The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONLON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 30, 1867.

THE LOSS OP THE SHIP HAMLIN.

OFFICIAL REPORT.
Greenwich Police-court, May 18.
Report of inquiry into the circumstances attend-
ing the loss of the ship Hamlin, near Cape Corn-
wall, on tho night of the 18th of April, 18G7 :
The Hamlin was a ship-rigged, timber-built ves-
sel, built at Kennebunk, in the United States, and
owned by Mr. Edward Mesnard, a merchant, of
London.

She had a crew of 26 all told, and was

couar landed by Mr. John Napletou Beaver, who

hold% a Board of Trade certificate of competency as

mast er, originally granted in February, 1865, and
rent wed on Ist May, 1867. Slic left the Thames
for Cardiff on 31st March last, in charge of a Tri-

pity-house pilot, having on board 430 to 500
tons of iron drops in ballast, chartered to
take a cargo of fuel from Cardiff to Bombay.
Mr. Thomas Burficld, who styles himself a coasting

pilot and shipmasters' assistant, but not licensed by
any pilotage authority, accompanied the ship, as

being a person well acquainted with the navigation
of the English and Bristol Channels. The Hamlin
met with foul winds going down Channel, and was
compelled to put into port several times. Eventually
she took her departure from Plymouth on the 18th
of April, with a wind about 5.11 r., sighting the
Lizard about 7 p.m., and the Longships between 8
and 9 p.m. The weather was then thick, but a sight
of the Longships was got about 10.15 p.m., when it

bore S.E., and vas supposed to be between
five and six miles distant. The course from

that time till 10 45 p.m. was N.N.E., when it was
altered to N.E. by E. E. A few minutes after 11
the pilot went below for seven or eight minutes to
take some refreshments, the master being then on
deck. Whilst he was below he felt the ship broach-

ing to, and he immediately ran up, and on going to
the wheel he found the ship heading E. by N. by the
binnacle compass. He ordered the helm instantly
" hard a starboard," but before the ship had time to
pay off, breakers were reported under the lee bow,
when he ordered the helm " hard a-port," and imme-
diately the ship struck on the bridge of rocks lying
between the Brisons and the land. This was about
20 minutes after 11. p.m. As soon as the ship
struck, the topsails were got down and the boats
launched, and in an hour or an hour and a half
the whole of the crew left the ship and landed
safely in Sennen Cove. On returning to the ship
about 9 a.m. of the 19th :she was found full of
water, with her bilge stove in, and a total wreck.
From the facts above stated, it appears clearl;,,
that the loss of the Hamlin was caused by the im-
proper courses steered after passing the Longships.
W hen that light was last seen, at 10.15 p.m., bearing
S.E., it was supposed to be distant 5 or 6 miles,
whereas, in fact,the distance could nothave exceeded a
mile or mile and a half, and consequently the change
of course to N.E. by E. E. before pasJng Cape
Cornwall was a wrongful act, causing the loss of
the ship. The question for the consideration of
the Court was—who is the person responsible
for this act ? The master alleges that the
N.N.E. course was given by him, and that it was
afterwards altered.; by the pilot Burfield with-
out his knowledge, and that, therefore, he ought
not to be held responsible. It appears, how-
ever, by the evidence, that all the courses
were given by the pilot, the master never during
the passage from the Downs interfering, or being
even consulted as to the courses to' be steered, but
the pilot taking the entire charge in this respect.
Under these circumstances the Court came to the
following decision :—That the Merchant Shipping
Act requires that every ship subject to the provisions
of the act shall be under the charge of a certificated
master, except in so far as there may be a concur-
rent charge of a licensed pilot in compulsory pilotage
water. That the person who had charge of the
llamlin was the master, Mr. Beaver, who was solely
responsible for the navigation of the ship, and
that he cannot exonerate himself from that respon-
sibility by pleading ignorance or misdirection in the
orders given by the unauthorised person acting as
pilot. That had Mr. Beaver attended to his duty as
master by giving the courses himself, the alteration
of course from N.N.E. to N.E. by E. E., which
he alle.g,s was the cause of the ship going on shore,
could not have happened Lut with his knowledge and
on tits resiamsivinty, rrom which eosponsl ,
therefore, Ile cannot excuse himself. That, as it has
been stated that the practice of employing per-
sons as coasting pilots who have no pilot's license
is of very common occurrence, it becomes the more
nee •ssary to mark the limits within which such as-
sistance can be lawfully employed. That the master
may undoubtedly ft,k the advice or opinion of such
a person, but he is bound to know that in following
such advice he is to give all the necessary orders
himself, and see them correctly executed. That the
Court was willing to adopt the conclusion that in
this case the alteration of the course from NN.E. to
N.E. by E. E. was given by the pilot without the
master's knowledge, and, possibly, had he known it
he might, as he says, have advised a longer con-
tinuance on the N.N.E. course. And, under this
impression, the Court was induced to visit the de-
fault with the lenient sentence of a suspension of
the certificate of the Master, John Napleton Beaver,
for three calendar months from the 18th May
instant. The certificate so suspended is transmitted
with this report.

