The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-02-23 00:00:00

THE CREW

William Shilstone, second mate, of Bristol ; Caleb Fra-
zier, cook ; William Reid, John Smith, John Webb, Frede-
rick Selkeld, John Munroe (late second mate of the Belvi-
dere), William Collins, John Smith, David Pidgeon, George
Duncan Clark, and John Davies, seamen.

Four men, who had intended to go with the vessel, left
her at the pier-head—from what cause we have not learned.
The reporter from our office who attends to the nautical
department in the town, had, yesterday afternoon, a separate
interview with the two sole survivors from the ship. Both
were naturally deeply affected by the disaster ; but furnished
the interesting details which will be found below.
The Governor Fenner was a ten .years-old ship, built at
New York, and recently repaired at this port, and strength-
ened, at an expenditure of 8000 dollars, with a number of
iron knees. She was of about 500 tons burthen, and was
considered in every respect one of the best and most sea-
worthy of the vessels of her class. She was the property of
Messrs. Andrews Brothers, and Co., of New York. The
commander, Captain S. E. Edwards, was of the. firm, and
owned a quarter of the vessel.

Captain Edwards said, in effect :—We left the river about
noon on Friday, with a S.S.W. wind. The crew consisted
of 18 individuals, and the passengers, to the best:of my know-
ledge, of 107. We had a full cargo of manufactured dry goods,
also some heavy articles. There were amongst the passengers
a considerable number of small children. On Saturday morn-
ing about two o'clock, the wind then blowing fresh, and the
ship under double-reefed topsails, we saw a steamer on the
larboard or weather bow. I instantly ordered the helm to
be put hard a-port, to give her as wide a berth as possible.
The steamer rapidly neared us, and crossed our bow, and
before we could bear away, we struck her amidships a little
abaft the starboard paddle-wheel. From the force of the
collision, it became evident that the ship, or the steamer, or
more probably both, would instantly sink. The whole was
the work of a moment. 1 felt at once that the ship, the bows
a which were stove in, was sinking beneath my feet. All
the passengers were in their berths as well as the crew, with
the exception of the watch then on deck. I called out to
the men to save themselves if they could, and told them to
come forward—our apparent only chance being to get on
board the steamer, which did not not then appear to be in a
sinking state. Through some misapprehension, they ran
aft instead of forward, and cut off their chance of getting on
board the steamer. My anxious wish was to save all
on board ; but the ship sank so rapidly that this object could
not be accomplished. I remained forward, and the mate
was near me. The ship rapidly filled and sunk, and I tried
to jump on to the steamer. I failed in my first attempt,
through a momentary faintness. I made a second attempt,
and as the ship reached the water's edge succeeded in getting
hold of the rope that was hanging over the quarter. The
mate saved his life by jumping from the foreyard over on to
the steamer's deck. In about one minute, so near as I can
tell, the ship sunk with all her passengers. and sixteen of her
crew, the whole Amounting to 122 souls. The steamer's re-
maining boat on the larboard quarter was lowered, to en-
deavour to save some of the people, but she unfortunately
swamped along-side. The steamer's starboard paddle-box
was smashed and her machinery injured, so that it would
not work. The funnel was also carried away, and she did
little more than lay to till next day at five in the evening, when

she was taken in tow by a Drogheda steamer that came up to
her and towed her into this port. During the interim the
steamer did not make good above a mileor two from the spot
where the accident occurred, and my opinion is that had not
the weather been moderate all on board of her would also
have perished.

