The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-13 00:00:00

The Loss of the Steamer London..

The official inquiry, instituted by the Board of
Trade, into the circumstances attending the foun-
dering of the steamer London, was resumed yesi er-
day at the Greenwich Police-court, before Dlr.
Train, the district stipendiary magistrate, and Gap-
tains Harris and Baker, the nautical assessors.
Mr. O'Dowd, addressing the court, said he had
communicated with the Collector of Customs at
Plymouth, with the view of securing the attendance
of Captain Price, of the Courier, who was stated in
some of the newspaper paragraphs to have pcissed
close to the stern of the London on the day pre-
ceding the disaster. He had received a telegram to
the effect that Captain Price, in consequence of, the
very heavy sea which prevailed at the time of his
seeing the ship, was unable to discern her name, but
she was evidently in distress and heading to the
westward, and it was a mere conjecture on his part
that she must have been the London from the dis-
abled state in which she appeared to be. As Cap-
tain Price was not able to give any evidence of a
more satisfactory character, he (Mr. O'Dowd) did
not think it his duty to send for him unless the
court expressed a wish to have him present.
Mr. Traill thought it would be advisable to ascer-
tain from Captain Price whether the ship was going
head to wind, and to know whether any attempt
had been made to secure assistance from him.
Mr. O'Dowd said he held in his hand the Western
Daily Press (a Bristol paper), in which there was a
paragraph stated to have been written by the editor
on the authority of Captain Price. It was as fol-
lows :—" Last night the captain of the ship
Courier arrived in this city from Plymouth,
and kindly furnished us with the following in-
formation. On the afternoon of Wednesday, the
10th of January, the day preceding that on
which the emigrant ship, the London, was wrecked
in the Bay of Biscay, he was on his voyage to Ply-
mouth, and was in the same latitude and longitude
as that ill-fated vessel has been shown to have been
in at that time, and observed what he believed to be
the London, evidently in great distress. Her fore-
topgallantmast and jiboom were gone, and she was
labouring very much. No smoke was issuing from
her funnel, and she had no way on. Her head was
to the westward, and his inference is that after the
London had put back for Plymouth her course had
been again changed by the violence of the storm.
The Courier passed within a quarter of a mile of the
steamer, but owing to the heavy state of the wea-
ther he was unable to make out her name or discern
whether any one was on deck, although the Courier
passed so close. No signals of distress were displayed
from the steamer, Had the captain observed any
such signals he would have hove to, and would, if
circumstances had permitted, have taken all the pas-
sengers and crew on board his ship. A few hours
after the Courier passed the steamer a fearful hur-
ricane arose and continued during the night. The
Courier did not arrive in Plymouth until Monday
last, having been unable to reach that port earlier in
consequence of the violence of the storm, and having
been driven up as far as Torbay." Under all the
circumstances he believed it was essential they
should have the captain.
Mr. Traill—l think so.
Mr. O'Dowd—With reference to the allegation of
the ship havingbeen excessively laden, we have gone
into some evidence on that point, but upon an in-
quiry of this important character it seems to me
that the very best evidence in regard to the weight
of machinery, boilers, water, cargo, and provisions
should be adduced. Mr. Humphreys has been ex-
amined, but there was an omission in not asking
him as to the weight of machinery, boilers, and
water, and I hold a certificate signed by him to the
effect that the weight of these was about 160 tons.
Mr. Traill expressed a wish to hear some ora

evidence on this point.
James Johnson, a draughtsman in the employ of
the Messrs. Wigram, was then produced by Mr.
O'llowd. He deposed he had made drawings of the
London, and had the necessary calculations as well
as the scale of displacement. On referring to these
calculations, he found that the weight of hull, masts,
rigging, anchors and chain, water tanks, kantledge
(210 tons), coals (45 tons), and engines and boilers,
amounted to 2,020 tons. The water in the boilers

weighed about 40 tons, the boats 10 tons, sails 4

tons, water in tanks 78 tons, provisions 55 tons,
stores 20 tons, passengers, officers, men and effects
24 tons, coals'473 tons, cargo (dead weight) 345
tons, measurement goods 950 tons, which, taking
100 tons measurement to 35 tons of weight, would
leave 341 tons. Total weight, 3,410 tons.
The witness in reply to Captain Harris said the
tonnage would give a draught of water of 20ft. 3in.
according to the scale of displacement. The heads
of the combings of the fore, main, and after hatches
were 12 inches each. The combings of the engine-
room hatch were not given in the drawing, but he
should say they were 11 inches, the distance from
the frame to the skylight being 7 inches more.
_ _

Mr. O'Dowd said he proposed to produce what
was called expert evidence as to the condition of
the ship and her seaworthiness, as admitted by Lord
Ellenborough to the judges in " Beckwith and others
against Sydebotham," 1 Campbell's reports, p. 116.
The marginal note ran thus, "After the evidence of
persons who have examined the ship's condition, ex-
perienced shipwrights who never saw her may be
called on to say whether upbn the facts sworn to
she was, in their opinion, seaworthy or not."
Wm. Baseomb, 39, Ashburnham-grove, Green-
wich, deposed he was Admiralty overseer for ship-
building under contract for the government, and
was at present superintending the building of the
Northumberland. He held the rank of foreman of
the shipbuilding yard at Devonport. He superin-
tended the building of iron and wooden vessels, and
was overseer at the building of the Warrior. He
was directed by the Controller of the Navy to attend
the present inquiry.

The Clerk of the Court, at the request of Mr.
O'Dowd, read the evidence of Mr. Waum, surveyor
at Lloyd's, respecting the construction and sea
worthiness of the London. The witness was also
furnished with a drawing of the ship.
Mr. O'Dowd—Will you state your opinion as to
the proportions of the ship London, bearing in mind
the evidence you have heard read ?
Witness—She is well proportioned. She assimi-
lates to the Adventure, a screw steamer, used as a
troop ship in her Majesty's service, and a very good
ship ?

Mr. O'Dowd—When was the Adventure built ?
Witness—l do not know. I think she was built
by Messrs. Laird, at Birkenhead.
The witness continued to say that he was pleased
with the thickness and quality of the material of the
London. The combings of the ships, the construc-
tion of which he was now superintending, were 15
inches. The combings of iron cased ships were
higher than those in wooden ones, inasmuch as the
former were more liable to take in water than the
latter. He saw a gun vessel, the combing of which
was not more than ten inches. With regard to the

engine-room
-skylight, according to the sketch pro-

duced, he did not think it unsafe.

The only ad-

vantage as regards combings which the Admiralty
ships had over wooden ones was that they had an
iron grating on the top of their combings. He per-
ceived that the beams of the London ran through at

the engine-room hatchway, and he considered this

a great improvement in merchant ships,

By Mr. Traill--On looking at the drawing of the
engine hatchway of the London, he considered it
substantial, although he should not have passed it

for the Admiralty without the iron grating or dead
lights fitted on the top of the combings.
Mr. Trail—On observing the skylights would you
have anticipated such an accident as that which has
taken place ?
Witness—l would not.
By Capt. Baker-1 believe the means of escape of
the water through the scuppers and plug-boards to
have been sufficient.

Replying to Mr. Traill, witness said if he had been
on board of the London at the time the skylight
was washed away he would have put planks across
the hatchway, and if they were not easily available

he would have ordered the carpenter to tear up the
lower deck in order to procure some.
The witness, in reply to Capt. Baker, said he con-
sidered it would be advisible to protect the engine
hatchways of steamerswith iron gratings orshutters
fitted to the combings.