The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-06 00:00:00

The Wreck of the Steamer Ceres.

The Board of Trade inquiry into the circumstances
attending the wreck of the Ceres steamer off Carn-
sore Point, on the coast of Ireland, on the evening
of the 10th November, resulting in -the loss of the
lives of 29 passengers and 9 of the crew, was yester-
day concluded at the Greenwich police-court, before
Mr. Traill, police magistrate, and Captains Harris
and Baker, nautical assessors.
Mr. Hamil, barrister, was in attendance on behalf
_ _

of the Board of Trade ; and Mr. G. Cottingham,
barrister (instructed by Mr. Gellatly), attended for
Captain Pascoe, commander of the ill-fated steamer;
and Mr. Cooper (of the firm of Clarkson and Cooper,
Doctors'-commons), for the owners, Messrs. Mal-
colmson Brothers, merchants, Portlaw, Waterford.
Mr. Cottingham, on behalf of Captain Pascoe,
handed in a statement prepared accounting for the
loss of the ship, and which was read by Mr. Boustred,
the chief clerk. It was very lengthy. After allud-
ing to the fact of having been for the last 21 years a
master mariner, and being particularly well ac-
quainted with the route from London to Dublin, hav-
ing made it over 100 voyages, the statement proceeded
as follows :—On the 10th November last I left Fal-
mouth for Dublin in the Ceres at 12.30 a.m. with pas-
sengers and the usual complement of men. The
weather was fine and wind variable. I was in charge
of the vessel coming out of Falmouth Harbour, the
tide being first of flood. I left the deck at half-past 2
for rest, giving orders to be called at 4 o'clock. I
was called at 4 o'clock, and resumed my duties on
deck, remaining iu personal charge of the ship
until the wreck. At 6.15 a.m. we passed the Long-
ships Lighthouse, bearing east about half a mile. I
then, as was my custom, set the patent log, and
ordered the usual course, NNE, to clear the Smalls
and Tuskar. At this time the weather was fine, and
the ship under full steam, with mainsail set, run-
ning from 91 to 10 knots per hour. At about 1 p.m.
the weather became overcast with small rain, and it
began to blow from Sby W. At 4.25 I ordered
the patent log to be taken on board and registered.
It showed 103 miles, which, with an allowance of 10
per cent. always made, gave a distance run of 113/
miles. The ship was then in the same course, and
which had not been altered. At the time of regis-
tering the log I computed that we were 14 miles
north of the Smalls. We did not sight this light,
as it was raining heavily. As the vessel griped so
much to the eastward I ordered the mainsail to be
lowered, and slowed the ship, running under steam
only. At 5.30 p.m. I ordered the mainsail to be
double-reefed and set ; and at 5.45 p.m. 1 directed
the ship's course to be altered to NE by N, an the
engines to be slowed to avoid collision, as the weather
was setting in thicker, with heavy rain. During the
whole of the day I set a double-look-out, one on the
forecastle and one on the bridge, with myself and
second mate, the lee wheelmen being at their sta-
tions. I dined on the bridge, and never left the
deck for any purpose whatever. At 6.15 p.m., I
discovered breakers ahead, and instantly ordered the
helm hard a-port, and telegraphed to stop the
engines. The orders were at once obeyed, and in
about one minute after the ship struck heavily, the
weather at the time being thick, with small rain,
and the wind S. by W. Although the weather was
thick it was not so dense but what I could see, as I
thought, about two or three miles, and this is proved
by the fact of my observing a light on shore about
two miles distant, the weather being in the same
condition as when the ship struck. I did not expect
to see the Tuskar, as from the course steered and dis-
tance run I calculated we should pass that light
ten miles to the southward and eastward. I had
frequentlp made the same passage under precisely
similar circumstances, and never found myself half
a mile off my position. In thick weather it was
my habit to heave the lead when approaching the
land or iu its neighbourhood. It was not custo
mary to take a cast of the lead in this passage un

passing the Tuskar, or unless there is reason to doubt
the position of the ship, of which I had not the
slightest suspicion on the night in question. The
moment the ship struck I ordered the engines full
speed ahead on the beach, and the ship immediately
listed off to sea heavily. The sea then made a com-

[ete breach over the ship, washing some of the

cabin and deck passengers overboard, and swamp-
ing three boats away, the ship breaking in two aft,
in the engine space, thus shutting off all communi.
cation between the aft and 'ruidship part.of the ship.
The starboard lifeboat was carried off the saloon
deck by a heavy sea. I then ordered the port life-
boat to be got over the side, but in doing so it was
stove in. Blue lights were then burned, and we dis-
covered the vessel was on the main rocks. Ropes
were instantly lowered to the beach, and by their
means 26 of the passengers and crew were saved. I
did all in my power to save life, and afterwards the
property in the ship. The ship struck about a mile
to the westward of Cansore Point, 20 miles out of
the course steered—a distance so great that no hypo-
thesis of tide or current could possibly account for.
The only way in which I can account for this

casualty, after having given all the facts connected

with it the maturest consideration, is that the ship's
compasses must have been astray. There were two
compasses: on board ; one on the bridge the other
on the binnacle. That on the bridge was the stan-
dard compass, and on every course except that of
east and west there was half a poict deviation.
Down to the time of the wreck the compasses had
given me no reason to doubt their accuracy ; that
is, I observed no variation in them from for-

mer voyages. Ido not assert that the compasses
that I cannot account
were wrong. I simply say

for the position in which the ship found herself
on the night of the 10th November on any other
supposition. It may be assumed that the ship was
set some miles to the westward of her course by the
ebb tide from the Bristol Channel, but my long ex-
perience in this trade has invariably proved to me
that the ebb tide in this part of our seas has always
been counteracted by the flood in the passage be-
tween the Longships and the Tuskar, and more es-
.