JAS. TRAIL, Stipendiary Magistrate.
We concur in this report.
R. B. BAKER)
Nautic d Assess )rs,

to towns which have been recently incorporated
under the Corporations Act of 1835, as well as to
those 208 ancient corporations which under the
said act were extended and regulated. It will be
noticed that the recommendations make no pro-
vision for one of the most obvious wants of the
metropolis, viz., the provision of machinery for the
expression of public opinion, in accordance with the
usual sanctions and safeguards which our municipal
institutions supply. In this and in other incor-
porated cities and towns the expression of public
opinion (a cherished right of a free people) is exer-
cised under the sanction of the chief magistrate, in
a building suited to the purpose, ith all the sur-
rounding conditions, which, while securing its ex-
pression, preserves it against abuse. The ab_ence
of anv such sanction and securities in reference to a
large portion of the metropolis is pressing itself upon
the attentian of the Government; and it is singular
that a committee appointed to suggest local govern-
ment for London should have omitted to deal with
this pressing difficulty, which can be remedied
only by the provision of free and efficient local
government
for the several districts of the metro-
polis. With reference to the letter of the secretary
of the Metropolitan Municipal Association, re-
ferred to your committee, we beg to report that
the views and objects of that association generally
commend themselves to our judgment as sound
and calculated to produce beneficial results as it re-
gards the local government of London ; and we are
informed by parties connected with the said associa-
tion that a bill or bills will be immediately intro-
duced into Parliament on theit behalf, which will,
embody their views. We are not prepared to sub-1,
mit any specific recommendation as.to the form in
which we should manifest our sympathy with the
objects of the said association, but we recommend
that we should be empowered to watch the progress
of such bills when introduced into Parliament, and
to take such steps in relation thereto as we in our
judgment may deem desirable ; and that we should
be empowered to oppose any attempts to subvert the
free municipal government of this city, and to assist
the other districts of the metropolis to the att tin-
malt of their undoubted rights of self government.
And, further, that we should have full powers to
confer with the Court of Aldermen, or any com-
mittee of your honourable court, upon any matters
which in the course of our proceedings may appear
to affect the interests of this city, and generally to
take such steps as we may think necessary and ex-
pedient."

The Tailors' Strike—Charges of Intim'chtion

Yesterday, at the Marlborough-street Police-
court, Joseph Rearden, a tailor, was charged before
Mr. Knox on a warrant with, by threats, intimida-
tion, and molestation, endeavouring to force cer-

,ain workmen to leave their employment, hiring,

and work.

Mr. Sleigh (instructed by Messrs. Valiance) ap-
peared for the prosecution ; and Mr. Ribton (in

strutted by Mr. E. Lewis, of Great Marlborough

street) for the defence.

