The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-29 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE LoNDON.

OFFICIAL INQUIRY THIS DAY.

The official inquiry into the circumstances con-
nected with the loss of the Australian steam-ship
London, which foundered in the Bay of Biscay on
the 10th inst., opened this day at the Greenwich
police-court, before Mr. Traill, the magistrate at-
tached to the court, and Captains Harris and
Baker, the nautical assessors appointed by the
Board of Trade.

The court was extremely crowded, and the
greatest interest was manifested in the painful in-
quiry by every person present.
Mr. O'Dowd, the barrister, attended on the part
of the Board of Trade. He said, in his opening
observations, that he was nearly overpowered with
the duty of introducing the tragical circumstances
connected with the loss of the auxiliary steam-ship
London, which foundered on her voyage to Aus-
tralia. Ile would not attempt a description of the
terrible matters attending that melancholy event,
because the public had been made so painfully
aware of them by the public press. He should, in
the first place, therefore, offer evidence as to the
structure of the ship, and:the material of which the
hull was constructed ; secondly, he should apply
himself to the question as to whether the owners of
the vessel had complied with the provisions of the
Passenger Act, and for that purpose he should call
before them the best evidence it was possible
to obtain. He should call before them gentlemen
of the greatest ability who had examined the
vessel at the time she was built in 1864, and ah.o
those who had twice examined the ship in order
that she might obtain her certificate as a passenger
ship. He should, in the next place, address himself
to the cargo and dead weight on board the ship,
which would be found to be 347 tons 4 cwt. 3
quarters, consisting of sheet-iron, shot, nails, rock
and other materials, and a quantity of other articles
which could not be classed as dead weight. The
value of the cargo on board amounted, he was told,
to £127,074. The next thing he should direct the
attention of the Court to was the quantity
of coal actually on board the London. There
were on board the vessel 45 tons of coal re-
maining from her previous voyage ; there were
shipped in London 460, less 48 tons expended on
her voyage to Plymouth. Fifty tons were placed
on board at Plymouth, making a gross of 508 tons.
He should call before them the parties actually
engaged in storing the cargo, and every one who
could throw the slightest light on the terrible cala-
mity. The learned gentleman then proceeded to
give the exact details and measurement of the ship,
and then referred to the owners of the vessel, which,
he said, belonged to the Messrs. %Vigrain 56 shares,
Messrs. Morgan four shares, and her ill-fated com-
mander, Capt. Martin, to the extent of four shares.
The vessel left the London Docks Dec. 29, under the
command of Captain Martin and a Trinity House
pilot. Her draught of water, according to this
pilot, whom he should call, was 19ft. 9in. forward,
and 20ft. 9in. aft. The vessel left Gravesend, after
embarking a portion of her passengers, on the 30th,
and owing to stress of weather she anchored at the
Nore. She got again under weigh on the Ist of
January with her own steam, the wind blowingfrom
the S.W. She went down the Channel against
strong head winds. On the 3d the weather became
so boisterous that at about two in the afternoon the
pilot decided on taking her to Spithead, and she
anchored on the Motherbank at 4 p.m., and
laid there until the 4th, when she steamed out
the wind being S.W. She arrived at Plymouth on
the sth, and at nine o'clock she was boarded by a
Plymouth pilot, who took her to the Sound, and in
two hours after she was anchored within the break-
water. On the 6th, a short time after midnight,
her anchor was hove off, the weather being mode-
rate, the wind blowing northerly with little or no
sea running, the course steered being S.S.W., and
her speed about eight knots an hour. The Lizard
was sighted about five a.m., when the weather
increased. On the 7th the wind, which was then
westerly increased to violence, which caused the
ship to roll. On the Bth she increased to a
gale, when the captain ordered the fires
to be put out and sails hoisted. On the
9th the wind increased to a strong gale,
when she pitched into much violence. At 7 a.m.
the lifeboat was stove and carried away with all
her gear. At 9 a.m. the sea struck her very vio-
lently, and carried away a great portion of her stay-
sails and royals. It continued to blow a severe gale,
and on the morning of the 10th the gale was still
raging, when the captain 'gave orders to return to
Plymouth to refit. In the course of the morning
the swing masts were secured and the jibboom
cleared from the ship, which was 48 N. 87 W.
At 9 a.m, the sea was then running high and the
wind blowing beyond anything recollected by the
survivors. At about half-past 10 a terrific sea
rose and descended. almost perpendicularly over the
engine-room and smashed it in. Every effort was
made to secure the hatchway by the crew and
passengers. At 4 a.m. on the 11th another violent
sea struck the ship and carried off four windows of
her upper or poop cabin. Through the breaches
thus made the sea rushed into the ship with such
violence that the 'tween decks were full of water.
The captain, with the engineer, took soundings, and
finding there were 14ft. of water he gave up all hope
of saving the ship, and communicated the awful in-
telligence to the passengers, who received it with
calmness and resignation. At about 10 a.m. of
the 11th the
.captain ordered
.the boats to be got
ready, and the starboard pinnace, which was of
iron, was got into the water and lost. At 2
p.m. the ship was rapidly filling. Another boat
was lowered, and some of the crew entered
and sailed for the captain to follow, but, with a true
courage, he preferred remaining with his shill.
Altogether 19 souls entered the boat. T hey then
pushed off from the ship, seeing she must sink, and
after having gone a short distance they saw the
London go down by the stern. The boat drifted
about for 20 hours, when she was picked up by an
Italian vessel and landed at Plymouth on the 16th.
Having referred to the praiseworthy conduct of the
commander of the vessel who saved the boat, and
which had been already substantiallya3cE
a acknowledged
by by the Board of Trade, he said it was
and merciful thing to deal tenderlyas a u
lvtirlie seamantthedead.;
Capt. Martin had no foes; he was
he met his death like a hero. It did not follow that
t
because he had perished that no inquiry should be
was
the
the
sure that
wouldt
now
mCoaudretinwtoontlhde dneaavligaasttioennd;ebrlu; he
with
thedead ast
ends of justice would sanction.
pro-
ceed to call the evidence he had to bring before the
Court.
[The inquiry was proceeding when we went to press.]

