The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-11 00:00:00

TILE

ALMA.

Yesterday morning the official inquiry into the
loss of the Alma was resumed at the Greenwich
Police-court before Mr. Traill and Capt. Walker,
as on the former occasions.
Mr. Cumberland appeared for the Board of Trade.
Mr. Wilde, Q.C., again attended on the part of
Captain Henry and Mr:Davis.

Sir J. Bowring, examined, said—l must beg to
mention that on my leaving China I was in a vg.:y
shattered state of health, and had not f':ie oppor-
tunity of making such obseryati
7.'s as I otherwise
should. I retirpd tlrest
":. 10 o'clock on the night
preceding the Wrir..:. At that time the weather
tie, so much so as to be the subject of
was yery
remark among the passengers. We thought we
had a.complaint against the company for delay at
Galle.

Mr. Traill—That is not a part of the present
inquiry,
Sir John Bowring—The weather was hot, and I
lay down with few garments upon me. 1 was
aroused by three crashes about 3 o'clock. I was
below in the cabin saloon. The crashes rapidly suc-
ceeded each other. Very soon the vessel reeled over,
and through the open portholes on the starboard
side the sea rushed in in torrents. I made my way
through the portholes of my cabin and endeavoured
to reach the deck. I saw distinctly the Harnish
Islands in the distance. They were on the port side
of the steamer, in the direction of the reef. I have
no recollection of having seen the reef at that time.
The outline was not very distinct, but I could see it
was there. The outline was against the sky. Un-
doubtedly, if the vessel had not been aground, I
must have seen the land distinctly. There was no
chain or rope, and the bulwarks being high it was
impossible for me to reach the deck, or to make any
one know my position. After a long waiting we
we're dragged on deck through the skylights down.
to the port side, and after sitting some time we were
lowered into the boat. When I was on deck on
the port side I not only saw the islands but the
reef. There were several delays. We were lowered
into boats waterlogged, in consequence of which we
could not escape from the wreck. We were after-
wards conveyed by the lifeboat to the reef. The
reef presented a dark black line, the reef descend-
ing into the sea, and the lower part being lost in
the water. Between the part of the reef where we
struck and the higher part there was water.
Mr. Cumberland—Did you see any haze between
the ship and the reef ?

Sir John Bowring —None at all.
Mr. Cumberland—Any haze beyond the reef and
the Harnish Islands ?

Sir J. 130 wring—No.
Mr. Gisbourne, civil engineer, examined—l was
passenger on board the Alma, and joined at Aden.
I was employed in laying down the Red Sea tele-
graph. We had three vessels assisting in the ex-
pedition, one a man-of-war vessel, the Cyclops,
Capt. Pullen, which had been 15 months surveying
the side and sounding bottoms, and she acted as our
pilot. I was on board all three vessels at different
times, but was always engaged on board the vessels
in laying down the cable. The cable is laid down
on the other side of the Harnish Islands, more on
the African co tst. lam not allowed by the Admi-
ralty td state the exast line. I had never made any
passage between the Aboo Islands and Jiber Zoo-
gur. My experience is, that there are very variable
currents in the Red Sea, which renders tne position
of a ship very uncertain to the extent of three or
four miles in 12 hours. The currents are variable
in the Red Sea generally. The night preceding the
wreck I was on deck. I remained there about half
an hour until about 11 o'clock, when I lay down on
deck on the starboard side. It was then a beautiful
moonlight night. I awoke on the ship striking,
and heard a voice which I believe to be Mr. Davis's,
saying "23 fathoms sand." I was next awoke by
hearing " Hard a-port," repeated twice, about the
time when the ship struck. My impression was
that we had run over a native boat—it was a slight
shock. I felt a bump within a minute or half a
minute of the first, and then there was a third
scrape and the vessel stopped. I them heard some
one say—l think it was Captain Henry, but can't
say—"-Don't reverse, but go on ahead !" I had
heard no other orders given about the engines be-
fore. I got on my legs, but was knockd down
by a lady with a chair. I succeeded in getting
on to the bulwarks, and was there within
five minutes of the ship sinking. I saw the
bow of the vessel was on the exposed rock, and saw
in the distance the loom of land against the sky. I
could then see the water playing on the edge of the
reef, but the reef itself was scarcely visible. The
bow was up a detached portion of the reef. The
Harnish Islands behind overshadowed the reef.
I did not see the mounds until my attention was
called to them at daylight. I may have seen them,
but I looked upon them as the foreground of one of
the Harnish Islands. The background was a loom
of land clearly defined against the sky. The land
I saw was in the formation of an amphitheatre, and
at right angles where I sstoeocs:dsealamistsi was rather more
been seen.
astern to the ship than the port bow. The moon
had gone down. It was starry and clear overhead,
but dark over the water. The boats with the pas-
sengers disappeared when proceedingtntih.eualctko
nht
toahawlefpaalrrondeoNsmi
hourotuho
se
previously f
courses
rt•
heeef.l
atlldf othu
get
howt eNtvaothhehen:
have
thea s
vuEllin, the quartermaster,
e Aest
t
soeeceaiseiod nno,wathe
sthnenighret of thecalled, and stated the
Wreck. He said-
-12 o'clock, when I came on deck, I had the course
given me by Mills, N. by W. 3
- She
steering that course. The first order to chap
e
course was just before the sinking at four bellgs
when Mr. Carter, the third officer, directed it to be'
altered to N.W. W. The next change of
was about ha if an hour before we struck, when it
was again altered by the direction of the third
officer to N. by W., which was the course shewent
ashore. (The witness then repeated the principal points as given by him in his previous
examination.)puee
Captain Henry was then recalled—lproduce the
protest made by me before Captain Play fair f.
a
Aden, about 10 weeks after the
reek. Some timer
y
after I made this protest Captain Pla
far called
upon me and read a deposition to m yir
e, which hi e md
had been made by the pilot, and
of it, which I declined t offered me a copy
to accept. I saw it
was contradictory to what I had stated. I ss w
Bushier there and spoke to him,
but there was no
ponossthat ibilit
hye owas wrong.f my proving to him by any other per-
Mr.s Traill here read the protest in question, set-
ting forth the illness of Capt. Henry n
at Aden, and
calling upon Mr. Davis, the chief officer, t take
the vessel out of the harbour, andnaming the
courses to steer, as contaixed Capt. in Henry's first
examination.
Capt. George Davis Cook said—l was a captain
in 1 er Majesty's service, and was on board the Alma
at the time of the wreck. I was asleep on deck,
but on awaking I looked up and saw the reef
around extending the whole length of the port side
of the vessel, and at the time of the second and
third shock the vessel turned on her side. I then
went on to the bulwarks and saw the reef perfectly
plain. The vessel was on the detached portion of
the reef, and I saw one mound on the reef perfectly
clear at a distance of 250 yards. I could not ob-
serve that there was the slightest haze to prevent
the reef being seen.
Mr Cumberland proposed under the 273 d section
of the Merchant Shipping Act, to put in as evidence
the protest made by Bushier, the Persian pilot, to
Brigadier Cogan, the political agent at Aden, but
after some discussion,
Mr. Traill said he was disinclined to receive such
protest as evidence, it not appering that Brigadier
Cogan was an authorised person to receive such
statements. However, in sp far as portions in con-
nection with that protest had been made use of in
court (luring the examination, such parts would be
used as a means of reference.
This being the whole of the evidence,

