The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-27 00:00:00

OFFICIAL REPORT-THE LOSS OF THE

IRONSIDES SCREE' ST.7AMER.

CARDIFF, Jan. 21.
To the Lords Committee of Privy Council for
India.

My Lords,—l have held au Official Inquiry into
the total loss of the screw steamship Ironsides,
which occurred early on the morning of the 23d of
December last, on La Banche Reef, in the vicinity
of St. Nazaire, on the coast of France. In this in-
quiry I have been assisted by Captain Harris
and Lieut. Elton, the Inspecting Officer of Coast-
guard at Swansea, and I have now the honour to
forward my report. The Ironsides was built of
iron at Middlesborough in the year 18(35, in which
year she was registered at Liverpool, but subse-
quently registered at Cardiff in 1868. She was of
the burthen of 699 gross and 395 tons net, and was
owned by Mr. George Sully Stowe and Messrs. Par-
fitt and Jenkins, all of this port, subject to a mort-
gage of the whole ship to the Liverpool, Brazil, and
River Plate Steam Navigation Company (Limited)
of Liverpool. The Ironsides left Penarth Roads on
the 21st Dec. last, under the command of Mr. Alex.
Neill, who holds a certificate of competency as
master, and manned by a crew of 18 hattds, all
told. She was laden with a cargo of about 830
tons of coals, consigned to St. Nazaire. After pass-
ing Ushant on the 22d, she proceeded through the
Straits of Belle Isle, and at 30 minutes after mid-
night Haedic Lighthouse bore N.E. From this
position a course is stated to have been shaped S.E.
S. for the entrance of the Loire. The speed of the
ship was computed at eight knots an hour, and the
distance to be run from this position would be
about 18 or 19 miles to La Banche Light. At 2 10
a.m., or when sbe had run about 16 miles, the en-
gines were put to half speed. At this time a dense
fog prevailed. In 10 or 15 minutes the engines were
stopped, as no object could be seen at half the ship's
length. The master ordered the mate to take a cast
of the lead. Before this could be done (as there was
no lead on deck) the master had discovered his dan-
ger, and ordered the helm hard a-port, but too late,
for the ship struck before the order could be obeyed.
The master seems to have discovered the La Banche
Light at the same time. The vessel struck within
a quarter of a mile of it. The loss of this ship is
mainly attributable to a neglect of the lead At 30
minutes past midnight a good bearing was obtained
of the Haedic Light. When the fog came on at
2 15 a.m. they had approached within a short
distance of the La Bauche Reef. The light
not being visible owing to the density of the
fog, as described by all the witnesses, the
lead should have been hove, which would have
at once indicated the approach to danger, and
a prudent man would, under the circumstances,
have put her head seaward until the fog lifted,
which it appears to have done very shortly after the
ship struck. For this default the master was alone
responsible, and the Court adjudged, after taking
into consideration his antecedents, and the high
character given to him by his owner, that a sus-
pension of his certificate for six calendar months
from the date of this inquiry would meet the merits
of the case.—The certificate is forwarded herewith.
—I have, &c,
R. 0. JONES, Stipendiary Magistrate.
We concur in this report.

H. HAunts,}
Nautical Assessors.
W. ELTON,

MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was
held yesterday, at the London-road Station, Man-
chester ; Sir Edward Watkiu in the chair.
An abstract of the report and statement of ac-
counts has already appeared.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving their adoption. re-
marked that since the time, some years ago, when
he recommended a lease of this concern to the
Great Northern and' London and North- Wes' ern,
they had steadily pursued what was ihe only re-
maining policy for the company, of so enlarging
their system as to render it practically inilepen-
dent, and in the course of a year or two he
hoped their whole system would be compLtted at
Liverpool, Birkenhead, and Chester. Their capi-
tal account would then be in reality clo.,ed,
it would remain for them simply to niax'truz)
the earnings of the r district. In i:e cow. eof
the past Lair year 110 new crt.,a,.,,iiews '.al b en
entered into, the charge of which ha
".'
capi,al; everything new had been elar,,edtioi' to
re-
venue. As to the revenue account, he wished to cor-
rect a common error of calculators. This company
performed every half-year about 500,000 locolue-
tive wiles for other companies, int very oft,to, in
dealing with the earnings and expenses, instead of
dividing these by the company's own mileage,
people made the mistake of throwing in this extra
million of miles per annum, and thus obtained re-
sults which were startling and absurd. He did nut
regard either the dividend or the traffic of the half-
year as satisfactory, but every item of traffic had par-
ticipated in the increase actually realized. As re-
garded the current half-year he must remind them
that they could nob expect to have results that
would compare very satisfactorily with the first
half of last year, because then the traffic took
one of those sudden bounds which were observ-
I able in railway traffic from time to time. A
time of auch increase was usually succeeded by a
stationary period, or one of some retrocession ;
but in this country the tendency had been always
towards increase. After giving particulars gof the
increase of working expenses during the half year,
he noticed the opening of the new North Eastern
line to Hull, which would enable this company to
work its traffic to that port by the alternative route
of Doncaster and Thorne, without crossing the
Humber ferry; and they hoped that their route,
being now the quickest and the best, would carry
the bulk of 'the traffic hereafter between the
Manchester and Sheffield district and Hull. He
then entered into explanations of the advantages of
the proposed permanent structure of creosoted tim-
ber (to cost £5,400) to replace the pontoon at New
Holland, which was destroyed in one of the severest
gales ever known on that coast ; and he pointed
out that all the materials of the old pontoon could
be made use of in other necessary
the
lossrks. Aupshtho
the
other misfortune of the half-year, h
estate of Mr. Pepper, he frankly admitted that they
had been deceived in their trust, and that security
should have been exacted from him, could the di-
rectors have been so wise as people proverbially
were after the event. They hoped, fortified
by the best legal opinion, to make good their hold
upon the money uncollected by Mr. Pepper,
which was due on the company's account, but to
which the assignee, of the estate had also laid
claim. Assutning—at the worst—that the divi-
dend of the estate should ultimately yield only ss.
(instead of 10s., the latest estimate) in the pound,
the company's loss was being written off at the rate
of £lOO a week till the whole should be obliterated.
They had already written off £l,BOO in this way,
wbich left £5,500 still to meet, or—if the dividend
should really be IW. under £3,000. _

The report was adopted, after a short discus-
sion, in which Mr. S. J. Roberts and Mr. Wyles
animadverted upon the neghgence which they held
the directors to have. lown iu regar,l to \lr. I),•pper,
and also complained of the loss upon the South
Yorkshire lease and the new capital engagements.

The CHAIRMAN pointed out, in reply, that while
a loss might be made out on a narrow calcula-
tion of the separate working of each of the
engagements comilained of, it was unfair to take
this view of them, because they all swelled the
total urofits of the cornpany'.i tnain line by acces-
sions of trdflie that could not have been obtained
otherwise.

The guaranteed dividends were declared, also a
dividend of per cent, on the ordinary stock ; the
retiring directors and auditors were re- cleetcd; and
a proposal, opposed by Mr. Roberts and a few other
gentlemen, was approved to vote £3OO a year to
the sick fund of thc.company's servants.
Thanks were voted to the chairman and directors,
and the proceedings terminated.