The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-16 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE TOEFRIDA.

OFFICIAL REPORT.
County Buildings, Glasgow, Jan. 4, 1867.
My Lords—ln compliance with your directions,
we, the undersigned, Richard Stedman Cunliffs and

iVilliani M'Lean, jun., esquires, two of her Ma-

iesty's justices of the peace for this county of

Lanark, have held an official investigation into the

circumstances attending the foundering of the

barque Torfrida, which took place on the night

of Friday, 23d November last, about 43 miles
west by south, one quarter south, off the Great

Skellig Light, in the county of Kerry, Ireland. In
this inquiry we have been assisted by Captain Baker
and Captain Swinburne as nautical assessors, and
we have now the honour to report :—The Torfrida

was a wooden barque of the burthen of 415 tons,
built at Southwick, county of Sussex, in 1866, and
registered in Glasgow the same year. She was 133
feet in length, 28 feet extreme beam, and 16 feet
_ _ _

6 inches depth of hold, and she was classed at
Lloyd's A 1 for eight years. The Torfrida had
made one voyage to the West Indies pre ious

to this unfortunate one. On this disastrous voyage
she left Glasgow on the Ist of October last, in

command of Mr. Gilbert C. Scallow, who holds a
certificate of competency No. 26,380. She left port
at about 4 p.m., at nearly high tide, the wind being
from the westward, moderate, and the weather fine.

She had a crew of 14 hands all told, and carried a
cargo consisting of 550 tons pig iron, and of other
cargo general 121 tons, exclusive of water and ship's
stores. She was bound for New York, in Ame-

rica, and carried no passengers. About the
third day after leaving port, when off Rathlin
Island, in the county of Antrim, vessel began to
make water, which, as appears by the evidence,
alarmed the crew, who on two or three occasions
went aft and requested the captain to put back to
port, and at last insisted on this being done, and
accordingly the ship was put back and reached
Greenock safely. On the 11th, 12th, and 13th of
October her topsides were carefully caulked—a sur-
vey having been held by the surveyor for Lloyd's,
and another—a portion of the cargo having been
discharged to lighten the ship, to enable them to get
at the bends, where a leak had been fourN. out.
The leak appears to have been stopped aft** the
caulking, and the cargo was again put on board ;
but shortly after this had been done it was found
that the ship again began to make water, when a
second survey was held by the Surveyor of Lloyd's,
the Surveyor for the Underwriters, and Mr. Robert
Steel, jun., shipbuilder, of Greenock. The result
of this survey was that it was deemed necessary
to unload the ship and put her into dry dock.
On Oct. 21 the ship was docked, her yellow metal
sheathing taken off, and her bottom dubbed bright,
when it was found that the butt-ends were much
strained, requiring caulking, and that the ship
herself had sunk perceptibly amidships. It was
then determined to shore the ship up, and knockout
the ways under the keel, whereby thevessel appeared
to recover her original shape. This having been done,
she was thoroughly caulked from her keel to her
bends or wales, and her bottom covered over with
a coating of tar and pitch, but the yellow metal
sheathing was not replaced. It was also deemed
necessary to strengthen the ship, which was done
by putting in seven pairs of iron riders fore and
aft the ship, from the beams to round the turn of
the bilge, and bolted through ; the ceiling planks
were also fastened with iths of an inch iron bolts.
After these repairs the ship was considered fit to re-
ceive the cargo which was put on board, leaving out
103 tons of pig iron, which made the total on board
of ter being docked—pig iron 447 tons, and her cargo
121 tons. The pig iron on the first occasion seems
to have been all stowed in the lower hold ; but on
reloading the ship, at the suggestion of the surveyor
for the Glasgow Underwriters' Association, 300
tons appear to have been stowed in the lower hold,
and 147 tons on the planks placed in the lower hold
beams for that purpose ; and the Court was
satisfied that the pig iron was properly stowed ;
that is, grating fashion, to raise it as much
as possible to make the ship easy in a sea-
way. The cargo having been taken on board, it
did not appear by the evidence, which was somewhat
conflicting, that the ship was overloaded, as, in the
opinion of most witnesses, she was in good sea-going
trim, her draught of water being, as near as could be
ascertained, about 14ft., even keel ; nor does the ship
appear to have made any water of consequence while
loading, as she was pumped out easily in half -an-
hour after lying afloat two or three days. The Tor-
frida left Greenock, Nov. 17, in tow of a tug, and
remained at the Tail of the Bpen
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Lamlash Bay the wind was fair and moderate, and
the weather fine. On Thursday morning, when
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begun to make water much more than usual, which
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11 a.m., when it was determined
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evidence to be correctly known—all bands were
called to the pumps, and were kept on deck taking
spell and spell at them till about 4 p.m. on the fol-
lowing day, the 23d, when they were knocked off to
clear away the boats. Shortly after 4 p.m. on this
day the jolly boat appears to have been got over the
side, but was unfortunately stove in and capsized in
getting her round the stern. The longboat was got
on the hatchway ready for launching, also the gig,
the former requiring a few slight repairs, which
were done by the carpenters. The pumps were
again manned after about half an hour, during which
time all hands had been engaged getting the
boats ready. By the evidence of the carpenter,
about this time, or maybe somewhat later in
the afternoon, it would appear he proposed to the
captain to connect the two bilge pumps to the main
pumps, and work the four together, the pumps being
worked by a fly-wheel and crank ; but the captain
objected, upon the plea that he had not sufficient
men to work them together, therefore this addi-
tional means of keeping the water under was not
tried. By the evidence, it appears that a brig was
spoken a day or two before this ; but on this after-
noon, the 23d, at about 3 p.m., a steamer was seen
some distance off ; the smoke and mast:, were visible,
not so her hull. When this was reported to the cap-
tain, or when he himself saw the steamer, he re-
marked, " It is no use making any signals of dis-
tress, as she is too far off." And here we may bring
to your lordships' notice that the Torfrida had no
signal gun, no code of siguals, no skyrockets or blue
lights, in fact only the British ensign and a burger,
on board. The pumps at 5 p.m. were remanned by
the whole crew, and kept going until nearly 8 p.m.,
but they had never been able to make them suck
since the evening previous, that is Thursday, the
22d, but from that time the water had been gra-
dually gaining upon them. Just before 4 p.m. of the
23d sail had been reduced to two topsails and fore-
sail. Evidently at that time there was, in the opi-
nion of the master, little chance of saving the ship.
About 8 p.m, orders were given by the master to