go aft with a view
of endeavouring to save my wife and others by lowering a
boat. She, however, sunk so fast that I was obliged to give
up the idea in despair. I left the captain, and went to the
starboard side. I stood there a few seconds, till the water
was perhaps -two feet deep, as far aft as the mainmast,
and was fast gathering still further aft, her head being then
nearly under. I scarce know what afterwards occurred. I
got up somehow into the fore-rigging, and thence on to the
larboard foreyards, which then crossed the steamer. When
the ship sunk so far that I was from six to eight feet from
the steamer's deck, I let go, and dropped down amongst
some sheep. I lay some time rather confused, and did
not attempt to rise, as I thought I might become entangled
in a rope which passed over my shoulders, and as I
thought, was part of the bowsprit running rigging of the ship.
I then got up. The cry on board the steamer was, that
she was sinking, and 1 believe a passenger on board
lowered the boat left on the davits on the larboard side ; but
she unhooked ifrom the tackles when she touched the water,
and the painter not being fast, she drifted away from the ves-
sel. All the lights they could muster in the steamer were
lighted for some time. The engineers and others then went
below, and found that though she was leaky they could keep
her free. She had her fore and aft sails and foretop sail set
at the time. I was on board about three-quarters of an hour
before I found that the captain of the ship was there. I had
seen my wife, who was a little sea-sick, about twenty minutes
before in her berth, and gave her a drink. The captain, when
I first saw him in the steamer, was without his hat, and on see-
ing him (informant) he said " Good God, is this you, is there
any of the crew saved?" I said, "I do not know. I did not
know what became of you after I missed you off the ship's bow."
Her hull was under water before I got off. The foreyard from
which I dropped was broken on the steamer as she was going
down ; and also, I believe, the topsail yard, as our foretopmast
studdin„,sail-boom, which was rigged out at the time (the wind
having been for some time fair in the evening), was left on
the steamer's deck. I afterwards looked, but could see no-
thing of the ship or her masts. The last time I observed the
watch on deck, they were on the starboard side of tho quarter-
deck. One man sung out, " For God Almighty's sake save
me !" I did not hear the others. I had a quantity of my
wife's and my own clothing and other articles on board, worth
about 50!. All were lost. The foreyard of the steamer Not.
tingham was carried away, whick, I think, shows that the ship
did not run directly into her. We now come to the Notting-
ham steamer, which our reporter (Liverpool paper) visited on
the evening of the day of her reaching port. She was brought
into the Clarence Dock, and was much shattered on the star-
board side. Her paddle-box had almost entirely been carried
away, and part of the " skeleton" on the wheel—the cast-iron
work of the "spokes" being broken in pieces, and the beaten
iron rings of the wheel crushed up, almost close to the
vessel's side. She presented, indeed, the appearance of a
wreck, in the effecting of which it is extraordinary
that no person on board was killed or thrust
overboard and drowned. Much of the upper timber
was reduced to mere match-wood by the collision. A boat
on the starboard quarter was cut in two, and one part of her
only remained on deck. The after paddle-beam, a balk of
bard wood, of about twenty inches square (and which was a
main support of the box and wheel), is broken close to the
ship's side, and turned, in a diagonal direction, aft—held by the
toughness of the fibres from falling off, and even yet of suffi-
cient strength to support the weight of several persons upon it.
The breaking of the paddle-beam and the general shock broke
and deranged portions of the machinery, which put aside the
further application of steam; but the vessel was not left in
danger of foundering, unless, indeed, in the event of a severe
gale of wind and a heavy sea, which she happily had not to en-
counter.

It appears from the ship's books there were on board 52 men,
18 women, and 8 children, the greater proportion of whom were
Irish. Several others, making in all 107, were taken on board
after the list was made up. The following are a few particu-
lars of some of the unfortunate passengers :
Mr. Henry Woods was from the neighbourhood of Lancaster,
in which place he has a wife, and some relatives in, we learn,
the iron trade. He was a fine young man, and embarked
merely with a view of visiting the United States, and returning
with an early vessel to his native country.
A young man, Mr. John Sinclair (not in the list), from the
neighbourhood of London, nephew of Mr. Cooper, of Lord-
street, Liverpool, was among-t those who perished. He had
purposed going out in the Siddons line-ship, but did not arrive
till she was under weigh.
William Thorns, a house carpenter, was on board. His wife
accompanied him to Liverpool and saw him on hoard.
The family of the Quayles ( four in number) were from the
north of Ireland. The head of them had before been in America.
Wm. Fitzpatrick, an agricultural labourer, had his wife, and
another female, and two children (one of them an infant)
with him.