Mr. Sleigh, iu opening the case, said he proposed
only to occupy the magistrate's attention for a short
time, but he believed that after he had called his
witnesses his worship would be of opinion that the
prisoner had brought himself by his conduct within
the statute. Mr. Sleigh then gave an outline of the
case, and called

Mr. Jas. Wm. Brown, son of Mr. Brown, of the
firm of 011iver and Brown, tailors, 37, Sackville-
street, who said that on the evening of Monday last
the prisoner came in and asked if he was in want of
a hand. He asked the prisoner if he belonged to the
union, when he replied that he had just come from
the country. He told the prisoner that that was no
answer to his question, as there was a union in the
country as well as in London. He again asked the
prisoner if he belonged to the union, and he said he
knew nothing about it, bat had came up to London
to better himself ; and in answer to another question
the prisoner said that he had come. from Binning-
ham that afternoon, and that he lied been workint,

there for a Mr. Moiling worth, who he (Mr. Brow t;

ll2lieved to he a master tailor there. He then asked

the prisoner Whether he worked in doors or out doors,
and he said he worked in. Ile told the prisoner they
were in want of coat hands most. and asked the
prisoner whether he would like to comein then or
in the morning. He said he would prefer going in
at
naonce,an in
nd he
(Mr. Brown) told Schofield, a
young their employ, to let the prisoner
go in at once and see if there was a job, and
the prisoner was shown a job—a coat, and was
to make a part of it. About ten minutes after-
wards he (Mr. Brown) was in the shop and the pri-
soner came to the door and took hold of it. He
asked the prisoner what was the matter, and in a
hurried manner he replied, " I could not work in a
shop where they use filthy language," and he then
went away. At the time they had 10 mon at work
in the back part of the premises.
In answer to air. Knox, the witness said the
whole affair did not last a quarter of an hour.
In cross-examination the witness said that when
he asked the prisoner if he belonged to the union,
he said, " ; I have nothing to do with them,"
and he then arranged with him to work, the priso-
ner unde,rstanding to work at the present terms.
The prisoner did not make inquiries. A certain
number of houses pay a certain rate of wages.
There were 10 men at work, and his young man,
Schofield, introduced the prisoner. He did not ask
the prisoner his name. What passed between the
prisoner and the others he could not tell. He did
not know that an affray had taken place until a
short time afterwards. The next morning he told
the attorney what had occurred. 11e was sworn at
the court when the warrant was applied for. The
10 men employed by them were non-unionists. Two
of the men were in court. He applied the next day
for a warrant. One of the men in the shop knew
the prisoner's address. The- matter was placed in
the hands of the attorney. He believed the prisoner
had been locked up all night.
Augustus E. Hirschfield, of Hart-street, Covent-
garden, said that at the present time he was em-
ployed by 011iver and Brown, tailors, of Sack-
ville-street, and had been fur 12 years. On Mon-
day evening he was at work with others on the pre-
mises, and in the course of the evening the prisoner
was brought in by Schofield, the under foreman.
On the prisoner coming in he looked round and
asked what they said in front of the unionists and
the Bon-unionists, and he told the prisoner that
non-unionists worked in the shop. The prisoner
then pulled off his coat and waistcoat and
sat down, and asked Schofield who was to be his
partner and what he was to do, and the prisoner had
part of a coat given to him, and when he got it he
jumped up and looked round and began to dress
himself, and said, "I am surprised at a lot of young
men like you sittinf, here. You arc a lot of dungs."
The word "Ines means men who work under the
men belonging to the union. He asked the prisoner
why he sat down with the " dungs." He said, " I
know the likes of you ; you live near Covent.
garden. I knew you before, and just wait for
you ; and God strike me dead I'll smash your nose
in." The prisoner did not say anything more in
reference to the trade. The prisoner afterwards
spoke to a young man he knew, telling him that he
was surprised at a yount, manlike him sitting there.
The prisoner was not in the room more than ten
minutes.

In cross-examination the witness said there were
ten men sitting
pretty close together, and the pri-
soner's partner faced the prisoner. "bungs" hid
a certain meaning-in the trade. It was applied to
those working against the rules of the trade. He had
not often been called one himself. It was an op-
probrious term, used when they got angry. It was
only made use of at the pres2nt time because there
was more point in it. It was only with those work-
ing out and those working in that it was used. He
was not pleased at what the prisoner said, but he
did not know that he was particularly angry. He
asked the prisoner why he sat with the " dungs,"
but not in a particularly loud voice. The prisoner
did not sit down many minutes. Ile never men-
tioned the name of the Green Dragon (the house
where the tailors on strike assemble). Something
was said by the prisoner about a wager. He said,
"Now, men, you see I've won my wager." He did
not say what the wager was. He did not tell the
prisoner
that he would wait for him outside. No

one asked the prisoner what the wager was, and no
one said they would wait for the prisoner outside.
By Mr. Sleigh—The term "dung" had only come
into use since the strike hid commenced.

