The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-01 00:00:00

went and brought assistance at the time I wrote
the letter.

The Court here retired for five minutes, and on
their return,
Mr. Fox addressed the Bench, and said, with re-
gard to the error that had been inserted in the Times
which he complained to the Court of yesterday, and
as he made some strong remarks upon it, he was
now glad to see that the conductor of that paper
had in a most honourable manner corrected it.
[Here Mr. Fox read the correction from the Times
of Saturday, which submitted the word " efficient "
for " deficient."] The Times had done all that they
possibly could in the matter, and he was perfectly
satisfied.

Mr. O'Dowd said he had carefully perused the
reports of this inquiry in the papers, and he found in
all other respects they had been given with very
great accuracy.

Frederick Nalder, examined by Mr. O'Dowd—l
am secretary to the European Bank. I was on board
the Samphire on the night of the 13th. It was a
dark night, but not unusually so for December. I
was on deck all the time of ter leaving the Admiralty
pier. I saw a light astern on shore. I saw, when
the collision took place, a light, but am not positive
as to its colour, being much confused. I saw a boat
put over the side of the steamer, and it turned bottom
upwards. We tried to set it right. I saw one or two
persons in the boat. One of the persons on board
said, " Do let the ladies get in the boats." Soon after
I found myself in the water, and I endeavoured to
get away from other persons that were in the water
with me. I got hold of an oar and swam round the
paddlebox and against the vessel about half way
between the bow and the paddlebox. I do not know
how I came in the water. I subsequently saw the Bel-
gian boat passing us. We could see her lights very
plainly. I remained on board the Samphire until
the Belgian boat came to our assistance. Captain
Bennett's conduct was most commendable under the
very trying circumstances, _

Cross-examined by Mr. Knocker—l assisted in
lowering the boat that was swamped. There was
not sufficient assistance to lower it quickly. I saw
two lights carried about.

Mr. Fox said he did not propose to ask this wit-
ness any questions.

Examined by Mr. Edwards—The engines were
going up to the time of the collision.

By Captain Harris—l was looking down at the
engines when the collision took place, and lam
positive the, engines were not reversed. From the
position I was standing in I could not see who was
on the bridge. The, engines were very soon reversed
after the collision. Ido not know how long the
engines remained reversed, though I continued
standing at the same place. After the first rush
was over, the passengers were well behaved.
By the Mayor—l did not hear the steamer's
whistle before the collision.

Mr. Knocker stated that, in consequence of the
evidence that had been taken regarding the equip-
ments of the boats of the Samphire, he intended to
adduce evidence showing that the boats were fully
equipped, the lights were all right, and that there
were more lights used after the collision than had
been stated by the witnesses.

William Henry Wood, a coastguardsman, said
he was stationed at Casemates. He remembered the
night of the 13th inst. It was dark and hazy. It
is entered as such in the Coastguard journal. (The
journal, or logbook, was here handed into court.)
The witness then read from the journal to the fol-
lowing effect:—" Dec. 13, light north-easterly airs
and hazy at midnight ; light easterly airs and hazy,
sunset." He could see a bright light a mile and a
quarter to seaward. He Meant masthead lights. He
did not think he could see lights further than a
quarter of a mile. He could see the gas lights on
the Admiralty pier, which was about a mile distant
from where he was stationed. He could not see
them plain. He saw thered light of a steamer cross-
ing the bay about half a mile distant. This was
about 10 minutes to 11. He held the rank of a
commission boatman.

The Court adjourned until to-morrow.
Before the breaking up of the Court the Times.'
reporter complained of the accusation Capt. Baker
was reported by some of the daily papers to have
made as to the inaccuracy of his reports, and that
gentleman denied having made such statements.