The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-07 00:00:00

WhEOK OF THE STEAMER AMILIA.

A Court of Inquiry ordered by the Board of
Trade sat yesterday at the Bristol Council-house to
investigate the circumstances under which the
steamer Amt-lie, plying be.tween Liverpool and
Bristol, was lost off Sr. Gowan'a-bead, near Mil-
ford, on the morning of the 29th of March. Cap-
tain Hardy, R.N., attended as the naval assessor
of the magistrates, Messrs. R. P. King and Joseph
Coates ; Mr. Ambrose Foote, collector of Customs,
conducted the case on behalf of the Board of Trade.
The proceedings were taken under the 433 d and
and 438th sections of the Merchant Shipping Act
of 1854. -Mr. Foote having given an outline of the
facts, John Howe, the master of the Amelia, was
examined. He stated that she was of 167 tons, and
traded between Liverpool and Bristol. He left
Bristol with a cargo of goods for Liverpool about
9 p.m. on the 28th of March. The night was dark,
and there was no moon. The next morning the
weather was very hazy about 7 o'clock. The wit-
ness was steering himself. He then saw Caldy
Island; which was bearing from the vessel north-
east and by east. Caldy was about 63/4 miles dis-
tant when he saw it. There was no lead going at
this time, and the lead had not been used during
the voyage. They had no pilot, but the witness
had passed as a pilot for the British Channel as far
as Caldy. He steered N.W. and by W. when they
sighted Caldy, and the course was then alteredoto
N.W., and they were then going at nearly lull
speed. The witness proceeded to state that they
continued to steer this course for about three-quar-
ters of an hour. A dense fog came on, and the
vessel struck about 8 o'clock off St. Gowan's head.
They continued to steer W. by N. until they saw
the land about 100 yards ahead. They put the helm
hard a-starboard directly they saw the land. The
vessel paid off, but not in time to clear the point, and
she struck to the eastward of it. The mate and a man
named J. Nicholas kept a general look-out. In the
witness's opinion, if the lead had been going they
could not have gone nearer to St. Gowan's-head,
with safety, than 12 fathoms. Some questions
were put by Mr. Coates, in answer to which the
witness said the wind was from the southward
when the vessel struck, at which time it was nearly
calm. He did not consider it necessary to take a
cast of the lead during the fog. The last cast be
took was two or three months before the vessel was
lost, on a voyage to Liverpool. He thought then
that the vessel was a little out of her course. To
other questions from Mr. Foote, the witness said
they had a chart on board, and he exan Lel it
about half an hour before the vessel struck- It
was not an Admiralty. chart. He considered
that by th• course he steered he should have
clearel St. Gowan's-head. He was satisfied
that his course would have' cleared the land, or
he should have ordered the lead to be used.
ff they had been six feet further out, the land
would have been cleared. It was a mystery to hint
how the vessel w..s lost. Thomas Lodge, mate of
the Amelia, confirmesl the evidence given by the
master. No other witnesses were examined. The
magistrates retired for about half an hour, and on
their return Mr. Brice the magistrates' clerk,
stated that he was directed to read so much of the
report of the magistrates to the Board of Trade as
they thought material for the information of the
public. That portion of the report was as follows:
—"ln the opiuion of the Justices, the accident
arose in consequence of the inastr either mistak-
ing the land he made or misjudging his dist nce front
it, and disregarding the use of the lead, which,
with reference to the log which then prevailed,
ought to have been especially attended to." The
magistrates had given their reasons for coming to
this conclusion in their report to the Board of
Trade, and Captain Hardy, the naval assessor, fully
concurred in the judgment which had been arrived
at.