Samuel Soloman, in the employ of Messrs. 011iver
and Brown—l saw the prisoner come into the work-
shop with Schofield. The prisoner asked what was
the meaning of the word unionists. Having been
told, he sat down to his job ; but afterwards got
up, and said he could not work in that shop, adding

that they were all a set of " dun ;s," and turning to
Hirschfield said, " I know you ; you live about
Covent-garden. I shall wait for you, and will punch
your nose or head." The prisoner used this lan-
guage in an offensive manner to Hirschfeld. The
prisoner said if they wanted his name it was Joe
Reardon.

Cross-exatnined —Hirsolgeld tried to explain to
the prisoner the tcrm3 of the union men. The pri-
soner used a variety of threats to Hirschfeld.
Robert Foale, in the employ of Messrs. 011iver,
corroborated the previous witnesses. The men in
the shop were not afraid of the prisoner's threats,
but they were afraid there might be a lot of the
same sort waiting in the street.
Mr. Ribton considered the case trumpery and
absurd, and a ridiculous attempt to bring the pri-
soner within the terms of the statute. There could
be no mistake about the words of the statute. They
were quite explicit ; and as the statute was a highly
penal one the words must be construed literally.
Now he contended that the evidence showed there
was no case whatever against the prisoner.

Mr. Knox would remark there was a broad and
clear case of threats and intimidation, taking the
words used by the prisoner in their common accep-

,ation.

Mr. Ribton would contend that the words used
by the prisoner were only the angry reply of a man
who had been aggravated by taunts and jeers from
his fellow-workmen. If every trumpery quarrel
and trifling misunderstanding were to be dragged in
and 'connected with the strife now going on be-
tween masters and workmen it would only serve to
throw an air of ridicule on the whole proceedings.
There was nothing to shoe that the prisoner in-
tended to intimid ite any one, or tolprevent any man

from working for a master. There was no mention
of the strike throughout the oceurreuce, and there-
fore he was justified in saying the strike had nothing
to do with the matter. lie submitted that the law
permitted workmen to combine to settle their rate of
payment; it was the only means that labour possessed
to withstand the tyranny of capital. But then he
admitted there must be no violence or intimidation,
and he would go further, and say if a conviction took
place in
.this instance the result would be that the
police courts would be besieged with cases of a paltry
character, brought there for purposes that needed
no definition, and the law would be called upon to
deal with pretended offences as if resulting from the
strike, when they were really nothing more than
mere ebullition of ill-temper or anger, that might
arise strike or no strike. He would ask for a re-
mand, as he had witnesses to produce who would be
able to place the case in its correct light.
Mr. Knox wished to know the nature of the evi-
dence.
Mr. Ribton said the witnesses would prove it was
only an absurd frolic; that the prisoner made a bet
of a gallon of beer that he would get work, and that
what he did was done to win his bet.
Mr. Knox did not think such evidence would in-
duce him to change his decision. He must hold the
prisoner in custody if he consented to an adjourn-
ment, and refuse bail.
Mr. Ribton made a strong appeal for bail, but
Mr. Knox declined to accept bail, as the proba-
bility was if the prisoner was released on bail he
would not be seen in that court again.
ANOTIIER Conelly was next
charged with another in conspiring to prevent
Joseph Hope from working for his employer, Mr.
Bowater, of llanover-street, and with violently
assaulting him.
Mr. Sleigh slid the assault was a violent one, an I
as till other man charged htd absconded, h. 3 must
ask for substantial bail, as an a ljournment was re-

cinired. .
Mr. Knox faced the bail at two sureties in £lOO

each.