Mr. Carter, first mate of the ship, furnished to the ques-
tions of our reporter, the following painfully interesting ac-
count of the disaster—though at the time labouring under
great depression of spirits

. -- -
After corroborating the captain in his account of the sail-
ing, &c.—about five minutes past two o'clock on Saturday
morning we saw the lights of a steam boat. It was my
watch on deck,.and I immediately called the captain. The
steam-boat came up at about a point and a half on our
weather-bow—we having at the time our larboard tacks on
board. We thought she was coming on head to us. We
had no light but that of the binnacle on the quarter-deck ;
and, I believe it is not considered necessary or prudent for
sailing vessels clear of the land to carry a light.* We waited
as much as 5 or 6 minutes, to find out what way the steamer
was really coming, and then the captain ordered the man at
the wheel to put the helm hard a-port, so as to give her a
clear berth. If the steam-boat had done the same we should
have gone clear of each other a long way, perhaps a mile.
The captain, as soon as he ordered the wheel to be put up,
went forwards to look out. I then looked over the larboard
side, abaft the main rigging, and saw the whole bulk of the
steamer. I said to the man at the helm—" She is on board
of us." This was about a quarter-past two o'clock. The
vessels came in contact, notwithstanding our ship paying off.
(Our informant here approved of a diagram of our reporter,
showing the position of the ships, a copy of which we shall
probably furnish in our next publication.) When the crash
took place, I heard the captain call out several times—" For
God's sake save yourselves, the ship is sinking." The jib-
boom of the ship struck the funnel of the steamer, and her
bowsprit afterwards rested upon her. On the third surge she
gave, I believe, down she went, bow foremost. The taffrail
was the last thing we saw of her. She filled very quickly.
She had on board a heavy cargo, including a quantity of iron
and other heavy goods. The watch on the deck at the time
consisted of 7 men, the captain and myself. All the others
on board were asleep below. The captain also sang out to
the man at the helm to leave the wheel. His name was
Munroe—he was formerly mate of the Belvidere, came on
board to work his passage to America, and we intended to
make him second mate of the ship next day. All the men
at first went forward with me to the captain, who was stand-
ing between the night-heads, but they afterwards went aft as
the ship sunk, to be, as I suppose, on the higher part of her
hull. I stood some time, and attempted to go aft with a view
of endeavouring to save my wife and others by lowering a boat.
She, however, sunk so fast, that I was obliged to give up the
idea in despair. I left the captain, and went to the starbord
side. I stood there a few seconds, till the water was perhaps
2 feet deep, as far aft as the mainmast, and was fast gathering
still further aft, her head being then nearly under. I scarce
know what afterwards occurred. I got up somehow into the
fore-rigging, and thence on to the larbord foreyards, which
then crossed the steamer. When the ship sunk so far that I
was from six to eight feet from the steamer's deck, I let go,
and dropped down amongst some sheep. I lay some time ra-
ther confused, and did not attempt to rise, as I thought I
might become entangled in a rope which passed over my
shoulders, and as I thought, was part of the bowsprit run-
ning rigging of the ship. I then got up. The cry on board
the steamer was that she was sinking, and I believe a passen-
ger on board lowered the boat left on the davits on the lar-
bord side ' • but she unhooked from the tackles when she
touched the water, and the painter not being fast, she drifted
away from the vessel. All the lights they could muster in
the steamer were lighted for some time. The engineers and
others then went below, and found that though she was leaky
they could keep her free. She had her fore and aft sails, and
foretop sail set at the time. I was on board about three-
quarters of an hour before I found that the captain of the
ship was there. 1 had seen my wife, who was a little sea-sick,
about twenty minutes before, in her berth, and gave her a
drink. The captain, when I first saw him in the steamer,
was without his hat—and on seeing him (informant) he said
—" Good God is this yoti—is there any of the crew saved ?"
I said "I do not know. I did not know what became of you
after I missed you off the ship's bow." Her hull was under
water before I got off. The foreyard from which I dropped,
was broken on the steamer as she was going down; and
also, I believe, the topsail yard, as our foretopmast stud-
dings:ail-boom, which was rigged out at the time, (the wind
having been for some time fair in the evening,) was left on
the steamer's deck. I afterwards looked, but could see
nothing of the ship or her masts. The last time I observed
the watch on deck, they were on the starboard side of the
quarter-deck. One man sung out, " For God Almighty's
sake save me !" ; did not hear the others. I had a quan-
tity of my wife's and my own clothing and other articles on
board, worth about £5O. All were lost. [The wife of the
informant was a daughter of Mrs. Morgan, of Queen Anne-
street, Brunswick Dock.] The captain had on board two
valuable chronometers, charts, and other property, and all
was also lost. 'We were at the time of the aecident 17 or 18
