The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-17 00:00:00

Neglect on Board Ship.

Yesterday an inquest was held by Mr. Bird, the
coroner for the western division of Middlesex, at
the Plough Tavern, High-street, Notting-hill, re-
specting the death of James Vernon Monger, aged
19 years. It appeared that the brig Western Star,
Captain Hitchings, on board of which the deceased
was, arrived in the Thames on the 4th inst. from
Berbice. The crew, 11 hands all told, were in a
state of extreme exhaustion, and two of them, a
German named Shrander and the deceased, died the
next day. Monger's father, a tradesman in busi-
ness at Notting-hill, waited on the magistrate at
the Thames Police-court, and was recommended to
bring the facts under the notice of the coroner.
Mr. Everard H. Coleman was present on the part
of the Board of Trade, and Mr. J. H. Lydall, soli-
citor, appeared for the family of the deceased.
1
William Bowell, sailors' home, Wellclose-square,
said he was seaman on board the Western Star,
which left England for Skeldon, an estate on the
Coryateen River, near Berbice, in September last.
She arrived out in October, after a voyage of seven
weeks. All the crew were then healthy, and the
food was satisfactory. The ship left the Coryateen
on the 23d December, and left Berbice for England
on Christmas-eve. All the crew had been seized
with fever a month before leaving. They were at-
tended by a factory doctor, who " only attended
niggers and that sort." He said witness was skulk-
ing, and he told Shrander, who died since, the same
thing. The witness did not. know what kind of
fever it was, but he is suffering from it still. He
did not know whether fresh provisions were taken
on board at Berbice. One of the crew was ill of
the fever when the ship left the Coryateen. James
Monger fell sick a fortnight after, and he continued
ill nearly the whole voyage. The witness did not
see any attention paid him. All the crew, Monger
included, got the same food. He sometimes could
not eat what he got on account of his illness. The
provisions *consisted of salt beef and rice and salt
beef and peas. The rice was in a small quantity,
and was the only thing the crew could eat. The
hands were sick and could only eat what was soft.
The pea-soup was very poor. Neither pork nor
flour was served out. There was no lime juice on
board. Most of the crew fell ill after leaving Ber-
bice. While witness was sick in his bunk some of
the crew went aft and complained to the captain of
want of provisions. They did not get their full
allowance of bread. Three weeks before reaching
England a vessel bore down and asked the captain
if he required assistance, but he answered that he
did not. The Western Star had lost her mast, and
probably that was the cause of the vessel's making
the offer, but provisions could have been got, no
doubt, if asked for. The ship put into Ryde four
days before reaching London, and stopped there
three days. Monger was then insensible, but no
doctor was sent for. After being there 20 hours
the witness complained to the captain that the pro-
visions were not what had been signed for, and,
being in port, the crew ought to get better. The
captain said they should get nothing different until
the vessel reached London. The captain went on
shore and got some fresh provisions for himself, but
none for the crew, who had salt beef and peas for
dinner next day as usual. The day before the ship
arrrived in London they got fresh meat and vege-
tables. Robert Craigwell, another seaman, who was
so ill and weak that he could hardly speak, gave
similar evidence, and said that the captain could have
gone ashore to get fresh food any time he liked at
Ryde. The crew got no fresh food until they
knocked off work and said they could not haul up
70 fathoms of chain cable unless they got more pro-
visions. Monger used to get the same food as the
rest of the crew ; but he could seldom eat any of it,
and the beef he could never touch. George Oberg,
a Swede, corroborated the previous witnesses. Capt.
E. 'Etchings said he had eaten the same food as the
rest of the crew. 'Every one on board had been ill,
himself included. He had lost four stone weight
himself. He could not have gone on shore at Ryde,
as the weather was then so rough. Witnesses were
then called by Capt. 'Etchings. John W. Howley,
mate of the Western Star, said that all hands were well
when the ship left Berbice, but Monger fell yll on
Jan. 13, the day before the ship was dismasted. He
got the same food then as the other men did, but,
finding that he did not recover, food was ;sent to
him from the cabin. A juror pointed out that the
captain alleged he had the same food as the rest of
the crew. The witness said the food was precisely
the same, but the bread in the cabin was finer and
more wholesome. The captain gave Monger qui-
nine and arrowroot at Ryde, and the steward gave
him fresh meat and fine biscuits on the way round
to London. The crew were not on short allowance
at any time. Rice was substituted for flour, and
one biscuit a day was for a time knocked off. The
witness Boswell said the ship could have put into
Barbadoes or other ports for provisions. It was a
common thing to get provisions from another ship
even when it was necessary to signal for sueh assist-
ance. Dr. O'Callaghan, Silver-street, Kensington,
said the deceased died on the sth inst. from exhaus-
tion through want of proper nourishment. :He had
had bilious remittent fever, but that was not the
cause of death. He could not in such a state digest
salt beef. Proper nourishment and medical atten-
dance at Ryde would in all probability have saved
his life. Captain Hitchings said that his steward
could give evidence in his favour, but he was too ill
to attend. The coroner, in summing up, left it to
the jury to decide whether any criminal charge
arose against the captain. The jury, after some
deliberation, returned a verdict of " Death from the
mortal effects of exhaustion from want of proper
nourishment," with the addendum, " That the cap-
tain of the Western Star did not show the deceased
proper attention, and that he was guilty of gross
neglect."

PROTEST FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA.
The Chicago Tribune says a memorial signed by
five hundred Unionists of Northern Alabama has
arrived at Washington. It sets forth that Union
men are looked upon everywhere in Alabama as
traitors to the South ; and at all elections loyal men
are proscribed and rebels chosen ; that loyal men
will be subjected to every degree of persecution if
the Federal troops be withdrawn ; that Governor
Patton has appointed mainly rebels to office, many
of them ex-officers in the Confederate arm; ; that
the State militia is wholly rebel, and will be em-
ployed to drive out Union men: and protect the
whites in enslaving the blacks;
e,iekbsr;.
exten-
sive conspiracy exists and that an
t]. then
takeby UnitedstdesS
gentlementwa
with
Government with Prance annclot'
the latter. The memorial is signed'e
according
nearly to
of character and responsibility, and,
the Tribune, doubtless expresses the views of
every loyal man in the State. This great cry of
the unrepresented at the South will be listened to
by some at Washington as complacently as the
aristocracy of England hear the cry of the English
people for reform. But there are some true men
at Washington who will stand by Southern loyalty
and Unionism, however humble, as against the
strides of the aveholders returning to thir former
loyalty.