SPIRIT OF VIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIDIES.--We have just achieved one of those de-
scents which whether it be one or many, whether it
be intended or much against inclination, whether a
feat, a folly, or a casualty, we do not know, and
never shall know. One occasionally reads of men
who have suddenly found themselves, how they know
not, at the foot of a precipice, with nothing worse
than a few scratches and a slight rent or two. They
can just make out here and there they slid off the
face of the cliff where not quite sheer, and that
lower down their fall was broken by branches and
twigs. The mud and sand at the foot of the cliffs,
too, did their duty. If there was a fixed idea on the
subject of Reform at the commencement of this ses-

sicni, it was a hard and fast line, with the security
of ratepaying, to be drawn somewhere. That por-
tion of the public which finds mental food and solid
fact in electoral returns was busily calculating, with
the most careful deduc ions and vigilant corrections,
boa, many of each class a given suffrage would give
us in every city and borough. Notes doubled and
trebled called attention to the cases, where at £6,
the new electors Would out-number the old ones,
and so change the substance and character of the
constituency. These alarms, which were sounded
all last year, had so far told, either on leaders or on
followers, that even the suffrage upon which the
House had at last agreed last session did not re-
appear this spring without a load of securities and
compensations\ It is evident that only three months
ago the majority of the Cabinet, the whole Conser-
vative party, and more Liberals than chose to con-
fess, regarded the £6 ratepaying franchise as a very
ugly descent to make all at once, and very likely to
overmaster the political engineers who were trying
to land us safely at the lower level. But, hap -
pily, or unhappily, as the event may show, at
least one head in the Cabinet knew that it was
necessary to make a good bid for Reform; that
it would not be sufficient to keep in the track of the
last bill ; and that a measure out of which every
novelty would be knocked in debate, and nothins,
left but the old Whig proposal, would be
ruin to the Cabinet. As the , conclusion was
foregone, small inducement was necessary. But it
was found in the black looks of the house, in the
eyes that opened and the ears that quickened at the
announcement of an old Liberal measure in new
Conservative harness. So what has been called the
Ten Minutes' Bill was abandoned almost as quickly
as it had been conceived, and we found ourselre3,
to the surprise of many excellent people, landed on
Household Suffrage, guarded with all the securities
and counterpoises that could be invented or itna-
gined. That was the first stage of the glissade, and
in performing it we acquired an impetus which
some of us enjoyed very much, though aware that
we were now carried off our legs, and could not say
where we should find. ourselves. Then came the
question of the securities. These had been already
foredoomed by the dissentients in the Cabinet, but,
as often happens, they had seen, not the coming
event, but only its
.shadow. The securities they
seemed to have some sort of respect for, only like
other securities, it was thought they would be swept
away in a few years, and under the blast of agita-
tion. We have not had to wait for a Reformed
Parliament, an unexpected crisis, or the popular
impulse ; for all these securities, whether negative
or positive, whether disfranchising or enfranchising,
have been strangled in their very birth, abandoned
by their authors, and yielding not even the oppor-
tunity of a single hour's triumph to any supposed
foe. They have been knocked away one after
another, or suffered to fall by their own weight, as
cheerfully as all combine to release a newly-built
ship from shore and stay as she glides down her.
ways into deep water. Where the resolution was
to let nothing hinder, it is not easy to ascribe any
reality of intention to any of these securities. It
is not easy to suspect Mr. Disraeli of faith in so
invidious an exception as the stipulation for two
years' residence in the lower class of
_voters, or
in the newly-created anomaly of dual votes. But
the chief of these securities was that personage
who has been the true hero of this almost fabulous
Session, and whom his friends must have sup-
posed to be raised up by Providence in these latter
days for the deliverance of his country—the com-
pound householder. A year ago he was a myth to
all but parochial authorities, and the landlords and
tenants of small houses most of us only see as we
fly over them on railway viaducts. The whole sys-
tem of a legal composition for rates has come in
very recently, gradually, and rather insidiously.
Mr. Henley calls it "an invention of Old Nick,"
and Mr. Bright says it has never found its way into
the favoured borough of Rochdale. On the whole,
and taking a calm, dispassibnate view of the de-
parted hero, once tined; a 8 it seemed, to aye his