miles, as I reckon, to the northward and westward of Holy-
head._:: 'We were steering upon a wind, at the time, W. by
N. ; and the steamer about E.S.E. The second mate's
name was William Shelston, and he was below at the time.
The captain was as cool as possible at the time ; and ex-
tremely anxious that as many as possible should be saved.
If we had chanced to go aft instead of forward we should also
have been drowned. A few of the cattle in the steamer were
thrown overboard, and also some of the sheep, at the time it
was thought she would sink. When it was found that there
was no immediate danger the rest were kept on board. One
of the black cattle was injured, and was afterwards slaught-
ered on board. Ido not think the steamer got ten miles
from the place where the collision took place all next day,
and she was taken in tow at five o'clock ia the evening by the
Grana Uile, a fine vessel belonging to tile Drogheda Steam-
packet Company. The foreyard of the steamer Nottingham
was carried away, which, 1 think, shows that the ship did
not run directly into her. We now come to the
Nottingham steamer, which our reporter visited on
the evening of the day of her reaching port. She
was brought into the Clarence Dock, and was so much
shattered on the starboard side that hundreds of persons con-
gregated on the quays to see, all absorbed in the melancholy
event which had caused the destruction. Her paddle-box
had almost entirely been carried away, and part of the
" skeleton" ou the wheel—the cast iron work of the " spokes"
being broken in pieces, and the beaten iron rings of the
wheel crushed up, almost close to the vessel's side. She
presented, indeed, the appearance of a wreck, in the effecting
of which it is extraordinary that no person on board was
killed or thrust overboard and drowned. Much of the upper
timber was reduced to mere match-wood by the collision.
A boat on the starboard quarter was cut in two, and one
part of her only remained on deck. The after paddle-beam,
a balk of hard wood, of about twenty inches square, (and
which was a main support of the box and wheel,) is broken
close to the ship's side, and turned, in a diagonal direction,
aft—held by the toughness of the fibres from falling off, and
even yet of sufficient strength to support the weight of seve-
ral persons upon it. The strong iron stay or pillar, support-
ing it in a downward direction to the side, some feet below,
is also driven sternward from its position. We are glad to
say, however, that the vessel's hull appears to have sustained
little or no material damage—a prima facie proof of the ex-
cellence of the materials and workmanship. It is the general
opinion of practical men, (and our reporter, who has expe-
rience in such matters, concurs in it,) that had the ship,
heavily laden as she was, and sailing at about three and a.
half to four knots an hour, struck her a yard or two further
aft, she, too, would have disappeared, and no one would have
been left to record the fate of either vessel. As it was, seve-
ral circumstances in the point of contact contributed to save
her. In the first place, the jib-boom of the ship struck her
funnel, which afterwards fell, though strongly stayed by chains,
from ajoint about twelve feet from the deck. The bob-stays and
bowsprit rigging probably next came into contact with the
gunnel and paddle-box, which were carried away ; and finally,
the stem of the ship probably afterwards first touched her
side with a weakened velocity at a part where a sort of plat-
form runs aft from the outward corner of the paddle-box.
All these opposing, but, in a great degree, elastic materials
coming in contact, found a sort of fender, preservatives of
the steamer, though fatal to the ship. The breaking of the
paddle-beam and the general shock broke and deranged por-
tions of the machinery, which put aside the further applica-
tion of steam ; but the vessel was not left in danger of
foundering—unless, indeed, iu the event of a severe gale of
wind and a heavy sea, which she, happily, had not to en-
counter. We abstract from the Albion s necessarily shorter,
but, generally, accurate account, the following of the disaster
as given by the passengers on the deck of the Nottingham
when the collision took place :
" About a quarter past two o'clock, on Saturday morning,
when about 15 miles to the westward of Holyhead, the wea-
ther calm, but rather thick, one of the men of the watch saw
a ship bearing down upon the Nottingham : she had no light
at her mast, while the steamer had three lights. He re-
ported the fact to the second mate, who was then at the
wheel. The second mate hailed the ship, and was answered.
He desired her to starboard the helm. This they thought
was not dOne. A voice from the ship, which was supposed
to have been that of the captain, requested the steamer to
starboard her helm, as he could not bring the ship over, she
not answering her helm. At this instant the Governor Fen-
ner struck the Nottingham amidships. In less than five
minutes, the ship filled with water, and disappeared. The
steamer became quite motionless after the shock, and the
people on board of her were unable to make the least at-
attempt to succour those on board the ship, which sunk
how foremost. The Screams of the people on the wreck were
heart-rending, but ckey soon ceased, and all was still. The
steamer's starboard side was completely stove in : the pad-
dle shaft and wheel were shivered in pieces : the starboard