Mr. Wilde addressod the Court at great length,
recapitulating the various points as given in evi-
dence. He was very glad the inquiry had been
continued serong as it kad, because it had had the
effect of disabusing the public mind of a variety
of statements which had been put forth
from time to time, and which had been
further given credence to in the opening speech of
the learned gentleman who appeared for the Board
of Trade. One part of his statement was that the
vessel had been plundered by the native crew, and
that after soundings of 23 fathoms had been ob-
tained the Frew went on recklessly to destruction.
So far from this being the case, the soundings as
then obt,iined would place the ship in the exact
position as expected, and not have denoted danger
as approaching land. No doubt the statement made
by .Mr. Cumberland was given in good faith on the
informal ion which the Board of Trade had received,
but so far from there not haViog been a good look-
out kept, there was positive evidence to the con-
trary. Then it was said the crew consisted of more
Lascars than there ought to have been, but such a
was altogether unfounded, because if
they aslcL d. those who were experienced they would
cliulate
ann Asiatic
gaitiiittegihgi
find that ASiatic se imon were better fitted for the
ac,,,onNtr..i,e_iteEiviaeluntredc.eooodpsninteospatetnaNa,,ll.si,iie.ytti
hltesiiltolstaamtnNlVpvhdaaaai snnsdgyabtl
etshmicoei
ocopmrfidrecoar
svnatteghwdlea,
vessel
sse:hscaiaek
in its waters. The learned counsel, in
nbealloltif
in conclusion,referred to the fact of her Majesty'se ship Cyclops
le
dr o
onlya s;
i'vbays engaged,
ael tahcocuugshan
e d
of
ahnadvinugraebleetnhatag;ru.
abundance of look-outdaymiiseh
nrceoNeuv
an error of judgment.
_ _ _

Mr. Traill and Captain Walker here retired, and

after an absence of about a quarter
turned into court, when of all 13"jur re-
Mr Traill, addressing Captain ienry and Mr.
Dt.vis, said—We have been co,:-Ldering during our
absence as indeed you ma-, - be sure we have been
doing throughout f1'.1".-d inquiry, as to the persons
blameable for th.:,l cause of this wreck, and I am
sorry to say that we can come only to one con-
elusion, Nvlnet is, that the vessel has been lost
till'c'umb. a fault. The only question is as to
dose fault it is ; and it is our opinion that not
you, Captain Henry, but Mr. Davis, the chief
officer, was in charge of the ship, and that in alter-
ing the course at 12.45, if he had consulted the
chart, he would have found that the course was
not altered sufficiently, but that the vessel was
nearly in a direct course to run on to the rocks
where she became a wreck. We are also of opinion
that you, Captain Henry, in giving him directions
to haul up, and referring, him to the charts, gave
him all the information you possessed, and placed
him in charge of the ship, and that if he had not
been in charge of the vessel it would have been
his duty to consult you. These are only some of
the points to which we shall have to refer in
making our report to the Board of Trade, and in
doing which we shall not fail to refer to the good
character which we have received of Mr. Davis as
an officer.

Numerous testimonials as to character were here
put in, and Mr. Baker, the second officer, who it
will be remembered received the thanks of the pas-
sengers, passed at a meeting on board the Bombay
steamer, for his daring services in putting off in
a boat and obtaining water for the relief of the
sufferers, and afterwards putting off and intercept-
ing her Majesty's ship Cyclops, was exonerated by
the Court from all blame, his certificate having
been called for at the commencement of the inquiry.
Mr. Cumberland applied for an order for the
payment of the costs of the inquiry.
Mr. Traill asked against whom the order would
be made ?

Mr. Cumberland replied it. would virtually be
the company to which the ship belonged.
Mr. Traill remarked that he thought such an
order against the company would be unjust, as they
had employed a person who held a certificate of
competency from the Board of Trade.
Captain Walker observed that he did not think
the Board of Trade would desire that the costs of
the inquiry should fall upon Mr. Davis.
Mr. Traill, after some further observations, de-
clined making the order, and the proceedings ter-
minated.