P. Tully, who had with him his wife (both young people)
and a child, had been previously tire years in Boston.
Mr. Johnson, from the county of Hereford, a practical
farmer, had also been in America, where, we learn, he was in
possession of about 200 acres of land.
Collins, one of the crew, sailed a few weeks ago in the ship
Robert Benn, which came in collision with a schooner in the
Channel. He escaped. He re-embarked in the Governor
Fenner, and was lost in her contact with the Nottingham.
There were nine young men, mechanics, from Oldham, who
took each a steerage passage.
There were also on board a family of the name of Reynolds,
of England, from a district near Oldham, consisting of the fa-
ther, mother, and two children.
John Kelley (in the list) had with him his sister Sarah,
(not, it appears, in the list.)
Catherine Morgan and Evan Morgan, who had embarked,
left the vessel before she proceeded to sea.
The followint, is the list of the crew:—
William Shigtone, second mate, of Bristol ; Caleb Frazier,
cook ; William Reid, John Smith, John Webb, Frederick
Selkeld, John Monroe (late second mate of the Belvidere),
William Collins, John Smith, David Pidgeon, George Duncan
Clark, and John Davies, seamen.

FURTHER. PARTICULARS.
We are informed that it is admitted there was not any
light on board the Governor Fenner, and that the people
on board of her saw the lights of the Nottingham from fif-
teen• to twenty minutes before the collision took place,
and that if the sailing vessel had shown a light, it might
have been prevented, as only about a minute and a half
elapsed between the steamer seeing the sailing vessel and
the latter running against her.
The steamer Birmingham, which sailed from this port
for Dublin, fell in with the wreck of a lbrge ship at seven
o'clock on Sunday morning, about sixteen miles to the
westwood of the Skerries. The ship was apparently
split in two, her stern being gone, and the cargo all out of
her. The wreck was boarded by part of the crew of the
Birmingham, who found two men dead in the rigging.
They also took from the wreck a trunk containing a quan-
tity of watches and other articles.
There can scarcely be a doubt but that this was the
wreck of the ill-fated vessel Governor Fenner, and that
after she went down she had parted, the cargo having
sunk, the hull had again floated.
* We saw Captain Andrews yesterday, and ho denies
this in foto. 1-1. also informed us that the mate denied
having made any such statement. According to Captain
Andrews, the steamer's light was seen only a few minutes
before the collision cccurred.

The solicitors of the City of Dublin Company yesterday
'ransmittcd the following letter to Captain Andrews:—
" Exchange-alley, Feb. 22, 1841.
" —We lose no time in apprising you, as the Master
of the late unfortunate American ship, Governor Fenner,'
that tl.e City of Dublin Steam-packet Company,the proprie-
tors of the Nottingham steamer, which, as we are instructed,
by def,ult of the crew of the ship, came into collision with
trc latter early on Saturday morning last ; that the Company
!Hid the owncra of the ship aecour.tablc to them for the
very heavy loss they have sustaiaed by the damage of the
steamer, and we have to request that you will be so good
as to furnish us with the names and residences of such
owners. We arc, Sir, your obedient servants,
" NORTH and ORRED."
" Captain Andrews, Grecian Hotel."
The following reply was immediately sent by Captain
Andrews:— I:cory )
" Liverpool, Feb. 23, 1841.
" Messrs. North and Orred,
" Gentlemen—l herewith acknowledge the receipt of a
letter addressed from you to me, and request, that in my pre-
sent dilemma, you will nut pester me with any more such ri-
diculous nonsense, a', no doubt, the public in general, as well
as myself, will perfectly understand your object, but I
have a few words to say in reply. Had you had a
sharp look-out aboard your steamer, the ' Governor
Fenner' would have been seen in due time ; had you
had a competent person in charge of the steamer's deck,
w hen they did see the Governor Fenner,' common
sense, with but a small share of judgment and
presence of mind, would have prompted him to rut his helm
aport, and go to windward. In the next place, I refer you
to Capt. Steward, of the Nottingham, who acknowledged,
in presence of witnesses, that he considered me exempt from
any blame; and lastly, had the Nottingham aliided by the
ru!e passed at a meeting of the different Steam Packet
Companies, as I did, at which meeting Samuel Perry,
Esq., was in the chair, and Charles M'lver,
Esq., Secretary (laying judgment aside), she woad
not have come in collision with the Governor
Fenner.' And, Gentlemen, as I have resolved every
ir.cident connected with that awful catastrophe shall
has e the greatest publicity, I shall publish your letter, as
well as a copy cf this, and refuse to receive any private
communications
frofniany parties concerned, and no doubt
the both ship and cargo will hold
underwriters
o
you re-
sponsible.—Your obedient servant,
(Signed) " S. C. ANDREWS,
" Master of the late unfortunate ship Governor Fenner,
sunk by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company's
steamer Nottingham, off Holyhead."

Sheriff ;if Roscommon has refused to con -
„„e a meeting to suppurt the Government ReBistration
Bill