engine was broken, and the funnel carried away. Seventeen
cows were killed : seven more and 78 sheep were thrown
overboard, and 11 died before the vessel reached port. On
Saturday evening the wreck of the Nottingham was fallen in
with by another steamer, and towed into the Mersey.
" The opinion on board the Nottingham was, that the
Governor Fenner's helm, instead of being put to starboard,
as it ought to have been, must have been put to port, for, if
it had been put to starboard, the ship would have cleared the
steamer."

All decision on the matter in dispute between the parties,
to stem off responsibility, we leave, as before stated, to more
competent judges, not doubting but that the fatality will in-
duce some inquiry into and revision of the laws affecting
vessels on the high seas, as to steering, light, signals, &c.,
when danger of collision may arise. We hope that a general
regulation will arise from the investigation of which no com-
mander of a ship can justifiably plead ignorance, and that
the result may be the salvation of lives and property em-
barked on the perilous deep.
We are informed, from good authority, that it is admitted
(by the evidence of the mate and others), there was not any
light on board the Governor Fenner, and that the people on
board her saw the lights of the Nottingham from 15 to 20
minutes before the collision took place, aad that if the sail
vessel had shown a light, it might have been prevented, as
there only elapsed about one mi►,ute and a half between the
steamer seeing the sail vessel and the latter running on board
her.

FURTHER REMARKABLE PARTICULARS.
The following communication received from Mr. Perry,
agent of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, pos-
sesses a painful interest. It would appear thot the bottom,
or lower works of the ship, had, after her sinking, given way,
and that the greater portion of the heavy goods had fallen
out of her, so that the upper part of the ship again floating
up. Should this prove to be the same vessel—which in all
probability it is—many of the bodies may yet be recovered,
as the unfortunate parties were all between decks:—" Bir-
mingham steamer, hence at Dublin, yesterday morning at
seven o'clock, about sixteen miles to the westward of the
Skerries, fell in with the wreck of a ship apparently split in
two, with her stern gone, and cargo all out; boarded her,
and found two men dead in the rigging, took from the
wreck a trunk, containing watches and other things.—Mem.
The above is supposed to be the wreck of the Governor Fen-
ner."

* We have not yet ascertained whether our informant is
correct in this point.

INDEPENDENT AND WEST MIDDLESEX ASSURANCE OF-
PICE.—It is said that one of the greatest sufferers by this
gang of swindlers is the Marquis Wellesley, who had pur-
chased an annuity from this pretended company with the
£30,000., which was recently given to him by the East India
Company for the noble lord's eminent services in India, the
whole of which is thus lost.—Aberdeen Herald.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION,—At a meeting of the council of
the British Association, held recently, it was finally deter-
mined that the meeting of this body, which is to take place
at Plymouth, the next summer, shall
commence on Monday,
the 12th July, and terminate on Saturday, the 17th July
and the council will meet on Saturday, the 10th July, to
make the necessary arrangements.