pecially when accompanied by a south and westerly
wind, thus giving the ship her true course. While

deeply deploring the catastrophe which has befallen
the vessel lately under my command, I cannot

charge myself with any default in her navigation.

t had been my habit at all times to use the lead

whenever I felt the slightest doubt as to my posi-
tion. had I felt any doubt on this occasion I
would not have neglected so obvious a precaution,
and the anxiety 1 felt in the performance of my
duty, attested by my constant attendance on deck,
affords the best proof that I did all iu my judgment
for the safety of the lives and property entrusted to
me.

Counsel having been heard,

The Court retired, and after an absence of up-
wards of an hour returned, when Mr. Boustred, the
chief clerk, read the judgment arrived at as follows:
—" The Court, after an anxious consideration of
all the circumstances attending the fatal disaster of
the loss of the Ceres, feels it to be its painful duty
to pronounce Capt. Pascoe, the master of that ship,
guilty of a default. The Ceres took her departure
from abreast of the Longships, shaping her course
NNE, to pass the Smalls. That course was expected
to carry the ship to the westward, clear of the Smalls,
and to the eastward, clear of the Tuskar. Not having
sighted the Smalls he kept that course till 5.40 p.m.,
when he hauled out a point to the eastward, upon which
course he stood till the ship went aground at 6.20p.m.
on Carnsore Point, a spot at a tneridianal distance of
20 miles from his supposed position at that time. To
account for this deviation it is surmised that there
was an error in the bridge compass by which the
ship was steered. There is, however, no evidence
of such error, and if it had existed it would, in all
probability, have been discovered in the previous
part of the voyage, when making the ports of Ports-
mouth,
Plymouth, and Falmouth, or the sighting
the Longshipg.
It is, indeed, possible that the ship
may have been carried westward of her course by
the tide, which was ebbing from 5.30 till past mid-
day. It is precisely to counteract
~the risk of acci-
dents from defects of compasses, influence of tides
or currents, or other such contingencies, that the

• use of the lead is so indispensable when the weather
is so thick that objects cannot ;be seen ; and there-
fore, from whatever cause the deviation in this case
arose, it will not furnish an excuse for the neglect
to take soundings. The Smalls light was not
sighted, and the master ought to have known that
he was much to the westward, inasmuch as at
the time he passed that lighthouse the weather
was sufficiently clear to see a distance of some
miles. It was therefore his duty to have sounded
at all events, before running his distance so far as
the Tuskar, as in the then state of the weather he
could not have expected to sight that light at any
considerable distance. There is the less excuse for
this neglect, as the proper channel from the Smalls
to the Tuskar is marked by a well defined line of
deep soundings. A glance at the chart would have
shown the master that if the soundings shoaled made
40 fathoms, as he proceeded he was running into
danger. Had, therefore, a cast of the lead been
taken at 5.20 p.m., when the mainsail was reefed, or
afterwards at 5.40, when the ship was hauled up a
point to the eastward, or lastly when the engines were
slowed to half speed, ten minutes or a quarter of an
hour before the ship went ashore, he would have been
warned of the danger in time to avoid it. The
Court, therefore, is compelled to come to the conclu-
sion that the loss of the ship must be attributed to the
default of Capt. Pascoe in not using his lead, which
the circumstances imperatively demanded. The
judgment of the Court is that the certificate of Cap-
tain Pascoe be suspended, and it is hereby sus-
pended, for the period of two years from this date.
The Court would have given due weight to the high
testimonial and character of Captain Pascoe had
this been a case that would have permitted them to
do so." The proceedings then terminated.

ST. ANDREW'S DAY.