The report of Commandant H. A. Wise, Chief
of the United States Bureau of Ordnance, says that the
twenty-eight arsenals and armories of the Union contain
2,025,278 lbs. of powder; 401,026 lbs. of shell; 233,818 of
cannon balls ; 84,300 lbs. of grenades; 41,802 boxes of
grape shot, and 21,355 lbs. of bombs. The fiscal resources
of the Bureau for the past year amounted to $45,783,656,
and the expenditure to $46,112,531, leaving a balance of
$2,671,124 to the credit of disbursing officers in the Go-
vernment depositories on June 30, 1865. The report says
fron carriages for field and siege guns are preferred, and
are rapidly superseding wooden ones. Smooth bore can-
non aro better than the wrought iron or steel cannon.
Not a single Dahlgren gun has burst, and this gun, at
ordinary range, can thiow a ball with sufficient force to
pierce 11 inch armour. The cast iron Parrotts are liable
to burst. The 150 and 100 pounders have been abandoned
and the 80 pounders selected as the limit. The Bureau
proposes hereafter to arm the navy with smooth bores,
rifled pieces being called into requisition only when a
very long range is required, and when vessels armed with
rifled guns are to be encountered. The muzzle-loading
muskets are to be altered to breech-loaders so soon as per-
fectly satisfactory models can be obtained. There are on
hand already 1,000,000 good Springfield muskets, and
500,000 captured and foreign muskets, the latter to be sold
whenever fair prices can be obtained.Aelxlotehpet rtehceapotnuereadt
Southern arsenals are to be re-occupied
Fayetteville, N. C., destroyed.

Georgetown opened the polls on the 28th ult. to
;est the sense of the citizens on the subject of negro suf-
frage. Of over seven hundred votes cast only ono was in
favor of thus extending the franchise.

Three hundred and thirty million dollars have
been counted in the past year by the female clerks, under
the supervision of Colonel Frank Jones, of the Redemption
Division in General Spinner's Bureau of the United States'
Treasury, and not one dollar has been lost in the mean-
time,