The 30th of November is a red-letter day with
Scotchmen, who celebrate it as their patron saint
day, wherever the adventurous spirits of that
country may be settling—and that is over the
world's wide domain. Indeed, according to an
accepted aphorism, the Geographical Society is
ignorant of the spot where a Scot is not found.
In London the occasion is taken advantage of by
the Scottish Hospital, for the augmentation of its
funds ; therefore it wisely fulfils objects both of a
charitable gathering as well as a social one, and
which it bas been accustomed to do for upwards of
two hundred years, it having been instituted iu the
reign of the First Charles, and to which pre-
cedence it is worthily entitled, as the amount
of its usefulness in administering relief to the
Scottish poor of the metropolis and its vicinity
is incalculable, and never so apparent as since the
accession to office of the present secretary (Mr. M.
Moir), whose vigorous management, aided by in-
dustrious assistants, has had marked improvement
on the financial condition of the treasury, as also on
the discipline of the whole institution.
The income from all sources, including a balance
of £3lB from last year, and the produce of sale of
stock, amounted to £6,545, and the expenditure to
£5,627 16s. ld., leaving a balance in hand of £916
17s. 6d. The sums paid to pensioners, casual ap-
plicants for passages to Scotland, and for the edu-
cation of the children of Scotsmen resident in Lon-
don during the year amounted to £3,308 4s. 601.
There had been a falling off in the annual subscrip-
tions of £4 Bs., and in donations of £4BO 12s. 9d.,
the figures being--annual subscriptions, 1865, £B9B
155.; ditto, 1866, £894 75.; donations, 1865, £1,582
125.; ditto, 1866, £l,lOl 19s. 3d. In consequence of
the commercial crisis many subscriptions and dona-
tions promised and expected have not been received.
While the fluctuating income of the year has been
diminished, it would be seen from the balance-sheet
that the expenditure had been increased. The
distress consequent on the state of trade and the
cholera combined had caused special and urgent de-
mand upon the funds. The amount given away
during the year to pensioners and casual applicants
had exceeded that of 1865 by £279 145., and of 1864
by £BB7 10s. Bd., the totals being, 1864, £2,319 Is.
3d. ; 1865, £2,925 17s. 11d. ; and 1866, £3,205 lls.
11d. One hundred and sixty-two individuals have
been added to the permanent list of those in receipt
of the benefit of the charity, whi!st upwards of 700
additional persons have received casual assistance.
On Friday night last, according to ancient cus-
tom, the subscribers and friends, to the number of
250, dined together at the Freemasons' Tavern,
under the presidency of Lieut.-CA
M.P., supported right and left by Lord Etcho,
Lieut.-Col. the Hon. C. Lindsay, the Hon. Joseph
Howe, Sir W. Ferguson, Charles Mackay, LL.D.,
Dr. Ramsay, Charles Macdonald, Esq., Dr. D.
Fraser, Lieut. Dalziel, Capt. Henderson, Jas. Grant,
Esq., Alex. Grant, Esq., John Grant, Esq., Dr.
Hogg, Robert Hepburn, Esq., D. W. Mackenzie,
Esq. ; and in addition to whom, and what added
much interest to this meeting, was the presence of
the gentlemen who are Commissioners at pre-
sent to this country from British America on the
Colonial Confederation scheme, namely, the Hon.
James Home, W. Arnaud, the Hons. W. Henry, J.
Ritch, P. Mitchell, and C. Fisher.
During the evening the proceedings were agree-
ably interrupted by the arrival of telegraph mes-
sages of congratulation from various cities and
towns of both islands, while similar despatches were
transmitted to the St. Andrew Societies of Canada
and New York.

The usual loyal toasts were proposed and received
with enthusiastic acclamation. Col. Lindsay, of the
St. George's Rifles, responded for the Army and
Volunteers.

The Secretary then announced the list of sub-
scriptions to amount to nearly £2,000, among the
principal subscribers to which were the Queen, 100
guineas, in addition to £2,730 previously given by
her Majesty; the Prince of Wales, 50 guineas; the
Duke of Buccleuch, 50 guineas, in addition to 170
guineas ; the chairman (Col. Lindsay), 50 guineas;
Lord Overstone, 20 guineas.

This announcement was received with prolonged
cheering.

Lord ELCHO afterwards proposed, in his pecu-
liarly happy manner, " The Health of the Chair-
man," and in the course of a highly humorous
speech, that elicited freqitent bursts of applause,
he referred to the " hair breadth 'scapes" and deeds
of valour of the gallant colonel ten years ago,
whereby he had earned the Victoria Cross (the sol-
dier's ambition) with which his breast was now
adorned ; and,observed, with reference to the volun-
teers, that nothing had tended more to raise that

movement than the fact of officers of the army not
considering it beneath their dignity to become colonels
of the -volunteers. The toast was drunk in the
Scottish fashion, and with Highland honours, Mr.
Donald Mackenzie, in the voice of Stentor, giving
the accompanying honours.
Sir WILLIAM FERGUSON proposed the other Scot-
tish Societies of the metropolis, viz., the Highland
Society and the Caledonian Society—Dr. Ramsay
and Dr. Hogg replying for each respectively.
The Hon. J. Howe, and 'Mr. Henry, of Nova
Scotia, with Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Fisher, of New
Brunswick, in eloquent speeches expressed the plea-
sure the proceedings of that evening afforded
them, and dilated in touching terms on the enthu-

siasm, amounting even to devotion, with which
such festivals are celebrated all over their own ex-

tensive territories, where the Celtic surname of
Macdonald and Cameron " were as plenty as black-
berries."

Music there was, we might almost say in super-
abundance, including the bands of the Scots Fusi-

Hera and Caledonian Asylum, Mr. Ross, the
Queen's piper, with Mr. Ransford and a chosen

company of vocalists, each of whom exercised the
utmost zeal to add their quota to the entertainment.

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